Ok, my challenge as a blogger is to make interesting posts that require little revision. I am becoming aware how little time I have to allocate to blogging. While it is enjoyable, is not particularly beneficial to my Japanese or my other endeavors. This is the main reason I stopped posting after February; I was in class, working, and going to Japanese lessons twice per week. In a week or so, I will be busier than I was this spring, with much more on my plate. So I am trying to revise as I write here.
What I wanted to cover today are the instructions to the JLPT. I want everyone who is taking the test to walk in the door to the exam room as prepared as possible. I don't want anyone to spend more than an instant trying to decipher the instructions to the various sections. Most are not difficult, but there are a few things that someone new to the test might get caught on.
An important note. This is based on my experience of the 2007 test and my copy of the 2006 test, which I bought in Japan. If the 2008 JLPT is rewritten and doesn't have these type of questions, my apologies. I don't think that will be the case, however. No lawsuits, please.
Listening
This is where I heard a few whimpers and some gnashing of teeth. When you hear the choices, you are required to mark a response to each. Your book will have 2 rows of 4 spaces for each question:
1
2
3
4
Y:
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
N:
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
As you hear the answers, mark yes or no for each, as you hear it, like so:
1
2
3
4
Y:
[ ]
[ ■ ]
[ ]
[ ]
N:
[ ■ ]
[ ]
[ ■ ]
[ ■ ]
If you aren't sure, guess the "yes" answer and move on. You can fill in the 3 "no" answers at the end, but you will only have a few seconds to turn the test in, so don't do this for all the questions. If you aren't sure of the answer, you will not have time to review until the end of the section, and by then you will have forgotten the choices.
The reason for this method is simple; if test takers only have to mark the correct answer, those who didn't know the answer would merely wait to hear when everyone was writing.
Vocabulary
Many sections require only a cursory reading of the instructions. You will see and underlined word and you will select the proper reading. Here are a few example from the 2006 test:
一級：
再びふるさとに澄んだ川を取り戻すまで、どんな努力も惜しまない。
１：再び 1．さいび ２．ざいび ３. ふたたび ４. ふだたび
２：澄んだ １．くんだ ２. すんだ ３． しずんだ ４．とんだ
二級：
今度引越しすマンションは、家賃が今の二倍だ。
１：家賃 １．いえだい ２．いえちん ３．やだい ４．やちん
２：二倍 １．にかい ２．にき ３．にばい ４. にぶ
God, it wasn't easy when I took the 二級, but as I contrast the two levels, it's clear the difference is pretty big. But, I digress. Then you will have the opposite scenario, the sentence contains the reading, you select the kanji. Going forward, I will supply 二級 examples only.
鳥のむれが大きなわをえがいて北の空にとんでいった。
むれ： １．群れ ２．組れ ３．族れ ４．団れ
and so forth. In another section, you will have to select the appropriate vocabulary, or as the directions say:
＿＿＿＿に入れるのに最もよいものを、１・２・３・４から一つ選びなさい。
So you may get hiragana or kanji. Read the sentence and pick the appropriate word.
わたしの会社は、倉庫を＿＿＿して、オフィスにしている。 So the sentence isn't too tricky. My company ___a warehouse, and made it an office. So you know to look for "renovated, remodeled, rebuilt" その感じ。
1. 改正 ２． 改造 ３． 改善 ４. 改定
Without using rikaichan/peraperakun, which are not allowed during testing(>.<); select the correct word.
I will go over more in other posts. All this switching between English and Japanese is making me impatient for my morning coffee. There are other types of questions-homonyms and usage-related, which I will cover. This may be a 4 or 5 post topic. Hope it helps.