Sto's thoughts
==============

# JLPT N1: passed!

Jan 22, 2024

This was in my todo-list for a long time. Last summer I finally decided to sign up for the JLPT N1 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level 1 - 日本語能力試験１級 in Japanese). I then took it in the beginning of December.

In my mind, this was a way to assess the level I managed to get to from living in Japan and speaking Japanese in my everyday life for more than 10 years. I decided to take that test without preparing for it, so no textbooks, no cramming...

I was rather pessimistic before getting to the test location, but once I got out of the test room, I felt more optimistic. There was a chance.

For N1, one [needs](https://www.jlpt.jp/e/guideline/results.html#:~:text=0%EF%BD%9E60-,3.%20Determination%20of%20pass/fail,-In%20order%20to) at least 19 points out of 60 per each of the 3 sections, and a total above 100 points (out of 180).

言語知識 (language knowledge - vocabulary/grammar) is the section where I felt I had the highest risk to fail (lots of Japanese words and expressions I've never heard or read in my 10 years here), so a score of 24/60 is in line with what I expected, close to the bar.

I was way more confident about the 読解 (reading) and 聴解 (listening) sections. To be frank I expected a slightly better score in listening...

Anyway, as the title already revealed, I passed! A score of 111 out of 180 is not much to brag about, but I'm very happy to now be able to say I have the JLPT N1 , and I got it thanks to real-life practicing!

<p class="flex-centered">
  <a href="/images/2024-01-22/jlpt1.png" target="_blank">
    <img width="600px" alt="JLPT N1 pass" class="image" src="/images/2024-01-22/jlpt1.png" />
  </a>
</p>



_Written by [David Stosik], generated and formatted for LLMs by [Bridgetown]._

[David Stosik]: https://davidstosik.me/about
[Bridgetown]: https://bridgetownrb.com
