Less than 50 days left until the JLPT N3 — and yes, I know what you’re thinking: “Why didn’t you start earlier?” Fair question. I was actually busy preparing for the TOPIK exam! (Let me know in the comments if you’d like a post about how that went — including the essay topic I had to write about 👀).

A few weeks ago, I tried an N4 past paper just to see where I stood… and honestly? I passed it without much trouble. That’s when my overconfident side spoke up: “This is pretty easy. I bet I can pass N3 if I just prepare enough!”

Because really — why take a test at your current level when you can challenge yourself with the next one? Any other polyglots out there who think like that? 😅 Growth and continuous learning are kind of our thing, after all.

So here is my plan to learn as much as possible for JLPT N3 in such a short time and not die in the process:

The plan

For me, the focus will be on all the parts that appear in the exam: Kanji, Vocab, Grammar, Reading and Listening.

⭐I started with TRY! N3 textbook as it explains grammar really well, it has reading passages and JLPT type questions (so you can learn grammar while also practicing reading and listening).

⭐Another resource that I use for grammar at the same time with this textbook is NihongoNoMori grammar lessons on YouTube. They are in complete Japanese, but quite easy to understand.

⭐Once I finish the TRY! textbook, the plan is to start studying using the Shinkanzen N3 series, especially the grammar and the reading book because these are the harder parts for me. I heard that the Shinkanzen books are a bit harder, but finishing them means you will be 100% ready for whatever they put in the test.

⭐After Shinkanzen, if I have time, I will move to the NihongoSouMatome series which has separate books for each part. If you want to go through these I recommend getting the N1-N5 Notion Study Planner from Yourstudyplanner.co (not sponsored, I just like using it). For N3, it has the SouMatome materials and more, but separated on days, so that it does not become super overwhelming. You can study a little bit everyday and even monitor your progress. It offers a lot of materials and it is only 15$, so I think it is really worth it

Here is the link if you want to get the Notion Planner:

https://ko-fi.com/s/cba6ea57ae?fbclid=PAb21jcANq13BleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABpzdfLk9X9Q1pTcxb8iohizYt6eS2KApvIRyVuusbkv6IPS3DkkvQAmb40YCD_aem_2wx8mURUhxy4Ohi7CtnVVw

⭐I downloaded four Anki shared decks, the Sou Matome grammar, kanji and vocabulary and the Shinkanzen vocabulary. I plan to study 10 new words from each deck every day until the exam. My goal is to not overwhelm myself and to take it slow even if it means not learning all the words in the decks

The final and most important step

I suggest you don’t skip this one. One week or two weeks before the exam, I plan to do only mock tests. This will help me get familiar with the format of the exam, as well as the time limit I have to mindful of. For mock tests, you can find some online or get a book that has a number of tests like the Official Practice Workbook or Practice Test For Passing The JLPT N3. A book that has practice questions such as ShinNihongo Mondai is also good for revising and practicing before the actual exam.

This was my whole plan, described for you in super detail, in case you also need to study for JLPT in a short period. Hope it will help you and stay tuned to see if this plan actually helped me go from N4 level to N3. I guess we will see when the results are out ~🧐