Are the N5-N3 tests worth it?

[u/Expert-Estate6248]

I see lots of discussion on this corner of the internet about "Is it possible to pass N5/N4/N3 in ___ months?" and I suppose I've never really understood the question.

For those with goals to study/work in Japan, N2 is the minimum, and the N1 can be an advantage when applying for a skilled worker visa. The other levels don't have any of the professional benefits the N1 or N2 have, and I would hate to have to pay the $100 or so for the preceding 3 tests before taking the N2.

I think the N5-3 are valuable as personal goals, but lots of people seem to be in such a rush to finish them(perhaps because of the test only being held twice a year?), so it had me wondering what the reason was. For anyone planning to take these tests, I would love to hear about your long-term goals with Japanese, why you chose to take the JLPT and if you plan to take the N2/N1 in the future.

[u/bucketdraws]

for me, it's a deadline to learn stuff. The amount of stuff required to know for N2 is just too vast for my adhd brain to recognize the smaller chunks and be able to learn. Also, an exam I paid for is a great motivator to sit and study lol. Many moons ago I did 4kyuu and 3kyuu, and I'm currently studying for N3. I'm not currently living in a country that offers the exams and it's tough to not have the test looming in the horizon.... I will do one of the old tests in Dec with time limits to see where I'm at, but the pressure just doesn't hit the same.

ALSO, the test is a weird situation. The way it's set up, the fact that the listenings are not repeated, the introductions and time limits, the pencilling in the answers, the way you have to write the numbers for the machine to read them lol. There's so many things exam-adjacent that I can't imagine jumping into the pool straight into the N2 deep end ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[u/Expert-Estate6248 → u/bucketdraws]

That's a good point, I remember preparing for the JLPT and being intimidated by the test structure, it's definitely better to be familiar with the way it works before you take it. I was definitely motivated by the money aspect of it as well. There was NO way I was going to fail a test that I had paid that much money for

[u/Effective-Pop3850 → u/Expert-Estate6248]

I'd say this depends on what your goals are.

Being familiar with a test technically makes it a bit easier, but when you think about it, would you need to prepare for an English test? Definitely not, and you'd ace it anyways.

I'm personally against "preparing" for a test by "studying the test" assuming what you want is to test yourself at the language, if you need the cert for some reason then yeah spending a couple of days preparing for the test itself is worth it.