JLPT N1 Practice Test: Check That Listening Is 55 Minutes

Your N1 practice test may be in the form used before December 2022, when listening took 60 minutes. Five checks show which form it is in, and a test in the earlier form is still useful for practice by type of question.

After the real exam, a friend might say this about the last section:

試験の聴解が難しかったです。しけんのちょうかいがむずかしかったです。 (shikennochoukaigamuzukashikattadesu.)

The listening section of the exam was hard.

Before you time an N1 practice test you already have, this note shows how to check its form and how to use it. A lower level is not covered here, and the field note on Japanese level tests is for choosing one.

N1 has two test sections. The first, Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) and Reading, lasts 110 minutes, and Listening follows with 55.

The JLPT notes that listening time can change slightly with each recording, so the total is about 165 minutes.

The score report has three scoring sections, each from 0 to 60: Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar), Reading, and Listening. The first test section is divided between the first two of them.

The field note on N3 practice tests explains how one test section can count toward two scoring sections.

The JLPT's notice on the N1 change gives the details. Starting with the December 2022 test, listening was cut from 60 to 55 minutes. The 110 minutes for Language Knowledge and Reading did not change.

The notice's table of listening questions gives an approximate number for each type, before and after:

Added up, the approximate number went from 35 to 30. Four of the five types lost questions, and Integrated comprehension stayed at three.

The same notice warns that some PDF files on the JLPT site, such as its guidebook, still give the earlier time and numbers. So even on the official site, a document can show the earlier form.

Go through these checks in order on the N1 test you have. The first one decides whether the other four matter.

First, is it a full test, with both sections and about as many questions as an official workbook?

Second, what listening time does it give? A time of 55 minutes means the current form, and 60 means the earlier one.

Third, count the listening questions of each type and compare them with both columns of the notice's numbers. The closer column shows the form.

Fourth, is Language Knowledge and Reading one section of 110 minutes? Both forms use that, so a test that splits it or times it differently is in neither.

Fifth, when was it made? A date should agree with the second check. When it does not, or when there is no date, go by the second and third checks.

After the checks, each test has one of three uses. A test that passes the checks is in the current form, so time it in full: 110 minutes, then 55 for listening.

A full test with the earlier listening has two uses. Time its Language Knowledge and Reading at 110 minutes, and use its listening for practice by type of question.

A set that fails the first or fourth check is for practice by type only, whatever its date or listening time.

The sample questions the JLPT published in 2009 fail the first check. Their number of questions differs from a real test, and the listening part has one question per type.

A short online quiz fails it as well. The field note on N5 practice tests explains what a quiz of that size can still show.

The official workbooks of 2012 and 2018 are full tests with Language Knowledge and Reading as one section. On the JLPT site, the cover of each listening booklet gives 60 minutes.

So both books take the second use. Their first section can be timed at 110 minutes on paper, with no other tool.

Today, the two N1 mocks in Ukiyoe Japanese, “N1 Practice Test A” and “B,” follow the times and question types used since December 2022. Each section ends at its limit, 110 minutes and then 55, and each listening recording plays once, as in the real exam.

Ukiyoe Japanese writes its own questions, so they are not past JLPT questions. Each score is an estimate based on your raw answers, while the JLPT uses scaled scores.

No mock begins without an account. Across all levels, a free account opens a single full mock, and retakes repeat its questions.

The N1 results page has limits. It shows no “Practice this type” link, which appears only from N5 to N3, and “Pacing” shows one time per section, not per type. There are two N1 mocks, so a third timed test on new questions needs another full test.

For vocabulary, grammar, and reading together, the JLPT gives one limit of 110 minutes. It sets no separate time for each type of question inside that section.

In the mock, the start screen of each section lists its question types with the number of each. You can move freely between questions in the section.

After the test, “Pacing” gives the minutes you used for the section as a whole, so it cannot show where those minutes went.

To find out, pick one point before you start, such as the first reading passage. Keep the timer shown, and write down the time left when you reach it.

A pass at N1 needs at least 100 of the 180 total points, and no scoring section may fall below 19.

On the mock's results page, each scoring section has its own estimate, with a label showing which side of 19 it is on. Under “By question type,” it also lists how many of each type you got right.

In a section under 19, find the types with the most misses. Practice them with the same types in an older test, such as an official workbook. The 2022 change cut the number of listening questions, not the kinds of question.

The field note on listening practice covers how to train listening itself.

So the change does not make an older N1 test useless. Its listening sets become practice for the types that cost you points, and that is a relief.

Listening in the current form is for timing, and listening in the earlier form is for practice by type.

Check that a test is a full test before you look at its date or listening time.

Yes, in listening only. From the December 2022 test, listening is 55 minutes instead of 60. According to the JLPT's FAQ, the change did not alter how difficult the questions are or what they cover.

Not as complete past exams. The two official workbooks contain questions chosen from tests given since the 2010 revision, close to the number in one real test.

You need 100 out of 180 in total. Each of the three scoring sections also needs 19 or more out of 60.

Besides its two N1 mocks, Ukiyoe Japanese has eight N1 reading passages. The one full mock that a free account opens can be at any level, and it can be retaken any time.