JLPT N2 Practice Test: What to Solve First in 105 Minutes

At N3, vocabulary has its own 30-minute section, and grammar and reading come next, in 70 minutes. An N2 practice test times all three together for 105 minutes, so first decide the order you solve them in.

To describe the questions you left for later on a timed mock, you could say:

分からない問題は飛ばして、あとでもう一度見た。わからないもんだいはとばして、あとでもういちどみた。 (wakaranaimondaihatobashite,atodemouichidomita.)

I skipped the questions I did not understand and looked at them again later.

If your next timed test is an N2 mock, three questions about your last result set the order for its 105 minutes. Someone who is choosing a level, or taking N4 or below, should start from the field note on JLPT levels.

On the N2 test, Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) and Reading come first as one 105-minute test section, and Listening follows for 50 minutes. Listening time can vary a little with the recorded audio.

The JLPT's guidebook summary gives an approximate count for each question type. Totaled by part, they compare with N3 like this:

These counts are approximate and can differ a little on a real test. Added up, N3 has about 74 questions in 100 minutes, and N2 has about 75 in 105.

So the count barely changes, but one clock now times all three, and each minute on vocabulary is a minute less for reading.

The result comes in three scoring sections, from 0 to 60 each. Listening has one of its own, and the 105-minute section is scored in the other two, Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) and Reading.

The N3 practice test field note works through such a split with an example score.

Compared with N3, three types in the 105-minute section are new at N2 in the JLPT's table of test items.

Word formation is a vocabulary type, and N2 is the only level with it. Integrated comprehension and Thematic comprehension (Long passages) are reading types, and N1 has them as well.

The guidebook summary gives about five Word formation, two Integrated comprehension, and three Thematic comprehension questions. Listening also adds a type at N2, its own Integrated comprehension, with about four questions.

Two N3 types are not in the N2 form: Comprehension (Long passages) in reading and Verbal expressions in listening. N2 still has long passages, though, in Thematic comprehension (Long passages).

The order rule below starts by checking these three types.

This note's rule sets the order with three questions. The order comes from this note, not from the JLPT, and it is for mocks and your own practice.

The input is your latest result from a timed test of vocabulary, grammar, and reading. It can come from a mock, an official workbook, or another full test, at N3 or N2.

First, have you answered Word formation, Integrated comprehension, and Thematic comprehension at least once each? If not, use outcome (c).

Second, do you have that timed result, with a clear memory of how far you got? If not, use outcome (a) and note where time ends.

Third, in that result, did you answer the vocabulary questions in time, and did you reach the last reading question? Two yes answers mean outcome (a), and a no to either part means outcome (b).

The vocabulary part of the third question counts even when reading was on time. At N3, vocabulary had its own 30 minutes, but at N2 its minutes are part of the same 105 as reading.

Outcome (a): solve in order from the front. Skip a question you cannot answer, mark it, and look at the marked questions again at the end, as the example sentence above does.

Outcome (b): solve reading first, then go back to vocabulary and grammar. Reading has about 21 questions, and they make up a scoring section that needs 19 by itself. A blank at the end of reading is one of those 21, while a blank in vocabulary or grammar is one of about 54.

Outcome (c): before a full mock, answer each new type once, in an official workbook or a by-type practice set. Then go back to the second question.

A grid of the section's question numbers, listed under each question type, opens from the counter at the top of an N2 mock. In this “Question overview,” tapping a number takes you to that question, so outcome (b) can start at the first reading question. A flag button, “Mark for review,” marks a question, and “Ready to submit?” at the end of the section counts marked and unanswered ones.

Each section closes when its time ends, after 105 minutes and then 50, and a section closed by time skips that last check.

Under “Pacing,” the results page lists the 105-minute section as one row, with no time for when reading began. Ukiyoe Japanese wrote the questions, and the scores are counted from correct answers, unlike the JLPT's scaled scores.

Signing in is required to begin a mock. A free account has one full mock, shared by all five levels, and taking it again brings back the same questions.

The 2012 and 2018 official workbooks print 105 and 50 minutes on the covers of their N2 booklets, the same times as today. To time real JLPT questions on paper, those booklets are enough, and you do not need Ukiyoe Japanese for that. The three questions above work on them too.

To pass N2, your total must reach 90 of 180, and each of the three scoring sections must reach 19 of its 60.

The mock's results page gives Language Knowledge, Reading, and Listening an estimate each, marked “Above sectional pass mark” or “Below sectional pass mark.” Its “By question type” list gives the number right for each type, the three new ones included.

An N2 results page has no “Practice this type” link. To practice a weak type, open it under “Practice by question type” on the “JLPT Mock Exams” page.

Then answer the third question again from where you were when time ended, and keep or change the order for the next one.

A Listening score under 19 is not about the order of the 105 minutes. For that, the field note on listening practice comes next.

So what sets your order on the next mock? The third question.

Before your next N2 mock, put reading first if vocabulary or reading was unfinished when time ended.

Try each of the three new N2 types once before you time a full mock.

About 155 minutes, in two test sections: Language Knowledge and Reading take 105, and Listening takes 50. The exact listening time follows the length of its recordings.

N2 alone, according to the JLPT's table of test items. The guidebook summary gives about five of them in a test.

You can find one on the JLPT site and one in Ukiyoe Japanese. The site posts the N2 booklets of both official workbooks, with 105 and 50 minutes on their covers. After you sign up, Ukiyoe Japanese gives one free full mock in total, and it can be at N2.

A signed-in account opens one full mock in total for free, at whichever level you pick, with no limit on retakes. Word formation and the other new N2 types also have practice by type, and those questions count toward a free account's daily limit.