JLPT N4 Practice Test: Pacing the 55-Minute Middle Section

N5 showed you the form of the JLPT: three timed sections, about 90 minutes in all. N4 adds 25 minutes, 15 of them in the middle section, so an N4 practice test mainly checks whether you finish that section.

When a section ends before you reach the last question, you might say:

最後の問題を解く時間がなくて、そのまま出した。さいごのもんだいをとくじかんがなくて、そのままだした。 (saigonomondaiwotokujikanganakute,sonomamadashita.)

I ran out of time to solve the last problem and turned it in as it was.

Are you preparing for N4 and unsure that 55 minutes is enough for its grammar and reading questions? This note splits those minutes one way, then shows how to check the split on a full mock. The N5 to N3 study plan, not this note, is for readers who have not studied for N5 yet.

N4 is given in three timed test sections: vocabulary, then grammar and reading together, then listening. The JLPT's 2020 notice shortened the first two, from 30 to 25 minutes and from 60 to 55, starting with the December 2020 test.

Listening stayed at 35 minutes, though the JLPT says its time may differ slightly with the length of the recordings. That makes about 115 minutes of test time in all.

The notice also gives an approximate number of questions for each type. By section, that is 28, 29, and 28, or about 85 in all. A real test may vary slightly from these numbers, and the numbers may be revised.

For the middle section, the approximate number fell from 35 to 29. The JLPT's FAQ says the difficulty and the content of the questions did not change. The vocabulary section also has one type of question that N5 does not have, called Usage.

Results come in two scoring sections, the parts that get separate scores. The first is Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) and Reading, out of 120, and the second is Listening, out of 60.

A pass needs a total of at least 90 out of 180, together with at least 38 and 19 in those two sections. These pass marks have applied to N4 since the December 2010 test, so the 2020 change left them as they were.

The field note on the N5 practice test works through the same two-part rule with example scores. From N3 up, results have three scoring sections instead of two, and the field note on the N3 practice test explains how they are split.

The JLPT site posts the N4 sets of its two official workbooks, from 2012 and 2018. Counted from their answer keys, both N4 sets have 35 questions in the middle section, the approximate number from before the 2020 change.

That is six more questions than the 29 of today's form. The JLPT's sample page and both workbooks are covered in more detail in the field note on the N5 practice test.

The middle section has six types of question. Here they are with their approximate numbers, marked as grammar or reading:

That is 21 grammar questions and eight reading questions, 29 in all. These are the notice's approximate numbers, not a fixed count for every test.

Here is one way to pace the 55 minutes. It is an example made for this note, not a JLPT recommendation.

Say you give grammar 20 minutes, reading 28 minutes, and keep seven minutes to check your answers. That is a little under one minute for each grammar question and 3.5 minutes for each reading question.

Inside reading, you could give short passages 10 minutes, mid-size passages 10 minutes, and information retrieval eight minutes.

Before December 2020, the same section gave 60 minutes to an approximate 35 questions, about 1.7 minutes each. Today it gives 55 minutes to 29, about 1.9 each, calculated from the approximate numbers. The section got shorter, and each question got a little more time.

To replace the example with your own numbers, look at the clock when you answer your last grammar question. The minutes before that point are your grammar time, and the minutes after it are your reading time.

“Pacing” on the results page of an N4 mock shows the time you used in each section against its limit. A section that closed at its limit is marked “Time ran out” and is scored as it was.

Ukiyoe Japanese has seven of these mocks, “N4 Practice Test A” to “G,” and each section closes at its time limit.

Pacing gives one time for the whole middle section, so the boundary between grammar and reading is the time you write down yourself. The scores are estimates from raw answers to questions written for Ukiyoe Japanese, not JLPT results.

An account is needed before a mock starts. The free limit is one full mock in total per account, across all levels, and a retake of that mock uses the same questions.

For official JLPT questions on paper, use the workbook files from the JLPT site, in the earlier form described above.

Check three things on the results page, in this order. First, see whether “Pacing” marks the middle section, listed as “Language Knowledge (Grammar) · Reading,” with “Time ran out.” Second, look at “Review your answers” and see where “No answer” appears in that section.

Third, use “By question type” to see which types lost points. The second check matters because Pacing does not split the section. Unanswered questions are scored as wrong, so blanks grouped at the end, in reading, show where the time ended.

If the section timed out, the blanks are at the end, and the grammar types are mostly right, the problem is time, not grammar. Compare the grammar minutes you wrote down with your plan, or note them on the next mock.

If grammar went over its plan, keep it to the planned minutes next time. If it did not, reading needed more time than the split gave it. Practice the reading types, and move a few minutes from checking to reading.

If the section ended in time with no blanks, the problem is not time. Practice the grammar or reading types that lost points. At N4, a “Practice this type” link appears under each type that has a wrong answer.

If the section timed out and the grammar types are also low, grammar is using both the time and the points. Practice the grammar types first, before you practice for speed.

If “Time ran out” is on the vocabulary section instead, do the same three checks there, with its 25 minutes and about 28 questions.

If every section ended in time and the lost points are scattered, the split is not the problem. When the listening estimate is under its mark of 19, the field note on listening practice is the next page to read.

Whichever check applies, the next change is a small one. Before the next mock begins, write that one change on a piece of paper.

If the middle section shows “Time ran out,” check where the unanswered questions are before you choose what to study.

Split the 55 minutes on paper first, then replace the split with the times from your own mock.

The test time is about 115 minutes: 25 for vocabulary, 55 for grammar and reading, and 35 for listening. Listening can take a little more or less time, depending on the recordings.

Yes, in two forms. The N4 sets of both official workbooks can be downloaded from the JLPT site, and they predate the December 2020 change. In Ukiyoe Japanese, each signed-in account gets one full mock free in total, whatever the level.

You can, but treat the time as practice only. Their N4 sets have the earlier middle section of 35 questions. A time from a workbook does not compare directly with today's 55 minutes for about 29.

One full mock in total comes with a free account, at any level, and you can retake it as often as you like. Single types of question can also be practiced in the browser, within a free account's daily practice limit.