I was only doing N3 today... been studying Japanese for about a year and it seemed hard! Not the listening, but the rest. Reading might have been the hardest for me as well, but in a way (esp. when I dedicated some more time to a specific question) I could squeeze some logic out of it even without completely understanding everything. Time limit was the problem there. While vocabulary had quite a few totally unfamiliar words and kanji, and turned into some wild guessing at times.
Still, if I fail it, I think it would be borderline, so not planning to sit for it again (never did the lower levels either). N2 next December... maybe I'll have fewer problems with it really, because me and languages tend to go somewhat exponentially - once I know enough to read some stuff comfortably, I start doing a lot of extra stuff for fun (in this case manga, video games), so it goes faster. I already watch most anime and drama without subs, so my listening is a lot better than reading and grammar :/
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Reading might have been the hardest for me as well, but in a way (esp. when I dedicated some more time to a specific question) I could squeeze some logic out of it even without completely understanding everything. Time limit was the problem there. While vocabulary had quite a few totally unfamiliar words and kanji, and turned into some wild guessing at times.
Still, if I fail it, I think it would be borderline, so not planning to sit for it again (never did the lower levels either). N2 next December... maybe I'll have fewer problems with it really, because me and languages tend to go somewhat exponentially - once I know enough to read some stuff comfortably, I start doing a lot of extra stuff for fun (in this case manga, video games), so it goes faster. I already watch most anime and drama without subs, so my listening is a lot better than reading and grammar :/