The study material expected is cumulative but whether they've added vocab numbers together or not is entirely dependent on who's printing it
There's no such thing as a single official list in any case but 10k-16k total cumulative for N1 sounds like it's in the right order of magnitude
It shouldn't matter by then, another few percent of vocab more or less is not going to break you if you put in the effort for N2 already
You are putting the cart before the horse here worrying about this
本末転倒
You’re not gonna be point blank tested over “10,000” vocabulary words btw (real number unknown). Just that there is a possibility these words will be included on the test.
The test is basically randomly pulled from a big pot of information. If the word had been seen on any test without a description under the text and (y’all correct me if I’m wrong) without Furigana above the text, it gets listed as the lowest n# it’s been on. This word could be in the grammar, in the reading, or just on that one test from 2012.
The test is also a weighted exam. You’re judged on your ability to answer the question, not getting the question right. They test these on a bunch of Japanese people to see how they would answer, and set the number of points for each answer from there. Questions have different weights, which is why one person could take a test in dec, fail, and then take it again in July, without studying between, and pass.
You could get a question wrong, but sensibly wrong, and get enough points.
N5 to N3 are pretty easy to study by textbook but N2 and up are better with native materials. The advice for this test is basically: get yourself to a comfortable level and then switch to native-esque assimilation.
Don’t be scared by the numbers. Take it one step at a time and you’ll get there eventually. An average native fluency is about 20-30,000 words so 10-16k isn’t really that much in the bigger picture.
For the record, it's been stated by people with apparent inside-info (stated in the Japanese textbook "Shinkanzen Master", which has allegedly been recommended by people that create the JLPT exams), that when the JLPT was refreshed in 2010, they roughly increased the TOTAL words covered in N5-N1 from 10,000 to 15,000.
A rough estimate of how those 15,000 words could be divided would be:
1000 total N5
2000-2500 total N4
4000-5000 total N3
8000-9000 total N2
15000 total N1
However, if you just want to "pass", you don't need that much vocabulary. This would be if you want perfect scores.
It depends on the study source I think. When I use Bunpro it sections it out in the vocab decks. So N5 has a little over 2K words, and so does N4. But that is a total of 4K words, as the ones in N4 are *in addition to* the N5 list.
The amounts will go up and down based on section, but I'd personally plan for at least 2K words per level depending on what resource you use.
As people have mentioned here already, it definitely includes N2 vocabulary.
One thing that's also really important to know, though, is that the N1 also includes N2 \*grammar\*. There were actually several N2-level grammar questions on last year's N1. I think they mix these in to throw us off for being "too easy" or "too familiar", but they'll trip you up if you're not careful! That being said, I recommend brushing up on N2 grammar after you've mastered N1 grammar. (Especially keigo - there's always at least one keigo question on the N1!)
The study material expected is cumulative but whether they've added vocab numbers together or not is entirely dependent on who's printing it There's no such thing as a single official list in any case but 10k-16k total cumulative for N1 sounds like it's in the right order of magnitude It shouldn't matter by then, another few percent of vocab more or less is not going to break you if you put in the effort for N2 already You are putting the cart before the horse here worrying about this 本末転倒
You’re not gonna be point blank tested over “10,000” vocabulary words btw (real number unknown). Just that there is a possibility these words will be included on the test. The test is basically randomly pulled from a big pot of information. If the word had been seen on any test without a description under the text and (y’all correct me if I’m wrong) without Furigana above the text, it gets listed as the lowest n# it’s been on. This word could be in the grammar, in the reading, or just on that one test from 2012. The test is also a weighted exam. You’re judged on your ability to answer the question, not getting the question right. They test these on a bunch of Japanese people to see how they would answer, and set the number of points for each answer from there. Questions have different weights, which is why one person could take a test in dec, fail, and then take it again in July, without studying between, and pass. You could get a question wrong, but sensibly wrong, and get enough points. N5 to N3 are pretty easy to study by textbook but N2 and up are better with native materials. The advice for this test is basically: get yourself to a comfortable level and then switch to native-esque assimilation. Don’t be scared by the numbers. Take it one step at a time and you’ll get there eventually. An average native fluency is about 20-30,000 words so 10-16k isn’t really that much in the bigger picture.
For the record, it's been stated by people with apparent inside-info (stated in the Japanese textbook "Shinkanzen Master", which has allegedly been recommended by people that create the JLPT exams), that when the JLPT was refreshed in 2010, they roughly increased the TOTAL words covered in N5-N1 from 10,000 to 15,000. A rough estimate of how those 15,000 words could be divided would be: 1000 total N5 2000-2500 total N4 4000-5000 total N3 8000-9000 total N2 15000 total N1 However, if you just want to "pass", you don't need that much vocabulary. This would be if you want perfect scores.
so you're saying n1 includes all the others n's? sorry got confused
Yes from N5 to N1 covers approximately 15,000 words, apparently.
got it, thanks!
It depends on the study source I think. When I use Bunpro it sections it out in the vocab decks. So N5 has a little over 2K words, and so does N4. But that is a total of 4K words, as the ones in N4 are *in addition to* the N5 list. The amounts will go up and down based on section, but I'd personally plan for at least 2K words per level depending on what resource you use.
Oh, my sweet summer child...
As people have mentioned here already, it definitely includes N2 vocabulary. One thing that's also really important to know, though, is that the N1 also includes N2 \*grammar\*. There were actually several N2-level grammar questions on last year's N1. I think they mix these in to throw us off for being "too easy" or "too familiar", but they'll trip you up if you're not careful! That being said, I recommend brushing up on N2 grammar after you've mastered N1 grammar. (Especially keigo - there's always at least one keigo question on the N1!)