しあわせ

実力アップ!日本語能力試験3級 文法編 実力アップ! (Unicom Inc)

A challenging book. This is a Japanese Grammar written in Japanese. There are two pages of an English preface but after that you’re on your own. There is an English translation available separately but Part of what interested me was trying to cover the grammar in an immersive manner. It’s a bit slower than using an English book but it might pay off in the long run.

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３級問題種
Komoku Seiri Hyojyun Mondaishu 3kyu　(Bonjinsha)

This is an excellent book for revision. It consists almost solely of questions with no explanations. It’s completely in Japanese but understanding what you have to do is no problem. The useful idea behind the book is a short test you take at the start. Depending on the questions you get wrong it points you toward other sections of the book with the aim of improving your score. If you have already covered the material it would be a good book for the last 4 to 6 weeks of your JLPT study. It will help you focus on your weak points and consolidate your studies. I used an earlier version when I sat JLPT4 and found it very useful.

There are also audio tapes (I don’t think CDs are available) that go with this for the listening questions but they were so expensive I didn’t buy them.

完全マスター３級日本語能力試験文法問題対策
Mie Shigeno, Kaoru Seki, Shizue Nishikimi (スリーエーネットワーク)

By the same publisher as Minna No Nihongo series, this is a fantastic little book. It is very well designed and laid out and easy to use.

It covers all the grammar needed for JLPT3. It is very hard to get hold of a list of what grammar is needed, unlike the lists of kanji you can find. This book has it. For that alone you should buy it. (It’s fairly cheap at 1200 円 )

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日本語能力試験試験問題と正解３・４級
(Japan Educational Exchanges and Services and The Japan Foundation)

Every year JEES and the Japan Foundation publish the previous December’s test papers. They come in 2 volumes. One with level 4 and 3, one with level 2 and 1. You can usually find some past years but they do go out of print. I wonder if I shouldn’t start buying level 2 test papers now, but it’ll be a few years before I’m ready for level 2.

Basically what you get is the test paper reproduced exactly; A CD of the listening section; the answers and marking scheme; transcripts of the listening dialogues and statistics on the years scores.

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あなたの弱点がわかる!日本語能力試験3級模試×2
(Unicom)

This book has 2 mock exam papers for JLPT level 3. Complete with sheets for you to mark answers on by filling in boxes just like the actual test and a CD for the listening portion.

Where it is better than the official past exam papers you can buy is the extras.

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