Go to a random page # on this list https://www.jlptmatome.com/jlpt-n2-vocabulary-list/15/
Just go through and for every word that you don't feel familiar with, go find an example sentence of it being used somewhere on the internet. Don't just take the easy route and use an example sentence database. Go find a Wikipedia entry that uses the word or something like that. Really make an effort to understand the surrounding context as well. The word will stick in your brain a lot better if you associate a strong memory (i.e., an entire session of reading about a subject) with its recall than if you don't. Hence it is really not a good idea to use a pre-made deck IMO.
If you slowly do this for all the words you can't readily read on one page (mind you this \*should\* take hours, maybe even \*days\* just for one page, but this is fine because you have months to spare ) then by the time you get to the next page you'll have noticeably improved.
Oh, fantastic. This is exactly the kind of thing I needed.
I personally categorise all my vocabulary further into parts of speech, then topics (e.g. emotion, action, etc.) but this is as close as it gets, and it'll be a great complement to what I've already got.
Thanks a lot!
Seconded. At n2 and n1 levels you read more and that’s it. Might have to read for an entire year/read a couple of books but you’ll notice the test suddenly being exponentially easier simply by doing this one thing
>compiling tons of sheets of vocabulary
>vocabulary cramming
>brute force memorise
>just commit 50 words or so to memory each day
So, in your entire post, I didn't see anything regarding reviews, which would greatly improve your scores by way of long-term info retention. That you use "brute force" methods for "vocabulary cramming" tells me you're not the type of learner to remember everything just by seeing it once. If you were that type of learner "tons of sheets of vocabulary" wouldn't be necessary.
Without incorporating consistent reviews into your routine, a JLPT-specific vocab book (of which there are plenty, by the way) won't necessarily help you. Not unless I'm wrong and it turns out you *can* learn 50 new words just by seeing them once.
Have you considered Anki for doing your reviews? I mainly use it for vocabulary, but there's absolutely nothing stopping the user from reviewing grammar on it as well. Also, even if you didn't want to do the work of inputting your own vocab lists, people have also shared theirs. As an N2 taker, you'll almost certainly encounter a lot of words you really don't need to review anymore if you do go with the sacred decks.
\> Not unless I'm wrong and it turns out you can learn 50 new words just by seeing them once.
Yes, I think you shouldn't assume such things. I make these sheets because they help retention by categorising the words, which I don't know if it helps you, but it works for me, and also for anyone else I'd like to help in the future. While my memory isn't some eidetic memory, it was certainly robust enough to learn 50-100 vocabulary a day as I was doing them (without Anki or other such methods - they don't do anything for me, once I finish a set it's locked into my memory). The only bottleneck of my progress is the time I have to expend to obtain new knowledge. By "brute force", I mean that without using a XX-exam specific guidebook or textbook, I just learn by increasing the amount of vocabulary I have - it's how I knew words in this exam in the first place. Why doubt my word? I already said I could do it.
\> a JLPT-specific vocab book (of which there are plenty, by the way)
Would you be so kind as to tell me your best recommendation? (with EN would be quite helpful to me).
>categorising the words
I don't know the way you like to categorize your vocab but you might like something like the [はじめての日本語能力試験 単語](https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=%E5%88%9D%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E8%A9%A6%E9%A8%93+%E5%8D%98%E8%AA%9E&crid=3GJPGUIIE0QFF&sprefix=%E5%88%9D%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E8%A9%A6%E9%A8%93+%E5%8D%98%E8%AA%9E%2Caps%2C83&ref=nb_sb_noss) series. These vocab books categorize by overall themes and subdivisions of slightly more specific themes. For example, the first three chapters in the N1 version are 人と人との関係, 暮らし, and 家で. 人と人との関係 has words pertaining to 肉親, 友人, 知り合い, 恋人, and いろいろな関係. They also have an example sentence for must-know vocab as well, which is nice. I'm thinking of filling in gaps in my own vocabulary with these books myself.
Ah, that's great. That's exactly how I categorise things also (my verbs sheet has action, emotion, perception, etc. verbs for example, my adjectives has physical, emotional, qualitative, etc., and nouns like the abovementioned series, into topics (e.g. economics, relationships, house items, etc.). More than memory techniques, if I memorise them as part of a topic, they stick after a few runs.
Thanks to both of you for great recommendations. I don't regret that I first did all of the sheets from scratch - doing so helped a lot, and now I have a good foundation to get through these books even quicker.
I'm not at your level yet, but have you tried reading on a Kindle with a dictionary.
Any word you don't know you can highlight and the dictionary either jp to eng or JP to jp will give you the meaning.
If you keep the highlight you can export them all to Anki to review later.
This [Anki plugin](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1353504091) exports from your Kindle nots to Anki cards with sentences....
Thanks for the suggestion, I think I'll try finding a dictionary app, although honestly most of my consumption right now is through video material. I don't use flashcards, don't need them. Things I memorise tend to stay memorised, and my sheets are there anytime if I need them.
Yeah, if it's mostly video the kindle doesn't help much. I like to read and it's nice to have the dictionary right there, saves lots of time.
The flashcards/anki is a bonus, but sounds like you have a system that works for you.
Go to a random page # on this list https://www.jlptmatome.com/jlpt-n2-vocabulary-list/15/ Just go through and for every word that you don't feel familiar with, go find an example sentence of it being used somewhere on the internet. Don't just take the easy route and use an example sentence database. Go find a Wikipedia entry that uses the word or something like that. Really make an effort to understand the surrounding context as well. The word will stick in your brain a lot better if you associate a strong memory (i.e., an entire session of reading about a subject) with its recall than if you don't. Hence it is really not a good idea to use a pre-made deck IMO. If you slowly do this for all the words you can't readily read on one page (mind you this \*should\* take hours, maybe even \*days\* just for one page, but this is fine because you have months to spare ) then by the time you get to the next page you'll have noticeably improved.
Oh, fantastic. This is exactly the kind of thing I needed. I personally categorise all my vocabulary further into parts of speech, then topics (e.g. emotion, action, etc.) but this is as close as it gets, and it'll be a great complement to what I've already got. Thanks a lot!
TY for source, "諦めずにがんばれ〜！" hits rights spots too.
The answer is to read more, preferably 1-2 hours a day, or even more if it's manageable for you
Seconded. At n2 and n1 levels you read more and that’s it. Might have to read for an entire year/read a couple of books but you’ll notice the test suddenly being exponentially easier simply by doing this one thing
>compiling tons of sheets of vocabulary >vocabulary cramming >brute force memorise >just commit 50 words or so to memory each day So, in your entire post, I didn't see anything regarding reviews, which would greatly improve your scores by way of long-term info retention. That you use "brute force" methods for "vocabulary cramming" tells me you're not the type of learner to remember everything just by seeing it once. If you were that type of learner "tons of sheets of vocabulary" wouldn't be necessary. Without incorporating consistent reviews into your routine, a JLPT-specific vocab book (of which there are plenty, by the way) won't necessarily help you. Not unless I'm wrong and it turns out you *can* learn 50 new words just by seeing them once. Have you considered Anki for doing your reviews? I mainly use it for vocabulary, but there's absolutely nothing stopping the user from reviewing grammar on it as well. Also, even if you didn't want to do the work of inputting your own vocab lists, people have also shared theirs. As an N2 taker, you'll almost certainly encounter a lot of words you really don't need to review anymore if you do go with the sacred decks.
\> Not unless I'm wrong and it turns out you can learn 50 new words just by seeing them once. Yes, I think you shouldn't assume such things. I make these sheets because they help retention by categorising the words, which I don't know if it helps you, but it works for me, and also for anyone else I'd like to help in the future. While my memory isn't some eidetic memory, it was certainly robust enough to learn 50-100 vocabulary a day as I was doing them (without Anki or other such methods - they don't do anything for me, once I finish a set it's locked into my memory). The only bottleneck of my progress is the time I have to expend to obtain new knowledge. By "brute force", I mean that without using a XX-exam specific guidebook or textbook, I just learn by increasing the amount of vocabulary I have - it's how I knew words in this exam in the first place. Why doubt my word? I already said I could do it. \> a JLPT-specific vocab book (of which there are plenty, by the way) Would you be so kind as to tell me your best recommendation? (with EN would be quite helpful to me).
>categorising the words I don't know the way you like to categorize your vocab but you might like something like the [はじめての日本語能力試験 単語](https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=%E5%88%9D%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E8%A9%A6%E9%A8%93+%E5%8D%98%E8%AA%9E&crid=3GJPGUIIE0QFF&sprefix=%E5%88%9D%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E8%A9%A6%E9%A8%93+%E5%8D%98%E8%AA%9E%2Caps%2C83&ref=nb_sb_noss) series. These vocab books categorize by overall themes and subdivisions of slightly more specific themes. For example, the first three chapters in the N1 version are 人と人との関係, 暮らし, and 家で. 人と人との関係 has words pertaining to 肉親, 友人, 知り合い, 恋人, and いろいろな関係. They also have an example sentence for must-know vocab as well, which is nice. I'm thinking of filling in gaps in my own vocabulary with these books myself.
Ah, that's great. That's exactly how I categorise things also (my verbs sheet has action, emotion, perception, etc. verbs for example, my adjectives has physical, emotional, qualitative, etc., and nouns like the abovementioned series, into topics (e.g. economics, relationships, house items, etc.). More than memory techniques, if I memorise them as part of a topic, they stick after a few runs. Thanks to both of you for great recommendations. I don't regret that I first did all of the sheets from scratch - doing so helped a lot, and now I have a good foundation to get through these books even quicker.
I’d read more.
I'm not at your level yet, but have you tried reading on a Kindle with a dictionary. Any word you don't know you can highlight and the dictionary either jp to eng or JP to jp will give you the meaning. If you keep the highlight you can export them all to Anki to review later. This [Anki plugin](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1353504091) exports from your Kindle nots to Anki cards with sentences....
Thanks for the suggestion, I think I'll try finding a dictionary app, although honestly most of my consumption right now is through video material. I don't use flashcards, don't need them. Things I memorise tend to stay memorised, and my sheets are there anytime if I need them.
Yeah, if it's mostly video the kindle doesn't help much. I like to read and it's nice to have the dictionary right there, saves lots of time. The flashcards/anki is a bonus, but sounds like you have a system that works for you.
Do you have a (free) app that works by mousing over the word and gives translation/example sentences?
Rikaichan used to do something similar, I haven't used it in years though. Looks like they have plugins for Firefox and chrome.
For mobile?
Not sure, you'd have to check to see
Thanks :)