JLPT N1 Intensive Exam Preparation

What this cohort is about

A 4-week intensive course designed to prepare students for the JLPT N1 exam. Covers listening, grammar, reading, vocabulary, and kanji with weekly mock questions and practice tests.

4-week intensive JLPT preparation

• Weekly live sessions with an expert JLPT instructor
• Mock questions and practice tests every week
• Key vocabulary and kanji preparation
• Downloadable vocabulary decks and materials

What makes N1 difficult

The JLPT N1 exam is notoriously difficult, with a passing rate of less than 25%. N1 covers around 10,000 words and 2,000 kanji, including uncommon and rare words.

The grammar includes formal and literary forms such as ずにはいられない, んがため and べからず, most of which you will rarely hear in conversation. Reading passages are academic or literary, they are long, and the answer often depends on a single qualifying phrase.

The listening audio runs at full native speed with little repetition, and you frequently have to work out what the speaker is implying rather than what they said. Many people who use Japanese every day still fail N1, because it tests for true native understanding.

How this course helps

For N1, vocabulary is taught through reading and taken from the range that appears repeatedly on past papers, so your study time goes to the words most likely to come up.

Formal and literary grammar is grouped by function to help you work out an unfamiliar form from context during the exam, while reading sessions focus on the structure of the argument and the qualifying language that decides most N1 questions.

Listening practice runs at full speed throughout, including the inference questions that carry the most marks. Your weekly mock tests are scored by section so you know where to focus your remaining study time before the actual test.