Review + Mock Exam そうふくしゅう②
About this unit
Two levels, twenty-four units, 220 kanji, nearly nine hundred words, and one morning to show it. This review unit rebuilds N4 as three systems you can hold in your head at once: the conjugation engine that every form runs on, the four conditionals, and the ladder of almost-knowing. Then the mock exam, in real JLPT format. The dialogue is exam day itself, because Maria's story and yours have been the same story all along.
語彙 · Vocabulary
Read the words 語彙
Read straight down the list once, out loud if you can. Don't grind them here, the Anki deck at the bottom does the memorizing. Right now you only want the shapes and sounds to feel familiar.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 結果 | けっか | result |
| 成績 | せいせき | grades; performance |
| 点数 | てんすう | score; points |
| リスニング | リスニング | listening (section) |
| 模擬試験 | もぎしけん | mock exam |
| 自信 | じしん | confidence |
| 緊張 | きんちょう | nervousness |
| 緊張します | きんちょうします | to be nervous |
| リラックス | リラックス | relaxation |
| 落ち着きます | おちつきます | to calm down |
| 見直します | みなおします | to re-check; to review one's answers |
| 時計 | とけい | watch; clock |
| 早起き | はやおき | early rising |
| 遅刻 | ちこく | being late |
| 会場 | かいじょう | venue |
| 受付 | うけつけ | reception (desk) |
| 番号 | ばんごう | number (assigned) |
| 祈ります | いのります | to pray; to wish |
| お祝い | おいわい | celebration |
| お疲れ様 | おつかれさま | good work; well done today |
Learn the kanji 漢字
The 0 kanji for this unit. Tap any card to flip between its meaning and its readings, and say the reading aloud as it flips.
Read it in context 会話
Everything above, working together. Read the conversation top to bottom, out loud. Every line is built only from words and kanji you have already met, so resist the English, tap a word only if you are truly stuck.
The first Sunday of July. Outside the university test venue, three friends with three examinee numbers and varying amounts of sleep.
These units are short on purpose. The grammar only clicks when the words are already automatic, so front-load the deck here, and let spaced repetition do the memorizing while the lesson does the teaching.
- Import this unit's deck. Generate it with
npm run content:deck, then importn4-unit12-deck.apkginto Anki or Migaku. (SRS connection status lives on your dashboard.) - Learn all 20 words as new cards. Get through the whole deck in a sitting or two, you're aiming for recognition, not mastery yet.
- Review daily until every card reaches a 3–5 day interval. When the whole deck has settled at that spacing, the words are holding on their own and won't fight you during the grammar.
- Then come back. You'll read the patterns instead of decoding the words, and that's when a "small" unit actually soaks in.
Tick the box above once the deck is soaking in, then the grammar unlocks.
文法 · Grammar
Take one pattern at a time. Read the rule, then read each example out loud until the shape feels obvious. The words should already be automatic from your deck, so all you are learning here is how they lock together.
文化 · Culture note
A short read on the world these words live in. Nothing to drill here, just the context that makes the grammar feel like something people actually say.
JLPT day has a liturgy. Examinees arrive absurdly early, Japanese punctuality doubles for exams, find their room by examinee number, and lay out the permitted objects: pencils, eraser, watch (venues famously lack clocks), voucher. Phones go off and away; the proctors read instructions verbatim; the listening section's audio quality is a running joke among test-takers worldwide. Between sections, hallways fill with people furiously flipping through workbooks one last time, which has never once helped.
The results ritual is longer: about two months of waiting, then a login page that millions of people refresh simultaneously. N4 requires roughly half the total points, with a minimum in each section, a pass is a pass, whether by one point or fifty. The certificate arrives by mail, printed more formally than most diplomas, and goes on resumes in Japan without irony: JLPT levels are real currency for jobs and visas.
But the deeper ritual is the one Maria's group has planned: the after-party. うちあげ, the celebration after a shared effort, is mandatory culture, whether the exam went well or badly. You did the thing; the thing is over; now ramen. And the road doesn't end here. N3, the bridge to real fluency, where textbook Japanese and native Japanese finally merge, is where this course goes next. 道はつづく.
Placement credited this unit, the worksheet and quiz are optional.
生教材 · Immersion
This week in the wild
The final missions of N4 are a graduation ceremony, each one something that was impossible for you six months ago, and is merely challenging now.
You will not understand everything, that is the point. Success is recognizing this unit's patterns in the wild, not full comprehension. Tick what you tried and move on.
発話 · Speaking
Ghosting
The last ghost drills of N4 are a conversation with everyone you've been, say them as yourself. Then go schedule a real conversation, a language partner, a tutor, a Japanese-speaking friend. The course got your mouth moving; only people keep it moving.
Three passes per line: listen, speak along with the voice (that's the ghost), then speak alone. Out loud, whispering doesn't build the muscle. Prompt drills show English first: answer in Japanese before revealing.
Audio uses your browser's Japanese voice. If you hear nothing, your system may need a Japanese voice installed, read the lines aloud from the text instead; the ghost pass still works.
練習 · Worksheet
The pre-exam warmup, one item per system. Type answers in hiragana.
Check your answers to continue, it doesn't matter how many you miss.
Unit Quiz JLPT FORMAT
Pass mark 80% · instant explanations · passing unlocks the next unit