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JLPT N3 vs N2: What Actually Changes?
N3 to N2 is one of the biggest jumps in the JLPT. Here is what the official descriptions, the test format, the pass marks and the study hours say.
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Many learners say N3 to N2 feels like a bigger step than N5 to N4 or N4 to N3. Here is what the official materials say, and what we can work out from them.
The short answer
N3 is about everyday Japanese "to a certain degree". N2 is about everyday Japanese plus a wider range of situations, such as newspaper articles and news reports. N2 also asks you to follow the author's intent and the relationships between speakers.
What the official descriptions say
| N3 | N2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | Understand everyday Japanese to a certain degree | Understand everyday Japanese, and to a degree Japanese in a variety of situations |
| Reading | Texts with specific content on everyday topics; the gist of headlines; harder everyday texts when paraphrases help | Clearly written texts on many topics, such as newspaper and magazine articles and simple critiques; the author's intent |
| Listening | Coherent everyday conversation at near-natural speed; the relationship between speakers | Conversations and news at close to natural speed in varied settings; the relationship between speakers and the main points |
The key change is in reading. At N3 a paraphrase can rescue you. At N2 you are expected to read real articles on many subjects.
The test format
According to the official JLPT site, the sections and times are:
| Level | Sections (minutes) |
|---|---|
| N3 | Vocabulary 30, Grammar and Reading 70, Listening 40 |
| N2 | Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading 105, Listening 50 |
N3 is 140 minutes of timed sections and N2 is 155. The scoring is the same shape for both: three scored sections, Language Knowledge (Vocabulary and Grammar), Reading and Listening, each from 0 to 60, for a total of 180.
Pass marks: why N2 looks lower
The overall pass mark is 95 out of 180 for N3 and 90 out of 180 for N2. For both levels you also need at least 19 out of 60 in each section.
It is tempting to read 90 versus 95 as "N2 is easier". Do not. JLPT scores are scaled, not percent-correct, so you cannot compare pass marks across levels as if they were raw percentages.
How much more study is needed?
The best data we know of is a set of self-reported study hours for learners living in Japan, collected between 2010 and 2015. The ranges are in the table below.
| Level | Learners who already know kanji (for example, Chinese speakers) | Learners with no kanji background |
|---|---|---|
| N3 | 700 to 1,100 hours | 950 to 1,700 hours |
| N2 | 1,150 to 1,800 hours | 1,600 to 2,800 hours |
Subtracting, the extra time from the N3 range to the N2 range is about 450 to 700 hours with a kanji background and about 650 to 1,100 hours without one. These are rough ranges and everyone is different.
What to focus on if you are moving up
- Reading speed and volume. N2 reading is longer and more abstract. Read a little every day.
- Kanji. Commonly cited estimates are about 650 kanji for N3 and about 1,000 for N2. These are estimates, not official numbers.
- Listening at natural speed. Do not leave listening for the last month. It has its own minimum score. See why you can fail the JLPT with a high total score.
If you are still deciding between levels, start with which JLPT level should you take.