N1 Vocab - Advice from people having taken N1/N2 needed !

[プチクレア]

So I've decided to go for N1 this year... I'm not overly worried because I'm mostly doing it for fun, have been studying Japanese for 15 years, can read novels, listen to tv shows without subtitles, etc... I just have time this year that I won't have later on so I decided to finally stop postponing it (the last 日本語能力試験 test I took was the old 4級 in my very first year of studying Japanese ).

But I want to do it right and will be reviewing and working for the test : practicing questions, reviewing the grammar thoroughly, and also the vocab.

Here's my question : I have my own vocab Anki Deck, which is a little shy of 8000 words, covering all the vocab from all the Jpod lessons since the beginning, plus some from EnglishPod. But the JLPT vocab can be rather specific at times... Should I stick with my own deck (which will keep growing this year) or create a new one specific to JLPT vocab ? I have some ready-made decks for that, but I believe you actually learn a lot if you're inputing your own vocab, even from lists. I need advice from people having taken N1/N2 or the old 1/2 級 about the vocabulary they encountered in the tests. What did you study ? Were there actually a lot of "outlandish" vocab you hadn't encountered outside of specific JLPT study ?

Thanks for your help !

(btw, I know I've just written that I thought creating your own deck was better than using ready-made ones, but I'm ok sharing my anki decks if someone wants them. I'll be adding a grammar deck this year too, 5 grammar points a day 5 days a week, starting from the basics. However, the decks are in french and japanese, not english ! I'll leave links if somebody wants them)

[Javizy]

I haven't taken the tests, but I'm planning to go for N1 this year, like you. You can find N1 vocabulary lists around, and I SRS'd all the words I didn't know from the one I found, but I still encounter plenty of new words even in N1 workbooks and what not. I read an N2 practice reading question that was about the effects of exercise on 軟骨. It didn't stop me from getting the question right though, so I think if you at least know the words in the specification, your actual reading and listening abilities are what will count towards getting a good score on the test.

Personally, I'd recommend checking out one of the lists just to be sure, and then adding words you don't know from your study materials, and useful-sounding words you're exposed to elsewhere. Trying practice tests will be a good idea. By the sounds of it, you'll already be fine on the vocab section, but learning new words certainly doesn't hurt.

This test is a great way to check your current level http://www.j-cat.org/ If you can get around 300, then you probably don't need to study at all, but if you don't, it'll give you some idea of where you are on each section. It takes around an hour, and the questions are pretty hardcore (they change "organically" to match your level), so don't take it as lightly as I did. It's a really good chance to test yourself, and you can only do it once every six months.

By the way, have you learnt the additional characters from the new 常用表? It came into effect in March, and I was totally putting it off, but now it's dawned on me that they might be tested in the exam. Luckily, Heisig put out a supplement of the 159 characters that weren't in RTK and I started going through them yesterday. I think the total number is closer to 200 if you only learnt the original 常用 set required for the old Level 1. If you read a lot, you'll probably be familiar with most of them anyway.

[プチクレア]

Thanks for the link, Javizyさん. I'm still waiting for full approval but I took the sample questions just to have an idea, and the whole thing looks neat !

I will be adding the new 常用漢字 to my kanji deck too. I don't know what the status will be for them and N1, but since the test will take place after they have come into effect, I think you're right and they might pop-up.

I think it's 頑張りましょう for both of us this year,then.

[mutley]

Sounds like you probably have a pretty good vocabulary anyway, but it's worth checking out one of the books aimed specifically at the test. When I looked through one there were certainly some areas that were lacking more than others (for example the were a lot of words made from combining two different verbs that I didn't know e.g. 取り立てる、張り合う)

I took the new N1 in december (don't know if I passed yet, it'll probably be pretty tight). The test contained a very large amount of reading of essay style compositions. The best advice I could give for preparing is to get used to reading these sorts of materials at a good speed.
The listening shouldn't be too difficult if you can listen to a Japanese news report and understand most of what is going on.