Recommended prep materials for JLPT?

[JocelynFM]

Hi all,

JLPT time is approaching fast, so I was wondering what peoples recommendations are for materials to prepare for the JLPT? (Other than Jpod101.com, of course

I am particularly interested in recommendations for ２級, as I passed ３級 last year.

Here are my recommendations for level 3:

For grammar and vocab, I used the Bonjinsha ３級問題集.

http://www.thejapanshop.com/product.php ... 267&page=1

It is basically a work book, with different sections for vocab, grammar, listening and reading. The grammar section is really good, and I found the actual JLPT grammar quite easy after finishing this book. Particularly helpful was all the conjugation tables for all the different grammars. For example, do you know how to properly conjugate　はずだ and らしい through all 24 permutations? It is not as easy as you might think...

Having said that, although the grammar section is really good, I found the vocab/reading sections so-so, and the listening section a bit pants (and that’s assuming you have the CD - it is sold separately.) Also, it is not that exciting... but it got the job done, for me at least.

Much better for the listening is the Unicom ３級 listening tapes. I found these to be excellent. They seems to be hard to track down at the moment (amazon.co.jp lists them as "currently unavailable").

It is still available on Sasuga books though, although they give precious little information about it (not even a photo):

http://www.sasugabooks.com/product_info ... s_id=24295

There is also an old copy going on eBay with photos + more info.

http://tinyurl.com/yovo5s

So, does anyone have any other recommendations?

[annie]

The only book I used for preparing for 2kyu was the 完全マスター　grammar book.

I bought the kanji one too, but never made it more than a few pages in.

I hear that their reading book is helpful, but they didn't publish it early enough for me to find it.

For listening practice, I'd suggest downloading a few of the past exams and practicing with those.