I received an email from JET Programme Assistant Language Teacher Brian Futagaki in Chiba the other day, asking me about the trial Japanese Language Proficiency Test in March. What trial? I knew nothing about it and a quick spot of Googling left me none the wiser so here is Brian's account of the trial test:
About two weeks after the 12/4 test I got a small postcard from the Japan Foundation. They said that they will be conducting a practice test for the JLPT in order to more effectively administer it in the future. If you sat for the most recent test, you qualify. You show up at the University of Tokyo, Komaba on March 19 at 10am and take the trial test exactly as you would the real thing, the only difference is you have to take a questionaire afterwards. Upon completion you receive 5,000 yen, which is cool because I would actually pay them for such an opportunity! The registration is super simple. No picture needed, just fill out your name, address, level you want to take and registration number from the last JLPT. This almost messed me up because after I took the 3 kyu I forgot about my test voucher, which is where the number is printed. I finally tracked it down. Definitely important to save that voucher!
It sounds like a fantastic opportunity to have a trial run at the exam and find out how much you still have yet to learn but unfortunately it looks like participants are picked from the pool of last year's test takers only. And I'm guessing that being in Chiba - just a short ride from the test centre - didn't hurt.
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