Passed the Kanji kentei pre-2

December 2022

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Test (kanken) is a test that assess one's level with Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese language. It is aimed at Japanese speakers.

The level pre-2 has a pass rate of around 32% and tests characters learned up to the sixth grade of Japanese elementary school, plus an additional 925 for a total of 1951 characters.

I studied mostly with two resources. The first one is an app that used to be on the Apple Store, but was withdrawn since: 漢検でる順 by 物書堂. The second is the 3DS version of the official game 漢検トレーニング２.

Thanks to these two resources, as well as Anki for spaced repetition, I was able to pass with a grade of 191/200. I highly recommand the 3DS game to anyone that is interested in sitting this exam.

My goal now will be to pass the level 2. Levels above are more for enthusiasts, so I don't think that I will try my hand at pre-1 or 1, but rather try to consolidate level 2 and get most of it as active vocabulary.