Dear New York Japanese Learners!

The season is approaching for the JLPT or Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The test will be held on December 4th of this year, at Lehman College. As noted below, the test will be 500 people maximum, and we do mean maximum. Usually the test sells about halfway through September in New York City, and New York is always the first center to sell out and fill up. Your other options if you miss New York are Boston or DC, we recommend all potential test takers to sign up early.

Another very important part of signing up for the JLPT this year is there are NO ONLINE APPLICATIONS. MAIL ONLY. Why is this significant? Well, last year it was quite easy to secure a seat, you just had to go online, fill out the appropriate information and hit “submit.” Now, you’ll have to plan ahead, making sure all your documentation is in order, and plan to have it shipped to LA with enough time to allow for any mistakes, etc. to be rectified.

In other words, plan ahead. Don’t wait until mid-September to fill out your application form for the JLPT. New York City is the most popular and fastest selling out location for the JLPT in the U.S., so use your time wisely. The paper application form will become available on the Japan Foundation LA website in mid-August, http://www.jflalc.org/jlpt_index.html, so be on the lookout for the application and fill it out quickly and accurately.

Oh yes, and while you’re at it, start studying now. If you haven’t started studying for the JLPT and haven’t taken the test before, you’ll need to take at least one or two practice tests, and review all grammar, vocabulary, and listening and reading exercises that will be on your exam. Good luck with your studies, in our other article on this website we discuss how to best study for the Japanese Proficiency test. Please take a look!