These are the tips from the students who passed Grade 4 exam.

Soeren in December 2001

Experience with Grade 4 JLPT (Dec 2000)/Studying:
Grammar:
I didn't have time to prepare flashcards for Kanji or Grammar, but I did write down all grammar rules I had learned in order to memorize their structure and then reviewed the workbook exercises before the exam.


Kanji:
For memorizing Kanji, especially if one wants to learn all Kanji eventually and therefore needs a consistent approach, I can strongly recommend the book "A Guide to remembering Japanese Characters" by Kenneth G. Henshall.
There are many books that supply mnemonics for Kanji, but this is based on actual historic developments and is not only the most consisten, but extremely interesting.


I have also Kanji cards from bookstores, heaped them into piles, and reviewed them on weekends, incl. all on- and kun-yumis.


Now I am very happy that I invested that time in the beginning. I noticed that a lot of other people focus on vocabulary/grammar in kana first and get to Kanji later. Probably everyone has their own style.


As far as I am concerned, I found it better to focus on Kanji first (after Jap. for Busy people III) up to 1,000 and now that I learn more vocabulary, I can remember new words much better through associations from their Kanjis.


Listening Comprehension:
My suggestion would be to focus on the overall flow of the scene in the first go and eliminate one or two choices already and focus on key words in the repitition, thereby (hopefully) eliminating the rest.
It's good to sit in front or ask for loud volume in class because people cough and sneeze in between.
Overall tip:

(i) Keep well track of time. If there are many short questions, then skip questions first if they require too much time and come back later.
If you have only few, longer questions/related to longer texts, then don't skip, but comb through with concentration and if necessary a second/third time right away. Then decide and move on.



(ii) in breaks, make an effort to really relax, get some fresh air and have the right food. Don't think about past decisions/answers.