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<div style="background:#eef3fb;color:#303846;border:1px solid #c9d7ee;border-radius:12px;padding:14px 18px;margin:0 0 18px"><p style="margin:0;font-size:14px;line-height:1.6"><strong style="color:#171d29">Checked 21 October 2026.</strong> The plan is ours. The rules it is built on (pass marks, section times, test date) are jlpt.jp's and JEES's, read 21 Oct 2026.</p></div>

<div style="background:#fff8e8;color:#3a3020;border:1px solid #f0d9a8;border-left:4px solid #b7791f;border-radius:12px;padding:16px 20px;margin:0 0 18px"><p style="margin:0 0 6px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#b7791f">Test date</p><p style="margin:0;line-height:1.65"><strong>The next JLPT is on Sunday 6 December 2026.</strong> In Japan, N1 and N2 start at 9:10 and the room opens at 8:30. Outside Japan, confirm the timetable with your local host institution; in New Delhi, N1 and N2 are in the morning session.</p></div>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">In our view a month is not enough to learn N2 or N1 from scratch, and this plan does not pretend it is; we built it for learners already close to their level, where a month can protect a pass. The JLPT fails anyone below 19 out of 60 in any one section, however strong the total, so the last 30 days should be spent where a section is at risk, under real timing. The plan below is our own; the rules and dates it rests on come from jlpt.jp, JEES and MOSAI. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of the Japan Foundation or Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (JEES), which run the JLPT (JEES in Japan, the Japan Foundation overseas with local host institutions). Every rule, mark and date here is quoted or summarised from jlpt.jp, JEES and MOSAI (the host institution in New Delhi), read on 21 October 2026.</p>

<div style="display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:10px;margin:18px 0"><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">30 days</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">6 November to 6 December 2026</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">19 / 60</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">the floor in every section: plan around it</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">2</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">full timed rehearsals in the plan</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">1 free</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">N2-style grammar question below, our own</div></div></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;margin:-8px 0 18px">Pass marks and times: jlpt.jp and JEES, read 21 Oct 2026.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">jlpt.jp states the pass rule plainly: if <em>"there is even one scoring section where the score is below the sectional pass mark, examinees are determined to have failed, no matter how high the total score he/she might have."</em> N2 needs 90 of 180 and N1 needs 100, with at least 19 in each of Language Knowledge, Reading and Listening. That changes what a good last month looks like. A candidate scoring well in grammar but shaky in listening gains more from listening than from more grammar, because the floor fails first.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">One caution before you mark practice papers: the JLPT uses scaled scores, not a count of correct answers. In the FAQ's words, <em>"it is possible for an examinee with a high number of correct answers to receive a relatively modest scaled score."</em> So use practice percentages to compare your own sections and your own weeks, not to predict an exact score.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">The first sitting is the long one: vocabulary, grammar and reading share one clock. Running out of time on the last reading passages is a reading-score problem even if the cause is slow grammar, which is why the plan practises pace inside that sitting. jlpt.jp also says the test needs no cultural knowledge: <em>"all questions can be answered without cultural knowledge."</em></p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">For each rehearsal, note three things per section: how many questions you answered, how many you were sure of, and where the time went. Compare the second with the first section by section. A section that has not moved after three weeks of work needs a different method, not more hours of the same one. Sit both rehearsals at the time your own test starts, so that your concentration peaks in the right part of the day, and keep a break between the sittings like the one in your local timetable (in Japan it is 30 minutes for both N1 and N2).</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">jlpt.jp offers sample questions, with <em>"One sample question is offered for each test item type"</em>, and its FAQ says you can download listening audio from them. For more, it points to its Official Practice Workbooks, which it says contain questions <em>"selected from among those used in tests since the 2010 revision"</em>. Past papers as such are not released: <em>"The exact same test questions of every exam are not published."</em> jlpt.jp's site policy allows reproduction <em>"for personal use such as individual study"</em>. It also notes that some N1 and N2 grammar and reading samples and all the listening audio files contain third-party works, whose reprint and reproduction is prohibited without permission outside the exceptions in that policy.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">The first rehearsal decides where weeks 2 and 3 go. These are our rules of thumb, not jlpt.jp's; the only official parts are the pass marks they protect. Because practice percentages are not scaled scores, judge "at risk" by your own sections against each other.</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Habits that cost marks in the last month</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Studying only the strongest section because the practice scores feel good there.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Marking practice papers out of 100 and reading the result as a JLPT score.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Never sitting a full first sitting in one go, so the reading section is met tired for the first time on 6 December.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Learning new grammar lists in the final three days instead of reviewing your own mistakes.</li></ul></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">One N2-style grammar question (our own)</h3><p style="margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.6">Written by ProSyllabus in the "selecting grammar form" style. It is not from a JLPT paper or an official sample.</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.8;color:#171d29" lang="ja">朝から強い雨が降っていた（　　　）、試合は予定どおり行われた。</p><ol style="margin:0 0 10px;padding-left:24px;line-height:1.9" lang="ja"><li>にもかかわらず</li><li>からには</li><li>ことなく</li><li>ついでに</li></ol><details style="margin:6px 0 0"><summary style="cursor:pointer;font-weight:700;color:#1f7a45">Show the answer</summary><p style="margin:10px 0 0;line-height:1.7"><strong>1. にもかかわらず</strong> ("even though, despite"): heavy rain had been falling since morning, yet the match went ahead as planned. The second half runs against what the first half leads you to expect, which is exactly what にもかかわらず marks. <span lang="ja">からには</span> means "now that, since", which would make the rain a reason to hold the match. <span lang="ja">ことなく</span> ("without doing") follows the dictionary form of a verb, so it cannot follow <span lang="ja">降っていた</span>. <span lang="ja">ついでに</span> ("while you are at it") joins an extra action to a main one and makes no sense here.</p></details></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0" id="jlpt-30"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">JLPT: the last 30 days</h3><p style="margin:0 0 12px;line-height:1.6">Tick each step as you finish it. The dates assume the 6 December 2026 test.</p><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden;margin:0 0 6px"><div id="jlpt-30-bar" style="width:0%;height:12px;background:#1f7a45"></div></div><p id="jlpt-30-txt" style="margin:0 0 14px;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">0 of 11 done</p><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="0"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Week 1 (6 to 12 Nov) <span data-gc="0" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/3)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="0" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Full timed rehearsal 1 at my real start time</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="1" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Section-by-section notes: answered, sure of, where the time went</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="2" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>My weakest section named, from my practice accuracy by section</span></label></div><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="1"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Weeks 2 and 3 (13 to 26 Nov) <span data-gc="1" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/4)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="3" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Most study time on my lowest section</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="4" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Listening practice every day, even if it is my strongest section</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="5" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Grammar and reading under a fixed clock</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="6" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Voucher or admit card received and checked</span></label></div><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="2"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Week 4 and the last days (27 Nov to 5 Dec) <span data-gc="2" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/4)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="7" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Full timed rehearsal 2, phone off through the break</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="8" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Compared rehearsal 2 with rehearsal 1, section by section</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="9" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Light review of my own error notes only (3 to 5 Dec)</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="10" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Route, ID and start time checked</span></label></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Ticks are saved only in this browser on this device.</p><script>(function(){var R=document.getElementById('jlpt-30');if(!R)return;var K='psJlpt30_v1',N=11,bx=R.querySelectorAll('input[type=checkbox]'),s={};try{s=JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(K)||'{}')}catch(e){}function up(){var d=0;for(var i=0;i<bx.length;i++){if(bx[i].checked)d++;}document.getElementById('jlpt-30-bar').style.width=(d/N*100)+'%';document.getElementById('jlpt-30-txt').textContent=d+' of '+N+' done';var gs=R.querySelectorAll('[data-g]');for(var j=0;j<gs.length;j++){var c=gs[j].querySelectorAll('input'),k=0;for(var q=0;q<c.length;q++){if(c[q].checked)k++;}var sp=R.querySelector('[data-gc="'+gs[j].getAttribute('data-g')+'"]');if(sp)sp.textContent='('+k+'/'+c.length+')';}}for(var i=0;i<bx.length;i++){(function(b){if(s[b.getAttribute('data-i')])b.checked=true;b.addEventListener('change',function(){s[b.getAttribute('data-i')]=b.checked?1:0;try{localStorage.setItem(K,JSON.stringify(s))}catch(e){}up();});})(bx[i]);}up();})();</script></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">More in this series</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/jlpt-n2-pass-mark-sectional-scores" style="color:#255a45">N2 pass mark and sectional scores</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/jlpt-december-test-day-timetable-rules" style="color:#255a45">December test day: timetable and rules</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/jlpt-n1-vs-n2-difficulty" style="color:#255a45">JLPT N1 vs N2: difficulty, pass marks and which to take</a></li></ul></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Sources</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.jlpt.jp/e/guideline/results.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">jlpt.jp: Scoring Sections, Pass or Fail, Score Report (score ranges, overall and sectional pass marks)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.jlpt.jp/e/faq/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">jlpt.jp: FAQ (2026 dates, scaled scores, retakes, results, CEFR reference)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.jlpt.jp/e/guideline/testsections.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">jlpt.jp: Composition of Test Sections and Items (2026 dates, test times, item types by level)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://info.jees-jlpt.jp/info/2026-2jisshiannnai.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">JEES: Guidelines for the JLPT in 2026 (December) (in Japan), 14 Jul 2026: room opening, start times, section times, vouchers, results</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://mosai.org.in/examination-and-contest/jlpt-december-2026" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">MOSAI (local host institution, New Delhi): JLPT December-2026 (registration closed; admit cards in November; N1 and N2 in the morning session)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.jlpt.jp/e/samples/sampleindex.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">jlpt.jp: Sample questions and Official Practice Workbooks (one sample per item type; third-party copyright notes)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.jlpt.jp/e/policy.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">jlpt.jp: Site Policy, 1. Copyright (personal study use; other uses need permission)</a></li></ul><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472"><strong style="color:#1f7a45">official</strong> = a document published by the conducting body. <strong style="color:#8a5300">reported</strong> = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.</p></div>

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