A puzzling myth I’ve come across after coming to Japan is the idea among other foreigners that the JLPT N1 is some esoteric test filled with impractical, obscure knowledge. This idea confounds me personally as someone who passed the N1 several years ago without ever having opened a practice workbook or guide related to the test. I began self-studying Japanese as a teenager, and my knowledge and vocabulary came entirely from novels and manga I read as practice (with some help from a flash card app to quiz me on words I encountered as well). Surely, if this test was so impractical, I should not have been able to pass with just the knowledge of Japanese I had learned through actual reading.

This idea had to have come from somewhere, though. So what gave birth to this myth? There are likely many factors, but I think a huge part of it is that many self-studying Japanese learners have been conditioned by their school systems to believe languages are a subject like history or biology that you need to memorize and then regurgitate onto a test. When you took a Spanish or French test in school, there’s a good chance it only required you to know vocabulary in the realm of dozens or possibly a few hundred, and it tested them in an environment or context you had been familiarized with through a textbook or practice materials leading up to the test. The JLPT requires you to know over 1000 kanji characters and multiple vocabulary words associated with each and uses them in a variety of contexts. It’s unlike any language test most people have taken before.

This is precisely why the “school textbook” approach is, in my opinion, an inefficient approach for the higher levels of the JLPT. The test is fundamentally different from the tests you took in school in that it intentionally covers a wide breadth of language knowledge. You can’t get by simply cramming for it like a school test; it’s much easier and also better for you in the long run to create a solid and wide-ranging foundation of knowledge such that nothing on the test can surprise you. This foundation is best built through practical application and reinforcement of knowledge.

Make an effort to read something every day and vary what that something is. Read through news articles one day, a novel you’re interested the next, and maybe a good shonen manga for an easier read the day after that. Find a rhythm that you can keep up with without forcing yourself to.

But above all else, make sure your method of study is exciting foryou. I think the biggest reason that this method of study was so effective for me was simply because my desire to read novels and manga pushed me to reinforce my knowledge every day rather than making it feel like a chore. If you dread opening your textbook and have to force yourself to sit down for an hour and study, you’re not going to learn nearly as efficiently or effectively as someone who finds themselves accidentally finishing a book on a single Saturday evening because they were just that invested in the mystery novel they picked up last weekend. The best part about learning Japanese in particular is Japan’s huge output of media and pop culture ensures that there’s something out there for everyone to enjoy. Find that thing and make that your textbook.

Some believe certain people are simply talented when it comes to language learning, but a pattern I see in all of those “talented” individuals is their enthusiasm to invest time in the language. In the words of Bob Ross, “talent is a pursued interest.”

Pursuing your Japanese learning in this way will prepare you for the revelation you will inevitably have once your receive your N1 certificate just as it has many others — the realization that you have barely even scratched the surface. There’s still so much to learn and things you’re unfamiliar with. Reframing your mindset about learning Japanese will not only make this revelation less of a shock, but also make the road ahead a thrilling prospect rather than a daunting one.