One Month to the December JLPT: How to Review Your Kanji

The second Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) of 2026 is on Sunday, December 6 (official schedule). Counting from today, November 4, that is 32 days. The test is not held in every city in both sessions, so if you haven’t yet, check the date for your own test site.

This post is about what to do with your kanji in those 32 days. It starts with new kanji versus kanji you already know, then gives a four-week plan, the reading mistakes learners often make, and a guide to daily time.

New kanji, or the ones you already know?

With a month left, one approach is to put almost all of your kanji time into the kanji you have already met, and very little into new ones.

The reason is how the test asks about kanji. In the vocabulary section, you read a kanji word and choose its reading, or see a word in hiragana and choose how it is written. What you are asked about is words, not single characters. A kanji you have “sort of” learned, whose shape you know but whose reading in a word you mix up, is the kanji most likely to cost you points. Turning those into kanji you are sure of gains more than adding new ones you will only half know by December.

The exception is if you are clearly short of the level. If you are taking N4 and have barely started the N4 kanji, the first week can go to a quick first pass. Even then, one guideline is to stop adding new kanji by the middle of November.

What the test asks

According to the official test sections page, every level has Kanji reading questions, and N5 to N2 also have Orthography questions, where you choose the right kanji for a word. At N3 to N5, vocabulary is a short separate section: 20 minutes at N5, 25 at N4 and 30 at N3. At N1 and N2, it is part of one longer section with grammar and reading.

Kanji matter outside the vocabulary questions too. In reading, a passage full of kanji you can’t read slows you down on every line. How to use your reading time before the test is in JLPT Reading Practice Before the December Test, and the kanji counts for each level are in How Many Kanji for Each JLPT Level.

A four-week plan

Week 1 (November 4 to 10): sort. Go through all the kanji for your level once, each inside a common word: 時間 rather than 時 alone. Sort them into three piles: sure, unsure, and don’t know. Be strict. If you hesitated, it goes in the unsure pile.

Week 2 (November 11 to 17): the unsure pile. Spend most of your kanji time on the unsure pile. Write each word by hand, reading included. Look at kanji you confuse side by side, such as 待 and 持. Pairs like these are in Similar-Looking Kanji Learners Mix Up.

Week 3 (November 18 to 24): readings and the official samples. Focus on the reading mistakes in the next section. Try the official sample questions for your level to get used to how the questions look. Mix in the kanji from the level below; they appear on the test too.

Last stretch (November 25 to December 5): keep it light. No new kanji. Review in short sessions, mixing all three piles, so that the sure pile stays sure. The day before the test, do a short review only and get some sleep.

The reading mistakes learners make most

These are the places where learners know the kanji but choose the wrong reading. When the options in a kanji reading question look almost the same, these are the differences to check first.

Long vowels. 大きい is おおきい, 通り is とおり, but 学校 is がっこう and 王 is おう. Whether a long o is written おお or おう has to be learned word by word.

The small っ. 学校 がっこう, 切手 きって. Leaving out the small っ, or adding one where there isn’t one, is an easy mistake when you read fast.

Small ゃ, ゅ, ょ. 病院 (hospital) is びょういん; 美容院 (beauty salon) is びよういん. One small ょ changes the word.

Sound changes with counters. 一本 いっぽん, 二本 にほん, 三本 さんぼん, 六本 ろっぽん. The same 本 is read ほん, ぼん or ぽん depending on the number before it.

Voicing in compounds. 手 is て and 紙 is かみ, but 手紙 (letter) is てがみ. The second part often becomes voiced in a compound.

On or kun. 生 is せい in 先生, う in 生まれる and い in 生きる. With a kanji like this, learn the reading together with the word. The difference between the two kinds of reading is in On’yomi and Kun’yomi.

When you get one of these wrong, write the whole reading out in hiragana once. Writing makes you decide on every kana, including the long vowel and the small っ.

How much time each day?

One guideline is 20 to 30 minutes of kanji a day, ideally split into two short sessions, morning and evening. Kanji are only part of the test. Listening and grammar need their share of the month, and kanji practice longer than that tends to become copying characters without thinking.

What matters more than the length of one session is not skipping days. Ten minutes on a busy day keeps the unsure pile moving. In the last week, cut back rather than add more.

Reviewing JLPT kanji with KanjiN

KanjiN is a kanji app for iPhone and iPad where you answer by handwriting. Instead of tapping a choice, you write on the screen with a finger or stylus. The interface is available in 16 languages, including English.

In the drill settings, choose JLPT and tick N5, N4 or N3. You can tick more than one level and practise them together, which suits the mixed review of the last stretch. The number of questions goes from 10 to 100 in steps of 10.

For the plan above, the drills fit like this:

• Reading Drill: you write the reading of a kanji word in hiragana. Because you write every kana yourself, it shows up long vowel and small っ mistakes that a multiple-choice question lets you guess past.
• Writing Drill: you write the kanji for a reading. This is the practice for the orthography questions.
• Reading Test and Writing Test: you answer a whole set first and then tap Grade. They work well for the Week 1 sort.
• Reading Match: you connect kanji to their readings by tapping. Good for a quick review on a busy day.

For the unsure pile, use My Data. Make a folder, add questions with an example sentence, the answer kanji and the reading in hiragana, then choose that folder in the drill settings. You can practise only your own folder, or mix it in with a level.

Today’s Drill, Today’s Challenge and the 10-question Skill Check are free. A one-time purchase, Unlock Everything, opens every drill, with no ads and no subscription. The first time you use it, the app downloads what it needs to read handwriting, so you need an internet connection then. KanjiN covers JLPT N5 to N3. If you are taking N2 or N1, you will need other materials for the kanji of those levels.

Keeping a daily drill going is in Practical Tips for KanjiN, and a first session is described in Getting Started with KanjiN. Good luck on December 6.