Most JFT-Basic preparation fails in one of two ways. Either it is a textbook course that never practises the test, or it is a pile of practice questions with no plan for fixing what they reveal.
This plan does both: it starts with a diagnostic, spends six weeks on the four sections in a deliberate order, and ends with timed practice. It assumes about an hour a day and that you can already read hiragana and katakana. If you cannot yet, do that first — it is a week or two of work and nothing below is possible without it.
What you are preparing for
The test is about 50 questions in 60 minutes on a computer, in four sections of roughly equal size:
| Section | Japanese | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Script and Vocabulary | 文字と語彙 | Kana, basic kanji, everyday word choice |
| Conversation and Expression | 会話と表現 | The natural thing to say in a situation |
| Listening Comprehension | 聴解 | Short instructions, announcements, conversations |
| Reading Comprehension | 読解 | Notices, schedules, messages |
The number you need for a Specified Skilled Worker visa is 200 out of 250. There is no published table converting correct answers to points, so plan around 80% in practice, with margin — see how JFT-Basic scoring works.
Two things follow from that format. The content is practical rather than academic, so your study material should be too. And a little over a minute per question means speed is part of the syllabus.
Week 1 — Find out where you are
Sit a mock test before you study anything. Timed, no dictionary, no pausing. Our JFT-Basic Mock Test 1 takes 20 minutes.
Then read the result properly:
- Look at the four section scores, not the total. A weak section is your study plan.
- Read every explanation, including for the questions you got right.
- Write down what kind of mistake each wrong answer was — did not know the word, misread the kanji, missed a ただし, ran out of time. How to review a mock test explains the method.
Also this week: start daily listening and do not stop until test day. Fifteen minutes, every day. Listening is the slowest skill to improve and the one people postpone, which is exactly why it goes first. The method is in our listening guide.
Weeks 2–3 — Script and vocabulary
This section is the foundation of the other three: you cannot read a notice or follow an instruction made of words you do not know.
Reading speed. If kana still takes effort, drill it until it does not. Pay attention to the small characters — ゃゅょ and っ change the word entirely (びょういん is a hospital, びよういん is a hair salon).
Look-alike kanji. The test is fond of pairs that differ by one component: 休 and 体, 持 and 待, 会 and 合. Learn them as pairs, side by side, saying what the different part is.
Vocabulary by situation, not by list. Group words the way you will meet them:
- Time and numbers — dates, days of the week, counters, 午前 / 午後
- Places — 受付, 出口, 入口, 事務所, 倉庫, 食堂
- Work — 荷物, 機械, 書類, 休憩, 残業, 片付ける
- Safety and signs — 危ない, 注意, 禁止, 故障, 禁煙
- Katakana — レジ, シフト, エレベーター, ロッカー, ヘルメット
Twenty new words a day with daily review of the old ones is sustainable. Forty is not.
End of week 3: sit Mock Test 2 and compare section scores with week 1.
Weeks 4–5 — Conversation and expression
This section does not test grammar in the abstract. It gives you a situation and asks what a person would actually say.
Work on three things:
- Set phrases and their pairs. お先に失礼します is said by the person leaving; おつかれさまでした is the reply. Learn who says what, because the wrong answer is usually the other half of the pair.
- Request and permission patterns. 〜てください, 〜てもいいですか, 〜ていただけませんか, 〜ましょうか. For each one, ask: who does the action?
- Basic keigo direction. Honorific forms raise the other person; humble forms lower yourself. ご覧ください is for the customer’s looking, 拝見します is for yours.
All three are covered, with tables, in JFT-Basic conversation phrases and keigo.
Say the phrases aloud. This section rewards people who have the phrases in their mouth, not just on a flashcard.
Week 6 — Reading
JFT-Basic reading is not literature. It is a notice on a break-room door, a shift rota, a message from a colleague, a sign with opening hours — and the question is nearly always one you can only answer by checking a condition: a time against a range, a day against a table, an item against an exception.
Practise three habits:
- Read the question before the passage, so you know what you are looking for.
- Read to the end. ただし, ※ and 〜だけ arrive late and change the answer.
- Convert before you compare. 前の日, 第2金曜日, 13:00 and 午後 all need translating into the terms the question uses.
How to read JFT-Basic notices fast goes through the patterns and the vocabulary of notices.
End of week 6: sit Mock Test 3. By now every section should be at or near 80%. If one is not, it gets the extra time in week 7.
Week 7 — Speed
You now know most of what you need. The remaining problem is doing it at a minute a question.
- Time everything. Ten vocabulary questions in eight minutes. One notice in ninety seconds.
- Practise letting go. If a question has taken two minutes, choose the best remaining option and move on. There is no negative marking, so a guess costs nothing and a stall costs the next three questions.
- Watch the reading section. There are no per-section time limits in the real test, which means one long passage can quietly spend the minutes the rest of the paper needed.
Week 8 — Confirm, then rest
Early in the week, sit Mock Test 4 cold. It is the last unseen set, so treat it as the rehearsal: timed, one sitting, no interruptions.
Spend the remaining days on review, not new material — your error log, your look-alike kanji pairs, the set phrases. Keep the daily listening going.
The day before: no cramming. Check the test-centre address, the start time and that the name on your ID matches your registration exactly (registration guide). Then sleep.
The plan at a glance
| Week | Focus | Mock test |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diagnostic; start daily listening | Test 1, cold |
| 2–3 | Script, kanji pairs, vocabulary by situation | Test 2 at the end |
| 4–5 | Set phrases, requests, keigo direction | — |
| 6 | Notices, tables, conditions | Test 3 at the end |
| 7 | Speed and pacing | Timed drills |
| 8 | Final rehearsal, review, rest | Test 4, early in the week |
Are you ready?
You are ready to sit the real test when all of these are true:
- You score above 80% on a timed set you have not seen before — comfortably, not by one question.
- No section is dragging. Three strong sections do not rescue a weak fourth when the bar is this high.
- You finish with time to spare.
- When you get a question wrong, you can say why within a few seconds.
If you are sitting exactly on 80%, give it two more weeks. And remember how the retake rule is built: below 200 you can sit again after 45 days, so a first attempt is not final — but it is still a fee and a month and a half.
If you fall behind
You will miss days. The rule is simple: never skip the listening, and never skip the mock tests. Drop new vocabulary for a day before you drop either of those. The mock tests are what tell you whether the plan is working, and the listening is what cannot be made up later.
If you are more than a week behind, do not compress the plan — move your test date. Sittings are frequent, and that flexibility is one of the real advantages JFT-Basic has over an exam held twice a year.
Next steps
- Take JFT-Basic Mock Test 1 — your week 1 diagnostic
- JFT-Basic test format — what each section contains
- How to register for JFT-Basic
Test content, scoring and retake rules are set by the Japan Foundation. Confirm current details on the official JFT-Basic site before you book.