JLPT · A1 on the CEFR
JLPT N5
The entry point. Hiragana, katakana, basic kanji and everyday classroom Japanese.
- Pass mark
- 80 / 180
- Exam length
- 1 h 30 min
- Kanji (est.)
- ~100
- Vocabulary (est.)
- ~800
- Study time (est.)
- 150–250 hours
Last reviewed
What N5 means you can do
Paraphrased from the official JLPT level guidelines. If most of these already describe you, this is your level.
- Read and understand typical expressions and sentences written in hiragana, katakana and basic kanji.
- Listen to and understand short, slowly-spoken conversations from daily life and the classroom.
- Introduce yourself, ask simple questions and handle routine shop or station exchanges.
The N5 exam, section by section
3 separate timed sittings with breaks between them.1 h 30 min of testing in total.
| Section | Japanese | Time | What it contains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language Knowledge (Vocabulary) | 言語知識（文字・語彙） | 20 min | Kanji readings, orthography, contextual word choice and paraphrasing. |
| Language Knowledge (Grammar) · Reading | 言語知識（文法）・読解 | 40 min | Sentence grammar, sentence assembly, text grammar and short passages. |
| Listening | 聴解 | 30 min | Task comprehension, point comprehension and quick verbal responses. |
Preparation
How to prepare for N5
Kana first, and nothing else until it is solid. Reading hiragana and katakana without hesitating is the single highest-return fortnight of study you will ever do, and almost everyone who stalls at N5 stalled here. Drop romaji entirely as early as you can bear to.
Then grammar breadth over vocabulary depth. The particles — は, が, を, に, で — and the ます-form carry more N5 marks than any word list. Learn each pattern inside a sentence you can recall, not as an English gloss.
Start listening in week two, not week nine. Listening has its own minimum score, it is the slowest skill to build, and fifteen minutes a day for three months will beat any amount of concentrated revision at the end.
Free practice
JLPT N5 Practice Test 1
Twenty questions in the shape of the real N5 paper: kanji readings, orthography, contextual vocabulary, paraphrase, sentence grammar, short reading passages and listening. The real N5 runs 90 minutes across three sittings; this set is a focused 20-minute check on whether you are ready.
FAQ