上級へのとびら - コンテンツとマルチメディアで学ぶ日本語. JLPT 3/4 (N4/N5) Textbooks (updated: 20/11/09) - Japanese Meetup @Singapore (Singapore. JLPT 3 Grammar Exercises » しあわせ. 完全マスター３級日本語能力試験文法問題対策Mie Shigeno, Kaoru Seki, Shizue Nishikimi (スリーエーネットワーク) By the same publisher as Minna No Nihongo series, this is a fantastic little book. It is very well designed and laid out and easy to use. It covers all the grammar needed for JLPT3. It is very hard to get hold of a list of what grammar is needed, unlike the lists of kanji you can find. This book has it. There are 120 grammar points, most consisting of a single page or less. It is possible to learn the grammar from this book, however the explanations are very brief. As usual in London you can find it at JP Books in Mitsukoshi and also in the Japan Centre. The publisher, 3A Networks, has an extract on their site which includes the contents pages.
Unicom Preparatory Course For JLPT3 » しあわせ. 実力アップ! 日本語能力試験3級 文法編 実力アップ! (Unicom Inc) A challenging book. This is a Japanese Grammar written in Japanese. There are two pages of an English preface but after that you’re on your own. Of particular interest are Section 2 40 Important Points (重要語４０のポイント）, and Section 3 Confusing Words（まちがいやすい言葉）One dealing with difficult words that have a high probability of appearing on the test and the other with expressions using similar words but having different meanings. There are also 2 CDs with this book. 55 Reading Comprehension Tests for JLPT3 » しあわせ. I actually bought this as part of my 100万字 challenge. (At time of writing not at all on target at about 2.5万字）Finding suitable texts is quite a challenge. This one seemed to kill two birds with one stone. I could have reading practice and at the same time have reading comprehension practice for JLPT.
The easier and quicker I can read the easier the JLPT will be I think. The book wasn’t specifically written for JLPT but the author felt it was at such a level to be useful. The material isn’t exactly exciting but is reasonably interesting, including many Japanese related topics. JLPT Mock Test Level 3 » しあわせ. あなたの弱点がわかる! 日本語能力試験3級模試×2 (Unicom) This book has 2 mock exam papers for JLPT level 3. Complete with sheets for you to mark answers on by filling in boxes just like the actual test and a CD for the listening portion. Where it is better than the official past exam papers you can buy is the extras. Firstly it fully explains the composition of the papers. What each section is testing and what the questions are like. Then it gives a suggested time for each section on the paper. The answers have explanations for the trickier problems. You then analyse your test scores and times.
Lastly there is a section aimed at improving your scores or at least raising them to a pass level. I think this is a better buy than the official past test papers. At the early stages of preparation I can’t find the time to do a full paper in a single day but instead I complete it over 3 days. I think that you’d need to be scoring 50% at this stage (4 months to go), otherwise save the exam fee and try next year.