JLPT guide
N3 or N2? The pass mark that surprises people
N3 needs a higher score than N2. It is not a misprint, and it does not make N3 harder.
There is a line in the JLPT's own scoring table that people assume is a misprint: N3 needs 95 out of 180 to pass, and N2 needs 90. The harder exam has the lower pass mark.
It is not a mistake, and it does not make N3 harder
JLPT scores are scaled, not counted. The pass mark is set against the scale for that level, so a raw percentage at N3 and a raw percentage at N2 are not the same thing. What the two numbers tell you is how the scale is drawn, not which paper is harder — and N2 is unquestionably the harder paper.
The rule that fails people at both levels is the same, and it is not the total. Every scored section has its own minimum, and one section below it fails the whole paper however high the total. How the JLPT is scored has the arithmetic.
What actually changes between them
| N3 | N2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sitting time | 140 min | 155 min |
| Pass mark | 95 / 180 | 90 / 180 |
| Booklets | Three | Two (vocabulary, grammar and reading are one paper) |
| Kanji | ~600 | ~1,000 |
| Vocabulary | ~3,500 | ~6,000 |
The structural change is the second row from the bottom of that table and it is easy to miss: at N2 the vocabulary, grammar and reading are one timed paper. You are given 105 minutes and you decide how much of it the reading gets. Candidates who have only ever sat N3, where the booklets are separate and the clock is handed to them, lose reading questions to the clock rather than to the language.
Which one to enter
Enter N2 if the certificate is for a job, a visa point score or a university. N3 is rarely asked for by name; N2 is the line most employers in Japan draw. Failing N2 costs the fee and tells you exactly which section to work on, which is worth more than passing an N3 nobody asked for.
Enter N3 if you want a checkpoint, if reading long texts is still slow, or if you are more than a year from N2 and want something this year.
Then check the guess against a paper
Do not decide from a table. Sit one of each: there are 53 N3 papers and 54 N2 papers here, timed and marked section by section, free. The section breakdown after you submit answers the question better than any article can.