Japanese Proficiency Power: We Take You by the Hand and Show You How To Pass the JLPT with Over 6 Hours of Screen Capture Video Lessons! So you are thinking about taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)? Well let me tell you now that the JLPT is a very tough test. In fact I have failed several levels. Just to give you an idea of how hard it is ...... in 2009 only 51.9 % of applicants passed level 4 (now level 5) and only 47.4 % of applicants passed level 3 (now level 4) So you can see your chances of passing the test are not so good. I failed the JLPT in 1995................. In 1995 being ambitious and overly confident I ignored my teachers warnings and took level 3 instead of level 4. I made a huge mistake not listening to my Japanese teacher. And I can tell you I already knew I had failed the test even before completing the first section. I wanted to give up and just walk out of the room. The rest of that test day was a nightmare. And waiting for my test result was just as bad. But worst of all was having to tell my teacher and classmates that I''d failed. Here I was the only one in my class who failed. Everyone else had passed their test. I was too embarrassed to go out and celebrate for my fellow students. After several months I stopped feeling sorry for myself and set a goal to ace the level 3 proficiency test. I bought heaps of Japanese study books and practice tests and started taking private lessons. I studied really hard and went through lots of material. Although I was improving I was still having trouble with JLPT practice tests. I just couldn''t get all the answers right within the test time limit. I realized I was too focused on grammar rules and memorizing Kanji. In my next lesson I asked my teacher to go through a practice test with me. I got her to explain how to answer the questions. We went through several tests a question at a time. And with every question I discoverd a method as to how to find the answer. It changed everthing.