Question about the Level 2 JLPT exam?

Question

I would like to take the JLPT exam next December and was wondering if anyone had any good textbooks to recommend for study. The highest textbook I currently have is called, "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese." I found this one to be very good and have heard that there is an advanced version, however I have yet to find it if there is.

Currently, kanji is my best area, so I am mostly concerned with the reading sections, grammar, and vocabulary. If anyone has any good suggestions on how to study for this one, I would love to hear them. :)

Answer 1

Wish I still had them so I could tell you the exact titles, but I threw them away when I moved back to the US a few years ago.I've had many, though, as it took me two tries and I needed more practice. At any rate, the best one was from Bonjinsha. (There's a series; Level 2 is white with green labeling.) The title was something like "Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken Taisaku Mondaishu". Unfortunately, after visiting their website, I don't think they make it anymore:-( Here are their current recommendations, though:

http://www.bonjinsha.com/examination/jlpt/

Answer 2

I don't know which books are best for the exam since they all seem to cover the same things. But something else that has helped me "study" is watching Japanese TV programs. Just by listening to the conversations, you start to understand grammar structures of sentences naturally and you can pick up a lot of new words. Also, a lot of the programs have captions, so it helps you out with your reading skills too. If you want the less conversational and more proper Japanese, you can watch the news. Aside from that, I guess you can just try reading more Japanese magazines and newspapers.