A 3-month JLPT N5 study plan (20–30 minutes a day)

Three months is a realistic target for reaching JLPT N5 level from zero, if you study a little every day. This plan assumes 20 to 30 minutes a day, most days. Got more time? Move faster. Less? Stretch each phase out. The order matters more than the speed.

If you're aiming for a specific test, count back from the date. The JLPT is usually held in July and December, and registration closes months in advance, so check the official website early.

The shape of the plan

Weeks 1–2: kana

• Learn hiragana in week 1, row by row, with a memory picture for each character. (Here's a one-week plan.)
• Learn katakana in week 2. It goes faster, because the sounds are the same.
• Stop using romaji as soon as you can. From now on, read everything in kana.

Weeks 3–5: the everyday basics

• Greetings, introducing yourself, and polite set phrases.
• Numbers, prices, times, days and dates.
• Practical phrases for shops, cafés and getting around.
• Start your first kanji: numbers, days of the week, 人, 日, 月, 円.

Learn each phrase with audio and say it out loud. Listening is a third of the N5 score, so train your ear from day one.

Weeks 6–9: grammar and verbs

This is the heart of N5:

• Polite verbs: 〜ます, 〜ません, 〜ました, 〜ませんでした, 〜ましょう.
• Particles: は, が, を, に, で, へ, と, も, の, から, まで. (A beginner's guide to the first ten.)
• Adjectives: い- and な-adjectives, in the present and past.
• The て-form, with 〜てください and 〜ています. (How to make it.)
• Wanting and liking: 〜たい, ほしい, 好き.
• Comparing, existence (あります / います), and reasons (〜から).

Keep adding kanji alongside, about ten a week, always inside words.

Weeks 10–11: reading and listening

• Read short texts in the exam's style: notices, messages, timetables and short stories, written with spaces between words.
• Listen to short conversations and answer one question about each: what happens next, why, or what to say.
• Review all the kanji you've met. N5 uses roughly a hundred.

Week 12: mock exam and review

• Sit a full timed mock exam: about 20 minutes of vocabulary, 40 of grammar and reading, and 30 of listening.
• Go through every question you missed and write down why you missed it: a word you didn't know, a grammar point, or rushing.
• Spend the rest of the week on those gaps.

How to make it stick

• Review before you learn. Start each session with a few minutes of review, then new material. Spaced review (seeing things again just as you're about to forget them) is far more efficient than cramming.
• Little and often. Twenty minutes every day beats three hours on Sunday.
• Say it out loud. Speaking isn't on the N5, but saying words aloud helps you remember them and hear them.
• Keep a streak, not a guilt trip. Missed a day? Do five minutes tomorrow and carry on.