Kanken Pre-2 Study (Step 2)

This morning (July 18th, 2022) I started Step 2 of my Kanji Kentei Pre-2 study journey. You might think that that means I finished Step 1 and in a way that is true. But for me, Step 1 is an ongoing process but I will talk about that in the next post. Today I am going to talk about the KanKen Start app (漢検スタートアプリ）.

KanKen Start

 I use the Android version of this app. There is an iOS version. I imagine it's very similar although I can't verify that as I don't have an iOS device. So when I talk about this app, I am talking about the Android version.

Cost

First, this is a free app with premium features. From Level 10 to Level 5, the drills are free and I think you get one free test for each of those levels. You can unlock an extra 12 tests for 200 yen per level.

From Level 4 to Level 2, you need to pay to access both the drills and the tests. And the price is 700 yen for each. That is 1,400 yen per level. 

Level Pre-1 and Level 1 are a little cheaper, at 500 yen for drills and 500 yen for tests. That is 1,000 yen per level. I'm not sure why the price drops but I think I read somewhere that there isn't much content for those levels.

I have paid for all the drills and tests from Level 10 through Level Pre-2 which is what I started studying today (July 18th, 2022).

Content

According to the app, there are about 8,000 free drills and 15,000 drills in total. There are 13 practice tests for each level. I really don't know if this app is sufficient to pass an actual test. But for me, by studying the drills, I was able to pass the practice tests in the app. The first official test I took was Level 5 and I used a textbook (Step 3) and past tests (Step 4) before I took the test. I will talk about Step 3 and Step 4 later.

Quality

This is an official app but it hasn't been updated since 2016. The reviews are few and mixed. I think it's a great app though, as it has helped me pass both the Level 5 and Level 3 official tests. (Yes, I got notified that I passed Level 3 last week. I should get the certificate sometime this week.)

It's easy to use and I will talk about my process a little below but first, the one gripe I have with this app is that it sometimes crashes. But luckily, it has never crashed mid-use. It only crashes on start-up and it always starts fine on the second attempt. This is my experience with a Samsung Galaxy S8.

Oh, I do have another gripe. And that is that I can't select and copy text if I want to check some vocabulary. It's not too bad because if I need to, I'll take a screenshot and use Google Lens to check.

Process

This is a Japanese app for Japanese people so you will have to follow the instructions in Japanese. They are not so hard and if you want to learn Japanese you should think of it as practice.

1. Select Level (準２級)

2. Choose Drill (ドリル)

3. Select the first section. In this case reading (読み). Each section has 13 sets of drills and I gradually work my way through all of them. I don't do them in a particular order but some drills are easier and take less time than others. I often do those while I am at work. I often leave the drills where I have to write the kanji later.

4. As this is my first time, all drills are in the unsolved (解いていない問題) section. I will make some mistakes and just pass on other problems. When the set of drills is complete, all some problems will be categorized as mistakes (間違えた問題) or skipped (パスした問題).

5. I will select the mistakes and if I get them correct this time, I will touch the checkbox, if I don't get them correct I will leave them as is.

6. I will do the same for the skipped questions. And I will repeat until all the questions I got wrong or skipped on my first round are now marked as checked (チェックした問題).

7. I move on to the next set and keep going until none of the questions are marked as mistakes or skipped and all the questions that I made a mistake on or skipped in the first round are checked (チェックした問題).

8. Then I start again from the beginning but this time I am only practicing the チェックした問題. In the second round, I usually do the quizzes in order. I keep going until all the questions are solved.

That is my process for using this app and it has served me well. But here are a few more details. Usually, the first round is slow as I check the meanings of words and sentences. I use four apps/websites to check meanings.

1. Google Translate - If I can read the kanji, I use voice input on Google Translate as it is faster than typing.

2. DeepL - Sometimes the Google Translate translation is gibberish, so I double-check with DeepL.

3. Jisho.org - I use this app a lot when I just want to check one word.

4. Google Lens - I use this to copy text from images if I don't know how to read the kanji. I find it faster than writing the kanji in Google Translate. (I use the apps on my Android phone and Chromebook.)

Flashcards

I check the meanings of many words and sentences either to understand them or to confirm my understanding. I mostly don't take notes, make flashcards, or anything like that. In general, I just check the meaning and move on. I don't want to spend my time reviewing words on Anki or something like that. For me, I think it's better to just read the sentences again or even better, to read new sentences.

I said I mostly don't make flashcards. For the 読み section, there are some words that have irregular readings and some others that just won't stick in my mind for some reason. In this case, I use a flashcard app called Lexilize. I might talk about how and why I use this app in another post.

Final Word

This stage can take quite a while. I started writing this post on July 18th and as I finish this post I have done 30% of the drills. At the moment, I have some time so I feel I am processing faster than usual. For the previous level, my progress was so slow that after I finished all the drills, I wasn't confident so I ended up doing them all again. And again. 
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I'd like to have finished the level about two years ago and moved on. On the other hand, the fact that I did the drills three times means they are more likely to be in my long-term memory.