If you are interested in knowing some of the most DEVIOUS N5 kanjis, read this post.
Study kanjis completely isolated, like they are random pebbles in a desert, instead of learning them through context or focusing on the high-frequency words that will actually show up on the exam.
Completely ignore listening practice.
Do barely any mock exams. Instead, waste your time on those cute little exercises in traditional Japanese textbooks that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual exam style. Oh, and when you finally decide to take a practice test, don’t time yourself. That way, when the real exam day comes, you’ll think you have all the time in the world, panic, and probably bubble in every single answer wrong on the scantron.
That first mistake was exactly how I ruined my N2 exam the first time around. Back then, I was living in Natal (a city in Brazil), and just getting registered was a whole ordeal. I ended up road-tripping over 1,000 km (around 620 miles!) all the way to Salvador (another city in BR, in another state) by car with my mom and sister. If I remember correctly, we slept at some community association building… all that just for me to fail the test because of my own stupidity. I was studying kanjis in isolation—making it look all pretty, taping notes all over my bedroom walls—but in the end, it was completely useless. I was just memorizing the kun yomi (Japanese reading) and on yomi (Chinese reading) without actually learning real VOCABULARY, sentence structures, or how and where to actually use those words.
If you follow these tips, I’m 100% sure you will successfully throw your money, time, and dignity (like I did) out the window and secure your spot among the 50% of people who fail the JLPT N5!