Oh, by the way! I also wrote a guide on exactly how to fail the exam, just in case you are interested.

Left (左) vs. Right (右)

If you look at them calmly, you can easily see the difference between these two kanjis. Now, imagine yourself in an exam room—maybe one you haven’t stepped into for years—with a limited amount of time, an old clock ticking away on the wall, and a proctor who probably doesn’t speak English as well as they speak Japanese. 

Under that pressure, the difference between 左 (hidari – left) and 右 (migi – right) basically comes down to stroke order.

Person (人) vs. To Enter (入)

This one is great (in a terrible way)! On a computer screen, you can see a slight difference, but on a printed test paper? Not always—especially when your brain is flooded with cortisol and adrenaline (dopamine, where are you?). 

The trick is that the left stroke of 人 (hito – person) is longer than the right one, whereas in 入る (hairu – to enter), the right stroke is the one that extends longer than the left stroke. 

One Day / First Day of the Month (一日)

Can you read this as ichi-nichi? Yes, you can, if the meaning of 一日 is doing something all day long or every single day. However, on the JLPT, the context is almost always used to indicate the first day of the month. 

In that case, the correct reading is NOT ichi-nichi, it is Tsuitachi (ついたち). It sounds strange, but that’s exactly how it is. On the exam, multiple-choice options for 一日 will pop up, deliberately INCLUDING ichi-nichi. That’s where many students fail, but you will be one of those who WON’T fall into the trap.

Today (今日)

Another one from the series: “Kanjis with completely random readings,” 今日. If you follow textbook logic and read it according to the onyomi (Chinese reading)—which is how we usually read two or more kanjis combined (like 今月 – kongetsu) —you would read it as kon-nichi. 

Technically, that’s not wrong, but on the actual JLPT multiple-choice question, the correct answer will almost certainly be Kyou (きょう).

Dog (犬) vs. Fat/Chubby (太)

Literally, the only difference here is where the tiny dot is located. 

To remember this easily, a little dot on the top is like a dog’s ear (犬 – inu). If the dot isn’t on the top but rather inside the “belly,” it becomes 太い (futoi – thick, fat, chubby). Don’t let a single misplaced ink speck sabotage your score.