The Nihongo So-Matome series, from leading Japanese-language-teaching publishers Ask, are some of the most popular study guides for students preparing for the JLPT. This N3-level reading comprehension textbook, one part of a 5-book set (sold separately), is designed to be used as a six-week study guide. The book is structured in 6 chapters, each containing 7 lessons, with the goal to complete one lesson every day. The book starts with notices and catalogs you will see in your daily life and gradually moves up to higher-level readings, such as letters and opinion articles. There are English, Chinese, and Korean translations of key vocabulary and expressions, enabling you to study alone. There are practice questions to test your understanding, and answers are written at the end of the following day’s lesson.
If you follow the study regime presented in the book, from Day 1 to Day 6 every week, you will study various sentence structures and practice your comprehension of them. On Day 7, you will check what you have learned by doing the “Jissen Mondai” (practice examples) that are in the JLPT format.
Useful vocabulary or grammar points are introduced in each unit before you do the reading, which will help in other areas of your Japanese. Furthermore, you will learn skills for searching for information and understanding main ideas, as well as key grammatical structures, all necessary for a proper command of the language. This book is designed to not only help you prepare for the test but also increase your comprehension to help you with your life in Japan. There’s a good reason that the Nihongo So-Matome study guides are so popular, and if you are studying for the N3, we can’t recommend this book enough.