Our free exam demo is a complete mock test: 48 questions, four sections, one 60-minute clock, run under the real exam’s rules. It is free and it needs no sign-up.
It is also easy to waste. Most people open it on a phone, answer fifteen questions on a bus, close the tab, and learn nothing. Here is how to get a real number out of it.
Set the conditions first
The point of a mock is not the questions. It is the conditions. Four of them matter:
- A laptop or desktop, at a desk. The real test is a computer at a Prometric centre, not a phone in bed.
- Headphones, with the volume set before you start. The listening clips play twice, automatically, and there is no replay button - the same as the real exam.
- Sixty minutes you will not be interrupted in. There is no pause button. If somebody calls you, the clock keeps running, exactly as it would in the test centre.
- Nothing else open. No dictionary, no notes, no translation tab. A score produced with help measures nothing.
If you cannot get all four today, wait until you can. A mock sat badly is worse than no mock, because it produces a number you will then believe.
During: two decisions, made in advance
Do not linger. There is no negative marking, so a blank and a wrong answer score the same. If a question is not falling into place within about a minute, choose the option that feels least wrong and move on. Details in time management.
Read the question before the audio starts. In the listening section, the situation and the question appear on screen before the clip plays. Reading them first is the single highest-value habit in that section - you hear the clip already knowing what you are listening for.
After: the part everybody skips
When the clock stops you get an estimated score out of 250, a CEFR band, and a breakdown by section. The breakdown is the useful part. The score is just the headline.
Look at which of the four sections is furthest behind the others. That is where your next month goes. Not the section you feel worst about - the one the numbers say.
Then read every question back, including the ones you got right. A right answer you guessed is a gap you have not found yet, and it will not stay lucky on the day.
What the number is worth
It is an estimate, and it says so on the page. The official conversion to the 10-250 scale is the Japan Foundation’s own equating, and it is not published - see why JFT-Basic scores are out of 250.
So do not book a test date on one mock. Sit a second one a few days later, under the same conditions. Two consistent results a week apart is a signal. One result is a mood.
If both land above 200, book the test. If both land in the 175-199 band, you are close and probably six to eight weeks out - what to do after a near miss covers that case.