[Update: I have just taken the test; I wrote more about it
here.]
I am studying to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level N3. There are quite a few different textbooks and study materials published in Japan, which you can find in English-language sections of large bookstores.
As a general rule, these textbooks are not exciting. They are all rather serious, black-and-white affairs with lots of sample test questions and example sentences in them. Many of them focus on specific skills or sections of the JLPT. Some are written solely in Japanese; others have perfunctory explanations in English/Chinese/Korean.
I will review the books that I personally have been using.
実力アップ!日本語能力試験N3読む
Layout/contents: This book has a focus on reading skills (there are other books in the series focusing on listening etc). There are lots of example reading passages with questions such as you'd find on the test. The first collection of readings focuses on grammar and completing sentences with the correct words. The second section focuses on reading comprehension for short, medium and long pieces of text. The third section focuses on identifying important information from 'real world' texts like timetables or recipes.
There are a few rather random pages with lists of grammar or vocabulary on particular themes (eg, a list of different university majors, or a list of words containing the kanji 不). Texts are also followed by a short list of potentially unfamiliar vocabulary. For each reading, there is also an answer page which includes furigana readings for kanji. And there are explanations of the correct and incorrect answers (in English and Chinese), so you can hopefully understand why you got it right or wrong.
My opinion: This book is somewhat challenging, especially if you don't know a lot of the N3 kanji yet; a lot of the 'learning' is retrospective (ie, after you've attempted the reading, you find out the answers and try to understand the grammar/kanji more clearly). I think it's a really good resource. It's also arranged from simpler to more difficult readings, which is an added bonus.
短期マスター 日本語能力試験ドリル N3
Layout/contents: This textbook, which comes with a listening CD, is a collection of sample questions to help you practise for the JLPT. It includes questions in all the categories of the real test, and finishes with a sample test you can take. It includes answers and transcriptions of the listening tasks.
My opinion: This book serves its purpose well enough - it's a chance to test yourself and see how you might perform on the real test. As a study material, well, you might get some use out of it if you do it with a teacher, who can explain to you the parts you have trouble with. This book doesn't have any explanations, definitions, or reasons why answers are right or wrong.
As I've never taken the JLPT, I can't assess how well this book approximates the real test. I did find the readings somewhat easier than the previous book I reviewed; this book's readings had a lot more furigana help for reading kanji. Will the real test have the furigana? I'm not sure.
日本語総まとめ問題集
Contents/layout: This book is a couple of years out of date, purchased before the new JLPT was introduced. There are, however, books in this series for the new JLPT levels, with different books for different skills (vocabulary, kanji, grammar, etc). This particular book is for grammar. It's divided into 'weeks', each 'day' covering three or four grammar points with a few example sentences and usage notes. Grammar points are often grouped according to similar meaning, or grammar points that have a particular word in common.
At the end of each 'day' is a short quiz, and at the end of each 'week' is a longer review quiz. Explanations/translations of sentences are in English, Chinese and Korean.
My opinion: I really have tried valiantly to study with this book, but it's difficult. As a reference re. what grammar might be needed for the JLPT 2, it's very useful. However, you can't simply work through it as a textbook and expect to retain much; it's relentless in giving one new grammar point after another. There are review quizzes, yes, but not enough; so many grammar points are introduced in each week that you'll need to do a lot of reviewing of each day as you go along. Also, grouping grammar points by similar meaning - or having a word in common - makes it very easy to confuse them.
To use this book, you have to supplement it with your own study ideas; find some creative way to use it so it will stick; for example, reviewing and drilling endlessly, making flashcards, or writing masses of example sentences using each grammar point. This is a very dry way of studying.
At least, this is my own experience; on JLPT study sites, many people have recommended this book as a study resource, so clearly other people have been able to benefit from it.
漢字マスターN３
Contents/layout: This book introduces four kanji per page, with their readings, and spaces to write the kanji (stroke order is not given). The rest of the page is given over to 'reading' questions (you read sentences which use the four kanji in various ways, and must identify how you would read the kanji, in hiragana) and 'writing' questions (you read sentences where the key words are written in hiragana, and you must write the kanji).
Kanji are grouped according to topic. After one unit - five pages of kanji (ie, 20 kanji) - there is another reading/writing review quiz. And after every two units (ie, 40 kanji), there's another two review quizzes. These review quizzes/tests include longer reading passages. There's also a review test after unit 11 and unit 20.
My opinion: This is a really good layout for a kanji book. It is a bit repetitive, but there's plenty of review built in. The reading and writing exercises are very practical. It's great to have kanji in different forms in sentences. For example, you learn the kanji 拾, and then you'll read it in sentences in forms like 拾う (hirou - to pick up), 拾得物 (shuutokubutsu - found article) and 拾万円 (juumanen - 100,000 yen). Also, the sentences themselves are very useful and often allow you to deduce the meaning of unknown words in them. So much more helpful than just reading kanji/words in isolation.
The only downside to the book is, if you haven't really studied kanji writing prior to N3, a lot of the 'writing' section will be difficult. That's because the writing questions include lots of other kanji in compounds and therefore assumes some prior knowledge. For example, you learn the kanji 活, and then there's a question asking how to write かつどう in kanji (活動）. By this level you will have probably encountered this word, but if you haven't previously learned/remembered how to
write 動 (which is not covered in this book), you will have to check the 'answers' section and copy it down. It's probably good practice, though. ^_^
