JLPT N2 cheat sheet

〜わけにはいかない means 'cannot bring oneself to / must not' because of social or moral obligation; it attaches to the dictionary form and is distinct from 〜わけがない, which means 'there is no way that'.

〜ざるを得ない means 'have no choice but to'; attach it to the ない-stem (する→せざるを得ない, 来る→来ざるを得ない). It is more formal and written than 〜しかない.

〜に違いない and 〜に相違ない both express strong conviction ('must be'); 相違ない is the stiffer written variant. Both follow plain forms and nouns.

〜ばかりか B means 'not only A but also B', where B is normally more surprising or extreme; 〜ばかりでなく is the neutral 'not only' with no surprise nuance.

〜次第 has two meanings decided by what precedes it: verb stem + 次第 = 'as soon as', noun + 次第で/次第だ = 'depending on / up to' (天気次第で).

〜上で has three meanings decided by what precedes it: た-form + 上で = 'after doing X as a prerequisite', dictionary form + 上で = 'in doing X', noun + の上で = 'from the standpoint of'.

〜てはじめて means 'only after / only when'; the second clause is always a newly realised fact, so it pairs with わかった, 知った, 気づいた rather than with intentions or requests.

指示語 in reading: the そ-series points back to content just mentioned, while the こ-series usually points forward to what the writer is about to explain; resolve the pronoun to the nearest preceding phrase that fits the following predicate.

Content and author-claim questions: the answer usually sits immediately after a contrastive connective (しかし, ところが, ただ, もっとも), so mark these as you read rather than memorising the whole passage.

課題理解: the question is printed and read before the dialogue; the correct option is the action the main speaker finally commits to, typically marked by じゃあ / それでは / では in the last line.

課題理解 decision rule: 〜なくてはいけない / 〜ないといけない marks what must be done, while 〜なくてもいい / 〜なくて大丈夫 marks what can be skipped - the answer is often the skipped item turned into a non-action.

ポイント理解: only one point (reason, place, time, person) is asked; wrong options are usually stated early and then corrected by いや / じゃなくて / そうではなくて.

概要理解: no question is printed, so the answer must match the overall conclusion; concrete numbers, names and asides are distractors and should not be chosen as the summary.

統合理解: several options are compared before one is chosen; record the deciding condition (cheaper, closer, still available) and which option that condition eliminates.

即時応答: match the speech act, not the words - 依頼→承諾 or 断り, 誘い→accept or decline, 質問→answer. Responses that merely repeat a word from the prompt are usually wrong.

尊敬語 (いらっしゃる・おっしゃる・ご覧になる) marks the other person's action, 謙譲語 (伺う・申し上げる・お目にかかる) marks the speaker's; use this to identify who does what in the dialogue.

Refusals in listening are often indirect: ちょっと…, 〜のは難しい, 〜かねます all function as 'no'; acceptance typically uses ぜひ, 喜んで, いいですね.

Write down numbers, times and position words (右・左・正面・奥・向かい・隣) as they are spoken; the final answer frequently combines a correction to a number given earlier.