Call it the JLPT, and it sounds somewhat more friendly.

But...some of it's kanji. It's a big multiple choice thing covering grammar, reading and kanji, and listening, with four levels going from 4, lowest, to 1, highest. At 4 you're more or less a beginner, at at 1 you're basically as fluent as a Japanese high school student. So they tend to get very hard very quickly.
I ended up just sitting 3, but it was quite easy. The trouble is that 2 is...not so easy.

; Like for 3 you're expected to know 400 kanji, and for 2 you're expected to know 1000. Big step up.

I'm thinking of sitting the level 2 this Christmas, but...ah... Still a little afraid.
