How are kanji tested on the JLPT?

Kanji show up in the vocabulary part of Language Knowledge, mainly in two tasks: kanji reading (choose the reading of an underlined word) and orthography (choose how a word written in hiragana is spelled in kanji). There’s no handwriting: the JLPT is multiple choice.

The task list below comes from the official composition of test items.

Which kanji tasks appear at which level?

Task	N1	N2	N3	N4	N5
Kanji reading	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Orthography	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
Word formation	no	yes	no	no	no

Kanji also matter in every reading passage, but those tasks test comprehension, not the characters.

What does kanji reading test?

A sentence with one word underlined in kanji. You pick its reading in hiragana from four choices. The wrong options are often near misses: a missing small っ, a long vowel, voiced versus unvoiced. So knowing 学 means “study” doesn’t get the point; you need to know 学校 is がっこう.

How to practise: learn each kanji with one or two real words and say the reading out loud. If on’yomi and kun’yomi blur, see on’yomi vs kun’yomi.

What does orthography test?

The reverse: a word in hiragana, and four kanji spellings. The traps are look-alike kanji and kanji with the same reading. This is where similar-looking kanji cost points, and where okurigana can matter.

How to practise: review from meaning or reading to the kanji, not only kanji to meaning.

Can a mnemonic app cover this?

Partly. A picture story helps you tell 待 from 持 and recall a kanji from its meaning. It won’t drill sentence-level readings by itself; for that, use the official sample questions and the Official Practice Workbooks.

Kanji Mnemonics (my app, so weigh my opinion accordingly) covers N5 through N1 with one keyword, one story and one picture per kanji, readings and example words, a flashcard quiz in both directions and progress per level. It works offline. Lesson 1 is free; the rest needs Pro (weekly, monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase). See the app page, the App Store listing or all my apps.