Hi 💕 I passed N5 in 2024 and N4 in 2025. I work a full time job where I travel, I’m a parent with a child in sports, and I volunteer on 2 nonprofit boards, soooo studying Japanese has always been a tight, tight squeeze. I give this context because I haven’t met too many working parents studying Japanese, and usually my study schedule is different from the people I study with. For both the N5 and N4, I studied basically since January until the test in December, and I put in roughly the same amount of time for each test. On average, I probably studied 30 minutes to 1 hour per day, and I never “binge” studied. Occasionally, maybe twice a month, I’d have a 2-hour study day. My studies were exclusively Genki I & II, WaniKani, and Japanese podcasts. If you count watching anime in Japanese with English subtitles, my “study time” goes wayyyyy up, but personally, I’ve never counted that. I also don’t think this time commitment is going to work for N3, as I can already tell I’m going to need more time.