Ease of Use: Definitely confusing at first since I’ve never used this series before, but I got the hang of it after the first section.
Content: Very good. There are a lot of passages and a variety of topics. I heard the passages were dry, but honestly they were fine to me. Plus these are relatively short passages or tables. There is limited English.
Structure: It is broken into several parts and a practice test at the end.
*Part 1: “review” and contains fill-in-the-blank spots
*Part 2: teaches you what to look for when you are reading (certain phrases and sentence patterns)
*Part 3: how to read tables/graphs
*Part 4: practice readings with a few multiple-choice at the end
For some reason, part 1 is strangely the hardest in my opinion and also doesn’t contain keyword translations like the rest of the sections.
Interactive: Very much so. There are practice multiple choice questions at the end of each essay and fill-in-the-blank for part 1. Answers are in the back.
Overall: I thought it was very useful. It’s definitely long though and takes a while to finish even if you are going at a relatively steady pace.
I think the main effect you achieve is getting to used to reading long Japanese sentences or paragraphs if you are consistently reading these passages everyday or few days. You will notice improvement especially in reading speed and answering the multiple-choice questions.
Since most people don’t even think about literacy as a fluid skill (since we learned it at like 5), we forget that it actually needs to be improved and developed over time. Sometimes we just take it for granted. The ability to read the kanji doesn’t always equate to understanding.
I noticed that I could read much faster by the end (there is furigana, which does make it easier). But even so, I found I can read passages without furigana faster now.
CONSISTENCY is key.
framed in beige 