JFT-Basic is a computer-based test taken at a Prometric test centre. If you have never sat a CBT before, the unfamiliarity itself can cost you points. Here is the whole thing, start to finish.
Before the day
Bring the identification named on your confirmation. Prometric centres are strict about this and the name must match your registration exactly. This is the single most common reason people are turned away at the door, and there is no appeal on the day.
Know where the centre is. Not approximately — actually. Go the day before if it is somewhere you have never been.
Sleep. A late night of cramming reliably costs more points in Listening than the cramming adds anywhere else. Listening is the section least tolerant of a tired brain, because the audio plays once and does not wait for you.
At the centre
You will check in, store your belongings in a locker, and be shown to a workstation. Phones, notes, and your own paper stay in the locker. You are given something to write on at the desk.
There is a short tutorial before the test begins. Do not skip it even if you know how it works — it does not come out of your 60 minutes, and it settles your hands.
The 60 minutes
Four sections, about 50 questions:
- Script and Vocabulary (文字と語彙)
- Conversation and Expression (会話と表現)
- Listening Comprehension (聴解)
- Reading Comprehension (読解)
The sections are not separately timed. You get 60 minutes for the whole thing and you manage it yourself.
This is the part people get wrong. The vocabulary questions at the start are the fastest points on the paper, and they are also the most tempting to linger on, because a half-remembered word feels solvable. Meanwhile the reading passages at the end need real minutes, and they are worth the same.
A rough target: be through the first two sections in about 25 minutes. If you are not, move.
Listening plays once. If you miss it, it is gone. Answer on your best guess immediately and put your attention on the next question rather than the one you just lost — a missed item that costs you the following two is a much worse outcome than a missed item.
Never leave anything blank. There is no penalty for a wrong answer. An unanswered question is a guaranteed zero; a guess is not.
The result
Your score appears on screen the moment you finish. Since August 2026 it also shows your CEFR band, so you will know immediately whether you cleared 200 (A2.2) or landed in A2.1 just below it.
The official result follows within about five business days via the Prometric website. That is the document you will need for your visa application — the on-screen number is for you, not for immigration.
If you did not pass
JFT-Basic runs year-round, so there is a short waiting period between attempts rather than a six-month wait. Check the official JFT-Basic site for the current interval in your country.
More usefully: a 175–199 result is not a failure to study harder in general. It is a specific message about a specific section. Get the breakdown, find the section, and spend the waiting period there rather than starting the whole syllabus again.