Unicom books

[tsukikage]

Does anyone know the difference between Unicom's Unicom's 2 Kyuu Grammar book and their 1, 2 Kyuu Grammar and Vocabulary book? I mean, besides the obvious... Does the former include grammar that the latter doesn't? Or even the other way around? And if I got the 2kyuu grammar book, would there be any real value in also getting the 1, 2kyuu grammar/vocab. book as well?

[Droppo]

If I remember right, it seemed to me like the 1-2 grammar book had maybe 70 to 80 percent of the entries taken from the full level 1 and 2 books and stuck them in one book. I own the separate level 2 and level 1 grammar books, but I only had a brief look at the combined book, so I might be mistaken.

[maky]

Yeah many of the grammar points are covered in the 1&2 book, mostly from 2kyu.
I have the book but I haven't found time to finish it yet. Basically, it would be good if you feel the need to review. It covers things you might have learned in your first year of study, but all in Japanese and with more higher-level vocab in the example sentences. Another part of the book presents common idiomatic uses of words. I also like the part where it explains time/frequency words.

My personal opinion: this book is great if you are interested in polishing your Japanese. If you still find yourself struggling with grammar like は＆が, られる・させる・させられる, etc, this book will give you more practice.
If you are looking to smooth out some rough spots, improve the foundation of where you are at (and really get a good understanding of everything), and add some flavor to your Japanese, then check it out.
IMO, if you are looking to prepare for the JLPT or jump up a few rungs on the proficiency ladder quickly, this is not the book you are looking for.

A warning: some of the vocabulary used is a little tough (that's why it's 1&2kyu), and you have probably covered much of the content before so some parts may be boring (you could skip parts, though).

It might be a good book to do if you are taking time off between 1kyu & 2kyu.
You can You can check out example pages here: http://www.unicom-lra.co.jp/ja/ja4cdb.html .

[snallygaster]

I have both these books, but haven't actually started either yet, so I don't have a good feel for the difficulty & exact content, but the structure of the books is a bit different (apart from the 1&2 book having some . Here's what's apparent just from a quick look:

The 1&2 book seems to be structured a bit more like a general textbook -- for each grammar point, there are usage explanations & examples, and then a multiple-choice quiz. It reads the same as the Unicom ３級 grammar book. But unlike the ３級 book, after each quiz there's a page-long reading (with partial furigana) that incorporates the grammar point.

The ２級 book is drill-based; in each section you do a ~20-question multiple-choice quiz *first*, to check your knowledge. The possible answers (right and wrong) are cross-referenced with explanations on a different page of the book. Then, after you've learned from your mistakes, there's a second quiz on the same grammar points.
Fortunately, the grammar points are listed in the table of contents & index, so if you're looking for a specific point, you can find it.
Unlike the 1&2 book, there's no furigana in the quizzes (but there is in the explanations).

The 1&2 book seems to give more detailed explanations, but it might just be that the ２級 book's explanations are broken up into smaller bits. The
1&2 book's grammar section brings you to page 145. By comparison, the ２級 grammar book is 200 pages long.
The structure of the ２級 book makes it seem more hardcore, although I expect the content is lower, on average, than the 1&2 book. Overall, I wish the ２級 book had the same structure as the ３級 or １・２級 books, but maybe I'll appreciate it when I start it.