The kanji Kentei

The Kanji Kentei is a test to evaluate your knowledge of kanji.

What is Kanji? 
Kanji are Chinese characters used in the Japanese writing system.

What is the 'Japanese Writing System'? 
The Japanese writing system comprises of Hiragana, Katakana and kanji.

There are 46 basic Hiragana  and Katakana characters.

Then there are Kanji.
The Zhonghua Zihai (the largest Chinese character dictionary available for print) contains over 85,500 characters. 
In Japanese compulsory education kids are required to learn 2100 kanji. 
It is estimated that a well read person (professor etc) knows around 5000 kanji. 
The highest level of the kanji kentei (level 1) tests 6000 characters. 
The Kanji Kentei tests from 10th kyu to 1st kyu (10 being the easiest, 1 being the hardest). 
Below is the breakdown of how many kanji are tested at each grade. 

Level 10- 80 characters (Grade 1)
Level 9- 240 characters (Grade 2) 
Level 8- 440 characters (Grade 3)    
Level 7- 640 characters (Grade 4)
Level 6- 825 characters (Grade 5) 
Level 5- 1006 characters (Grade 6 - End of Elementary School) 
Level 4- 1322 characters 
Level 3- 1607 characters 
Pre-level 2-  1940 characters 
Level 2- 2136 characters 
Pre-level 1- 3000 characters
Level 1- 6000 characters 

'Well, thats easy' I hear you say.
You just memorise the characters and the meaning.
It's not quite that simple.
Each character has multiple readings (Usually a Chinese reading and a Japanese reading many of which are identical) you must also know the correct stroke order.

I was looking for something besides the standard JLPT that every foreigner that wants to test their Japanese level does and i came across the kanji kentei.

Applications are only accepted in Japanese (but if you have a computer that translates the web pages it is easy enough to apply for) and the test is only conducted throughout Japan.
It takes place 4 times a year and you can apply for any level at any time.
Me being me, decided that I would start at level 10 and work my way up logically and collect all the certificates along the way.

In February 2018 I Passed 10th Kyu. Then, I missed the next couple of opportunities being busy with work- but really I didn't make it a priority.

This year though, I have decided my goal is to pass 8th kyu by the end of the year.
So in February 2019 I took the 9th Kyu test. I passed that.
Now I have applied to test for 8th Kyu in June.
At the current rate of study and progress i'm making I will fail that if i don't get my act together and learn more each day.
People decide what their priorities are and make time for what they want to do. I want to pass this and so i know what i must do over the next six weeks.