The Japanese Language Proficiency test, or JLPT are tests of 5 levels of difficulty, usually administered once or twice a year in many large cities around the world. The JLPT N5 test is the easiest, with about 2nd grade level material, while the JLPT N1 is the most difficult, with material at about the high-school senior level. All the JLPT tests are graded by a computer so they only evaluate reading and listening; the test doesn’t have writing or conversation sections.
Many people cannot ignore the JLPT because being hired at many Japanese companies as a non-native speaker requires a passing grade at some JLPT level, usually N2. The kanjis that we are expected to know for the JLPT N5 are most of the kanjis of the kankei 10, plus many of the kanjis of the kankei 9, so learning them now makes sense, because we build on the kankei 10 and ease our going into kankei 9: