I'd like to write several posts on the subject, by and by:
- How I prepared for the N2, over the 1 year that passed between my N3 and N2
- Post-mortem: Lessons learned from the final 10 weeks before test day
- Test-taking tips
- Review of N2 study materials or methods
- Motivation, sustaining it
Meanwhile, how was the test itself?
I started by answering the Reading section (読解), which was questions 55 to 75. Unfortunately, I spent too long on it -- slightly over 60 minutes -- either from overconfidence in my ability to handle the remaining questions, or from a languid brain (I had anxiety the night before and only slept 4 hours).
By the time I reached Kanji/Vocab/Grammar (文字・語彙・文法), I had to rush through questions 1 to 50. The last five questions in Grammar were attached to a page-long passage, which I did not manage to read except for the opening. Since I only had a minute or two left, I shaded in random answers for those last five questions before reading them.
Finally, we had Listening (聴解). By good luck, I managed to pay full attention to the audio. But I was only sure of the right answer about 30% of the time. The hardest questions for me were in Mondai 3, which asked to summarize what the audio (a radio program, a lecture, etc.) was about.
Overall, I still have hopes of passing!
[Update, Feb 2018: I did pass.]