This past JLPT (July 4th)

I got a little distracted with work for the last few months, and wasn't studying for the JLPT unfortunately. But, now that things have calmed down, I'm back in study mode. My goal - N1 in December. My good friend Dron wrote the N1 on July 4th. He said it was pretty hard - he thought he had studied quite well, but there were kanji on there he hadn't even seen before. Overall, he said the test seemed more difficult than when he wrote L1 last December.

Did anyone else write the test a few weeks back? What did you think? I'd love to hear some thoughts and feedback on your experience with the new test format, and if you have any thoughts on how it was now compared to previously, I'm interested in that as well.