EIKEN Grade 5 common mistakes
EIKEN Grade 5 · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reading a short passage word by word at a slow, even pace and running out of time before reaching the last questions.
Grade 5 passages are short and use basic vocabulary, so candidates assume speed is automatic and never practise reading against a clock; they also stop to decode every unfamiliar word instead of moving on.
What to do instead
Practise with a timer on 3-5 short passages, spending about one minute each. Read the whole passage once quickly for the topic, then answer. If a word is unknown, skip it and use the rest of the sentence to guess the meaning.
Choosing an answer because it repeats a word from the passage rather than because it matches the meaning.
Grade 5 distractors are often built by copying a word from the text into a wrong option, and beginners match on sight-recognition instead of comprehension.
What to do instead
After choosing, go back to the line in the passage and check that the whole option is true, not just one word. Cross out any option whose only connection to the text is a shared word.
Ignoring the question word (who, what, when, where, how many) and answering a different question than the one asked.
Candidates read the passage first and the question second, so the question word is skimmed; basic wh-words are recognised but not treated as instructions.
What to do instead
Underline the question word before looking at the options. For 'when' answers, check that the option is a time; for 'how many', check that it is a number. Reject options of the wrong type immediately.
Leaving blanks on the short-answer and ordering questions instead of making a guess.
Fear of being wrong and a habit from school tests where blank answers feel safer; candidates also run out of time and abandon the last items.
What to do instead
Adopt a rule: never leave a blank. Eliminate two options, then pick one. For ordering or matching items, place the most confident answer first and fit the rest around it.
Misreading small function words such as not, no, can, can't, and plurals, and so flipping the meaning of a sentence.
These words are short and visually similar, and candidates read for content words only, so a negative sentence is understood as positive.
What to do instead
Circle every not, no, and apostrophe-s or -n't while reading. Do a second pass over each answer sentence asking 'is this positive or negative?' before finalising.
Answering listening questions while still thinking about the previous one, so a later answer is missed entirely.
Grade 5 audio is played once and moves quickly; candidates hold onto an uncertain answer and stop tracking the current conversation.
What to do instead
Commit to an answer within two seconds and move on. If unsure, mark the best guess and deliberately refocus on the next question's keywords before the audio continues.
Waiting for a word from the answer options to appear in the audio instead of listening for the meaning of the exchange.
Options often paraphrase the audio, and the words that do appear may belong to a distractor; beginners listen for sound matches because that worked in vocabulary drills.
What to do instead
Before the audio starts, read the options and predict the topic and likely synonyms. During the audio, listen for what the speakers decide or state, then match that meaning to an option.
Missing numbers, times, days, and prices because they are said once at natural speed.
Numbers are the hardest items to catch in connected speech (thirteen versus thirty, half past versus a quarter to), and candidates have not practised hearing them in context.
What to do instead
Drill number and time dictation daily for five minutes with varied speeds. In the exam, write the number the moment you hear it, including the unit (yen, minutes, Tuesday), then check it against the options.
Failing to use the pause before each listening question to preview the options and predict what to listen for.
Candidates treat the pause as rest time, or they are still reading the previous question, so they enter the audio with no expectation.
What to do instead
Train a fixed routine: read the question, scan the options, and silently predict one or two likely words. Practise this on full mock audio until it takes under ten seconds per item.
Losing the thread after one unknown word or a fast phrase and giving up on the rest of the track.
Grade 5 candidates often have limited listening stamina; one gap triggers panic and they stop processing the following sentences.
What to do instead
Practise 'gap tolerance': when a word is missed, consciously rejoin at the next sentence opening. Use short daily listening with one deliberately unfamiliar word to build the habit of continuing.