LC Japanese common mistakes
LC Japanese · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
On 漢字読み items, the candidate assembles the reading from the single most familiar reading of each kanji instead of recognising the compound as one unit - reading 出納 as しゅつのう, 寄与 as よよ, or 早急 as はやいそく rather than retrieving the fixed compound reading.
Vocabulary lists are usually studied kanji-by-kanji, so the brain's default is 'most frequent reading per character'. Irregular compounds (熟字訓, 音の連濁, 促音便) never surface from that rule, and the wrong option looks phonetically plausible.
What to do instead
Keep a dedicated list of irregular/jukujikun compounds and drill them as whole sound chunks (すいとう、きよ、そうきゅう、ぶっけん、たんい), never as character pairs. When a reading option is built character-by-character, treat it as a trap until proven otherwise.
The candidate collapses katakana minimal pairs - ビル/ビール、カット/カート、ショップ/ショッピング、パン/パン - ignoring 長音符ー, 促音ッ and 拗音ャュョ when choosing the spelling or meaning in 表記 and 語彙 questions.
Katakana is learned late and mostly as English loanwords, so learners reconstruct the word from the English source rather than from the written Japanese, and the small ッ/ー/ャ marks carry no meaning in their first language.
What to do instead
Drill 10-minute katakana minimal-pair sets weekly (ビル/ビール、ヒーター/ヒーター vs ヒタ、マナー/マンナー) reading them aloud with a hand-clap for ッ and a held vowel for ー. In 表記 items, write the word once from memory and check every small kana and long-vowel mark before selecting.
On 文脈規定 (fill-in-the-blank vocabulary), the candidate picks the option that best matches a direct translation of the sentence into their first language, without checking whether the word collocates with the noun or verb already present (e.g. putting 高い with 気温 instead of 気温が高い, or 予約を作る instead of 予約を取る).
Words are stored with L1 translation labels rather than with their Japanese partners. Options in these items are usually all real words that fit the topic, so only collocation and register separate them.
What to do instead
Learn new nouns and verbs in fixed frames - 予約を取る／渋滞に巻き込まれる／薬が効く - and record one collocation per word in your notebook instead of a translation. When answering, insert each option into the sentence and say the whole sentence aloud; the unnatural pairing usually becomes audible.
The candidate applies a single default particle to a whole class of sentences - using で for destinations of movement (学校で行く), を with intransitive movement (道が歩く), or は where the sentence requires が for new information or exhaustive listing.
Particle choice is taught as a translation of one English preposition, so one L1 preposition maps onto one Japanese particle. Japanese particles encode role and information structure, not prepositional meaning.
What to do instead
Build particle decision rules by verb type: movement verbs take に/へ for destination and を for the route (道を歩く、橋を渡る); existence and location take に, action location takes で. For は/が, ask whether the noun is already known from context (は) or is being newly introduced or singled out (が), and practise with 5 minimal pairs per pattern.
The candidate treats と・ば・たら・なら as interchangeable and chooses by feel, producing sentences like 雨が降ると、試合は中止してください or 東京に行ったら、電話してください where the required meaning is a condition or a request.
All four translate to roughly 'if/when' in most learner dictionaries, and textbooks introduce them far apart, so the constraints (と cannot be followed by requests/volition; たら is sequence and confirmation; ば is a general condition; なら is 'if it's the case that') are never contrasted.
What to do instead
Memorise the four by what can follow them, not by meaning: と → automatic/natural consequence, no request or intention after; たら → sequence and 'once done'; ば → general condition, often with 〜ば〜ほど; なら → picks up a topic already mentioned. Practise with one sentence stem and all four endings, then judge which endings are ungrammatical.
In keigo items the candidate applies one honorific verb to both self and the other party - using おっしゃる for their own statement, いらっしゃる for their own visit, or ご覧になる when offering something to a superior - instead of switching between 尊敬語 and 謙譲語 according to who performs the action.
Keigo is memorised as a list of 'polite words' rather than as a two-directional system, so the learner picks the politest-sounding form without checking the subject of the verb.
What to do instead
For every keigo question, first underline the subject of the verb, then choose: subject = other party → 尊敬語 (いらっしゃる、おっしゃる、ご覧になる、召し上がる); subject = self or in-group → 謙譲語 (伺う、申す、拝見する、いただく). Memorise the verb pairs as two-column tables (行く・来る・いる: いらっしゃる／伺う・参る) and test yourself by subject only.
In 読解 the candidate answers from general knowledge or personal opinion about the topic - 'in reality, recycling is not that effective' - instead of from the sentence in the passage, and never goes back to locate the supporting line.
Fluent readers automatically activate background schemas, and under time pressure this feels faster than searching the text. The distractors in these items are deliberately written to be true in the real world but absent from the passage.
What to do instead
For every question, mark the one line in the passage that answers it - if you cannot point to it, the option is out. Read the question stem before the passage so you know what to look for, and reject any option whose justification is 'this is generally true' rather than 'this is written here'.
When a passage uses これ・それ・そうした, the candidate assumes the pronoun refers to the nearest preceding noun rather than tracing back to the full clause or the author's claim, and in 主張理解 items picks an option that restates an introduced counter-view rather than the author's conclusion.
Pronoun resolution is taught with short example sentences where the nearest noun is correct, and long passages introduce opposing views before the conclusion, so position-based guessing breaks down exactly where it matters.
What to do instead
Circle every こそあど word and draw an arrow to its antecedent, checking that the referent is a whole clause where needed and that it matches in number and logic. For 主張理解, locate the final paragraph's 〜べきだ／〜のではないか／重要なのは sentence and eliminate any option that merely repeats a view the author goes on to criticise.
In 課題理解 and ポイント理解, the candidate starts analysing the dialogue immediately and never reads the answer options or hears what is being asked, so they answer the wrong question - e.g. what the man will do first instead of what he has already done.
The question sentence is read once, before the dialogue, and nervous candidates treat it as part of the instructions, switching attention on only when the conversation starts. The options stay on the page the whole time but are read too late to guide listening.
What to do instead
In the example section, use the free time to read all four options and predict the vocabulary you will hear (place names, times, verbs of intention). Listen for the question sentence and note its final verb (何をしますか vs どうして vs どこで) before the dialogue begins, then write only keywords while listening.
In 即時応答 the candidate translates each short utterance word-by-word and misses contracted and sound-changed forms - 〜ちゃう、〜とく、〜なきゃ、〜てる、〜りゃ - or the rising/falling intonation that marks a request versus a statement, so they pick a reply that answers a different speech act.
Classroom listening features careful, full-form speech, and these items are deliberately recorded at natural speed with reduced forms and emotional intonation; there is also no time to translate before the reply options are read.
What to do instead
Drill a contraction list until recognition is instant (〜てしまう→〜ちゃう、〜ておく→〜とく、〜なければ→〜なきゃ、〜ている→〜てる、〜れば→〜りゃ) and shadow natural-speed audio rather than textbook audio. For each item, decide the speech act first - request, invitation, apology, complaint, refusal - then choose the reply that responds to that act, not to the literal words.