Aichi Entrance English common mistakes
Aichi Entrance English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
On information-retrieval tasks (posters, timetables, event notices), the candidate finds one word or number that matches the question and writes the answer immediately, without checking the remaining conditions such as day, time, price, place, or who is eligible.
These tasks are designed with several near-identical rows and one deliberately attractive distractor; scanning for a single keyword feels fast and 'finished', so the candidate stops at the first match instead of confirming every condition.
What to do instead
Before scanning, underline each condition in the question and turn it into a short checklist (e.g., 'Saturday / free / under 15 / bring own shoes'). Tick each item against the table row; reject any row where even one box fails. Practise with two-row difference tables so you get used to rejecting almost-right options.
On long-passage questions asking what 'it', 'this', or 'they' refers to, or asking for the main idea, the candidate answers from the sentence containing the word alone, or picks the option that repeats the most words from the passage.
Referents are usually settled in the previous sentence or clause, and correct main-idea options are paraphrases, not copies; under time pressure the copied-word option feels safest and reading backwards feels like wasted effort.
What to do instead
For reference questions, read the sentence before and after, then substitute your candidate noun back into the sentence and check it makes sense. For main-idea questions, cross out any option that is only about one paragraph or that is a word-for-word copy, and prefer the option that covers the whole passage in different words.
The candidate spends so long on one long passage or on a difficult reordering item that the final writing task is answered in a rush or left blank, even though it carries substantial marks.
Passages feel like the 'real' test and writing feels optional or scary, so the candidate keeps re-reading instead of moving on; there is no practised time allocation, so the clock is discovered only at the end.
What to do instead
Set a fixed budget in advance (for example, last 10-12 minutes reserved for writing) and rehearse it in full timed papers. If a question resists for more than about a minute, mark it and move on, then return. Write at least one correct sentence of the composition even if unfinished, because partial credit usually exists.
During listening, the candidate tries to translate each sentence into Japanese in their head, so they fall behind the audio and miss the actual question or the deciding detail (a time change, a price, a name).
School translation habits carry over into listening, and silence feels like failure; the brain keeps processing sentence one while the CD has already given the answer to the question.
What to do instead
Listen for the question word first (who / when / how much / where) and hold only that target in mind. Take notes in simple symbols and numbers, not full Japanese sentences. Train with audio played once only, and afterwards check how many target details you captured rather than how much you understood.
On picture- and table-based listening, the candidate selects the option that contains a word they heard, even though another detail in that option contradicts the dialogue; the options are not compared before the audio starts.
Recognition of a familiar word creates a false feeling of certainty, and the short pause before the audio is used for relaxing rather than for spotting how the options differ.
What to do instead
Use the pre-audio time to label the differences between options (this one is 3 o'clock, that one is 4 o'clock; this one has a dog, that one a cat). During listening, listen specifically for those differing points and eliminate options one by one, writing a small x on rejected choices.
In the guided composition, the candidate writes a good sentence but breaks one stated condition: too few or too many words, the required word unused, only one sentence when two are asked for, or the given opening repeated instead of continued.
Attention goes entirely into producing English, and conditions written in Japanese above the prompt are skimmed once and forgotten; word counting in a foreign language is unreliable by eye.
What to do instead
Number every condition in the prompt, draft, then verify one by one with a finger: word count (count aloud), required word (circle it in your draft), number of sentences, correct opening. Keep sentences short and use practised frames so mental effort goes into the conditions, not into inventing grammar.
The candidate composes in Japanese first and translates literally, producing sentences with a missing subject, a missing verb, or two verbs in one clause (e.g., 'I like play tennis', 'Because it was rain, so I stayed').
Japanese allows subject and topic omission and different clause linking, so a faithful translation keeps those patterns; the candidate also lacks ready-made sentence frames and builds each sentence from scratch.
What to do instead
Memorise a small set of reliable frames (I want to ___ because ___. / It is ___ for me to ___.) and fit content into them instead of translating. After writing, run three checks: does every sentence have a subject and a finite verb, is there only one connector per clause, and does the verb form match the subject.
On word-reordering items, the candidate arranges the words in the order the Japanese meaning would suggest, placing the verb early or putting modifiers far from the word they modify, rather than building the English skeleton first.
The Japanese prompt sets the word order in the candidate's head, and set phrases are recognised only as chunks, so the candidate slots words in by feel and never checks what the subject of the clause actually is.
What to do instead
Find the subject and its verb first, place them, then attach objects and modifiers next to the words they modify. Insert any given fixed phrase as a block, and read the finished sentence aloud in English to catch unnatural order. Rehearse common patterns (ask someone to do, too ___ to ___, tell someone that ___) as blocks.
In sentence-completion and error-identification items, the candidate picks a word that matches the Japanese meaning but has the wrong part of speech or collocation (e.g., 'join' for 'join in', 'listen' without 'to', a noun where an adjective is needed), or ignores tense and plural clues elsewhere in the sentence.
Vocabulary is stored as Japanese-English pairs rather than as usable chunks, and the surrounding context (time expressions, singular or plural subjects, preceding auxiliaries) is not read as a grammar signal.
What to do instead
Study words in collocations and full phrases, not isolated pairs, and note the part of speech in your notebook. Before choosing, scan the sentence for time words and subject number, decide the required form, and only then pick the option; with error identification, check the same five points every time: subject-verb agreement, tense, articles, prepositions, word form.
In dialogue-completion items, the candidate replies to the literal words rather than the function of the utterance, for example answering 'Yes, I do' to 'Would you like some cake?' or 'Thank you' to 'I'm sorry I'm late'.
The reply is chosen by translating the other speaker's sentence into Japanese and answering that meaning, without noticing that the utterance is an offer, an apology, a request, or an invitation, each of which has its own expected response pattern.
What to do instead
Label the first speaker's line with its function before looking at the options (offer / invitation / request / apology / asking opinion), recall the standard response pair for that function, and only then choose. Build a short table of pairs (Would you like ___? - Yes, please. / I'm sorry ___ - That's all right.) and drill them aloud.