Chiba Entrance English cheat sheet

Question types recur: main idea, author's purpose, detail, inference, reference, vocabulary in context and tone; identify the type before rereading the passage.

Thesis location: the main claim usually appears in the first two paragraphs and is restated in the final paragraph; an option matching only a middle paragraph is a detail, not the main idea.

Reference questions: substitute each candidate for the pronoun and check number, gender and logic; bare 'this' usually refers to the preceding clause or sentence, not to a single noun.

Contrast markers (however, although, yet, whereas, despite) signal that the author's position sits in the main clause, while the concessive clause states the opposing view.

Inference answers must be entailed by the text: reject options needing outside knowledge, and treat absolutes (all, never, only, must, completely) as warning signs.

Vocabulary in context: insert each option into the sentence and test grammar plus surrounding contrast; the most familiar dictionary sense is often the distractor.

'NOT/EXCEPT' stems: three options are explicitly supported by the passage; the answer is the one that is unstated or contradicted, so mark the stem before reading the choices.

Time budget: allow about 1 minute per 100 words of passage plus 1 minute per question; answer line-referenced details first and leave global questions until the passage map is complete.

Three task types dominate: opinion (agree/disagree), data description and problem–solution; each needs a thesis in the introduction and a restated position in the conclusion.

Body paragraph formula: topic sentence stating the claim, one concrete example or statistic, then a closing sentence that ties the evidence back to the thesis.

Length allocation: roughly 20% introduction, 65% body, 15% conclusion; a 120–150 word limit fits a two-reason structure without padding.

Data prompts: open with the overall trend, then the highest and lowest values, then one contrast; never list every number in the chart.

Formal register bans: contractions, second-person 'you', 'a lot of', rhetorical questions, exclamation marks, and sentence-initial 'And' or 'But'.

Cohesion inside an essay: use referencing (this trend, such measures), substitution (do so, one) and a repeated key term rather than looping through synonyms.

Sentence variety: mix simple, compound and complex sentences; convert repeated clauses into noun phrases to raise formality and cut word count.

Editing pass checklist: subject–verb agreement, article use, tense consistency, plural -s, preposition collocations, and the exact required word count.

Verb and adjective + preposition pairs: depend on, consist of, result in, result from, be capable of, be responsible for, according to, in contrast to.

'The number of' takes a singular verb; 'a number of' takes a plural verb; each, every, either, neither and 'one of the' take singular verbs.

Neither…nor and either…or agree with the nearer subject: 'Neither the students nor the teacher was informed.'

Present perfect with for + duration and since + starting point; past simple with ago, last year, in 2019, yesterday.

Modal + perfect: must have done = certainty about the past; should have done = regret or criticism; cannot have done = impossibility.

although/though/even though + clause; despite/in spite of + noun or gerund; because + clause; because of + noun or gerund.

Look-alike distractor pairs: affect/effect, rise/raise, lie/lay, adapt/adopt, principal/principle, complement/compliment, economic/economical.

Word-form slot rule: after a determiner the slot needs a noun; after be or another linking verb an adjective or participle; after a preposition a noun or gerund.

Articles: a/an for first mention, the for second mention or shared knowledge; no article with uncountable nouns used generally, as in 'Information is useful.'

Use the instructions and any pause to preview the questions; predict the topic and the word class each answer needs before the audio begins.

Distractor revision: the first number, time or name mentioned is often corrected with 'actually', 'sorry' or 'no, that was last year' - record only the final version.

Signpost phrases ('the thing is', 'what I mean is', 'to be honest', 'the main reason') usually precede the exact information a question asks for.

Note content words rather than grammar: nouns, verbs, numbers and negation, with abbreviations, arrows for up/down and '=' for equal.

Question order generally follows audio order, except main-idea and attitude questions, which are answered after the whole passage.

Numbers need unit and type: check whether the figure is a total, a percentage, a rate per thousand, or a change from a previous year.

Attitude is cued by hedges and evaluative words (sort of, I suppose, frankly, unfortunately); options such as doubtful or enthusiastic rest on these cues.

Two-pass method: skim the question for keywords and the required output, then scan the passage or chart for those keywords rather than for a ready-made answer sentence.

Figures must be matched with row label, column heading, unit and year; distractors are usually values from a neighbouring cell or a different year.

Distinguish totals from rates and percentages, and check whether a change is absolute or relative ('rose by 5 points' versus 'rose by 5 per cent').

Summary length: compress the source to roughly one third; keep the main claim and one or two key supports, and drop examples, repetition and asides.

Summaries contain no new facts and no personal opinion; every statement must be traceable to a specific line of the source.

Paraphrase by structural shift - clause to noun phrase, active to passive, verb to nominalisation - rather than word-by-word synonym substitution.

Chart description verbs and adverbs: rise, fall, peak, plateau, fluctuate, double, halve, with sharply, steadily, slightly, marginally.

Two-source tasks: state the point of agreement or difference first, then give one figure from each source as evidence.

Given–new ordering: open sentences with known information (often a definite noun or pronoun) and end with the new, focal element.

Pronouns and definite articles point backwards; if a paragraph begins 'This approach…', that approach must have been introduced in the previous paragraph.

Connective functions: addition (moreover), contrast (however), cause–effect (therefore), example (for instance), concession (admittedly), sequence (subsequently).

Sentence insertion: the correct slot must link backwards (pronoun or repeated term) and forwards (shared concept); test both directions before choosing.

Irrelevant-sentence questions: the odd sentence shares no key term with the paragraph topic, and removing it leaves the remaining links intact.

Topic sentence placement: first in most expository paragraphs; when it comes last, the paragraph is inductive and earlier sentences are evidence.

Parallelism: items in a list or comparison must match in grammatical form - all gerunds, all noun phrases, or all clauses.

Cohesion is surface linking; coherence is logical consistency. A paragraph can be cohesive yet incoherent if the connectives misrepresent the logic.