Fukushima Entrance English common mistakes
Fukushima Entrance English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reading the passage once and then answering detail questions from memory instead of locating and re-reading the sentence that contains the answer.
Under time pressure candidates treat the passage as a story to finish, so they trust a vague impression; distractors are written to match that impression rather than the text.
What to do instead
For every detail question, underline the line in the passage that supports your choice and reject any option you cannot point to a sentence for. Practise with a 3-minute timer per short passage until locating evidence becomes automatic.
Choosing an answer that is true in general knowledge or true elsewhere in the passage but does not answer the specific question asked.
Candidates match keywords between the option and the passage instead of matching meaning to the question stem, and exam writers plant keyword echoes in wrong options.
What to do instead
Before looking at the options, restate the question in your own words. Then check each option against the question, not against the passage, and eliminate options that answer a different question.
Ignoring discourse markers such as however, therefore, in contrast, and for example, and so misjudging the writer's attitude or the logical relation between paragraphs.
Candidates read for content words only; function words carry little meaning in isolation and are skipped, yet attitude and inference questions depend on them.
What to do instead
On a second pass, circle every contrast and causal connector in the passage. For author-attitude questions, list the connectors and decide whether the surrounding sentences are positive, negative, or neutral before reading the options.
Filling a grammar gap with the form that sounds natural in the candidate's first language rather than the form the English structure requires, for example using the present tense after 'if' in a hypothetical or omitting the article before a singular countable noun.
First-language transfer produces fluent-sounding but ungrammatical choices, and candidates rarely hear the error because they are not reading aloud.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log of the five structures you miss most (conditionals, articles, prepositions, tense sequence, comparatives). For each, write the rule in one line and drill ten original sentences of your own, reading them aloud to check.
Answering vocabulary-in-context items with the most common dictionary meaning of the word instead of the meaning it carries in that sentence.
Candidates memorise single glosses from word lists; polysemy and collocation are not practised, so the first-listed meaning wins.
What to do instead
Learn new words in a phrase, not alone, and record two example sentences with different senses where they exist. In the exam, substitute each option back into the sentence and check that the whole sentence still makes sense.
Spending too long on one difficult grammar or vocabulary item and leaving later, easier items unanswered.
Items are not ordered by difficulty, and candidates treat a stuck item as a challenge rather than a cost, losing points they could have earned elsewhere.
What to do instead
Adopt a 45-second rule: mark the item, choose your best guess, flag it, and move on. Return only after the section is complete. Rehearse this in full-length timed practice so the habit holds under pressure.
Writing a composition that answers the topic only loosely, with no clear position and paragraphs that list ideas without developing them.
Candidates prepare memorised sentences and try to fit them to any prompt, so the essay drifts; they also run out of time before planning.
What to do instead
Spend three minutes before writing: underline the key words of the prompt, state your position in one sentence, and list two reasons with one supporting detail each. Every body paragraph should open with a topic sentence that names one reason.
Producing short, simple sentences with repeated vocabulary and no linking devices, which caps the score even when there are no outright errors.
Candidates write defensively to avoid mistakes, and they have not practised transforming simple sentences into complex ones.
What to do instead
Build a personal bank of eight linking expressions and five complex structures (relative clause, concessive clause, conditional, participle phrase, nominalisation) and deliberately include at least three in every practice essay. Then check that each is used correctly, not just inserted.
Leaving no time to proofread, so subject-verb agreement, plural, tense, and spelling errors remain in the final draft.
Candidates write until the time limit and hand in immediately, believing that rereading will not change the grade.
What to do instead
Reserve the final four minutes and proofread for one category at a time: first verbs, then nouns and articles, then spelling. Reading the essay backwards sentence by sentence makes errors easier to see because it breaks the flow that hides them.
Missing the question in a listening task because attention lapses while waiting for the next item, or writing an answer before the speaker finishes and then not correcting it.
Candidates try to understand every word rather than tracking the task, and they do not anticipate what kind of information (number, place, reason) is required.
What to do instead
Before each recording starts, read the question and predict the answer type. Keep writing during the audio and revise after it ends, since speakers often correct themselves. Practise with single-play audio only, so you never rely on a second hearing.