Hyogo Entrance English

It mixes several task types rather than one long passage: recorded listening tasks, reading passages with detail and inference questions, grammar and word-order items embedded in sentences, short dialogue completion, a guided writing task with stated conditions, and practical texts such as notices, schedules or e-mails. Expect a mixture of multiple-choice and short written answers.

Most items sit at or slightly above the level of the junior high textbook, but the paper rewards students who read a little beyond it. It is not a trick exam; the difficulty comes from the volume of text and from inference questions asking why a character acts or what a word refers to, not from obscure vocabulary.

The achievement test is held once within that year's selection process, so there is no same-year retake. If you are not successful, you normally apply again in the following year's selection as a new applicant, subject to the eligibility rules in force at that time. Some students also sit private school examinations as an alternative route.

In most administrations the recorded audio is played once, so you cannot rewind. Use the pause before each item to read the question and options, predict what kind of answer is coming, and jot keywords rather than full sentences as you listen. Practise with one-play audio from the start; rewinding in practice builds a habit that hurts on the day.

Start with vocabulary and core sentence patterns from your textbook, because every section depends on them. Then work on reading speed with short passages, and after that drill the writing task. Practise listening throughout rather than in a final block - it improves slowly and cannot be crammed. Finish with full-paper practice under time pressure.

Common ones: spending too long on one reading passage and losing the writing marks; writing compositions that ignore the stated conditions, such as the required content points or word range; choosing a listening option just because it repeats a word heard in the audio; and leaving short-answer items blank instead of writing a partial answer in English.

You are given a situation and explicit conditions - for example, which points to include, a word range, or a sentence to start from. Marks come from meeting those conditions and communicating clearly, not from fancy grammar. Write short, correct sentences, check tense and subjects, and count your words before finishing. Ignoring a condition costs marks even when your English is good.

Not every school administers a speaking test, but many use an interview or a school-specific component, and some include a short oral check. The content varies by school, so read the guidelines for the schools you are applying to. Prepare to talk simply about yourself, your school life and why you chose that school.

This page does not publish those figures, because they are set and announced for each year's selection. The Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education publishes the current selection guidelines, schedule and application information on its official site. Check it before you plan, and check the individual school's pages where a school tests separately.