Ibaraki Entrance English common mistakes
Ibaraki Entrance English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
While the recording is still playing, the candidate writes a full Japanese translation of the previous answer and misses the opening sentence of the next dialogue.
The candidate treats listening as dictation and tries to capture every word instead of the one piece of information each question asks for. Because the audio does not pause for each sentence, the writing time is stolen from the next item.
What to do instead
Practise note-taking with symbols and abbreviations (↑↓, ×, 15/50, ¥) and write only the answer key. During the pause before each item, read the question and options and predict what to listen for (a time, a place, a reason, a refusal). After answering, stop writing and look at the next question immediately.
The candidate hears a positive-looking word such as 'sure', 'OK', or 'I'd love to' and marks agreement, even when the full response is 'Sure, but...' or 'I'd love to, but I'm busy that day.'
The candidate matches single words rather than the speaker's function. Japanese classroom practice often focuses on vocabulary recognition, and the contrastive 'but' or a falling then rising intonation is easy to miss.
What to do instead
Train on response functions: invitation/acceptance/refusal, request/permission, apology, suggestion. For each item, decide the function first, then the content. Listen specifically for contrast markers ('but', 'actually', 'sorry, I can't') and for the final clause, which usually carries the decision.
The candidate answers a short dialogue question by choosing the option that repeats a word from the text, even though that option contradicts the final line or the speaker's purpose.
Keyword matching feels safe and fast. The candidate stops reading once a familiar word appears, so a distractor that echoes the dialogue is selected over the option that correctly paraphrases the whole exchange.
What to do instead
Read the entire short exchange before looking at the options, and state the speaker's purpose in one phrase ('she is refusing an invitation'). Eliminate options that only repeat vocabulary without matching that purpose. Confirm the answer against the last turn, where the decisive information usually sits.
The candidate selects a grammatically correct response that is socially wrong, for example replying 'Yes, please' to 'Would you mind opening the window?' or 'You're welcome' to 'May I borrow this?'
The candidate memorises fixed phrases without their function and translates from Japanese politeness patterns. 'Would you mind...?' also invites a negative answer, which conflicts with the positive-looking 'Yes, please'.
What to do instead
Build a function table: request, permission, offer, apology, thanks, invitation. For each function, learn two or three natural responses and note the expected polarity ('Would you mind...?' → 'Not at all.'). In the exam, label the first speaker's function before choosing the reply.
The candidate answers a pronoun-reference question ('What does "it" refer to?') by choosing the noun nearest to 'it', without checking whether that noun fits the sentence grammatically or logically.
Proximity is a fast heuristic, and under time pressure the candidate skips the substitution test. Singular/plural mismatch and meaning mismatch are then overlooked.
What to do instead
Use the substitution test: put each candidate noun into the sentence in place of the pronoun and read the whole sentence. Check number (it/them), human vs non-human, and logic. If two candidates fit, widen the search to the previous sentence and choose the one the paragraph is actually about.
On an inference or writer's-purpose question, the candidate answers from personal opinion or general knowledge instead of from the passage, producing a reasonable statement the text never supports.
The question feels like an opinion prompt, and Japanese essay-writing habits encourage a personal conclusion. The candidate does not return to the passage to locate evidence.
What to do instead
Treat every inference as evidence-based: underline the sentence or two that justify the answer, then paraphrase that evidence in the option. Reject any option that is true in real life but not stated or implied in the text. For purpose questions, ask what the writer wants the reader to do or think after reading.
The candidate fills a blank with the word that matches the Japanese meaning but the wrong English form, writing 'I am interesting in music' or 'We enjoyed to play tennis.'
Direct translation from Japanese bypasses English collocation and adjective/verb patterns. The -ing and -ed adjective distinction and verb complement patterns (enjoy -ing, want to) are frequent gaps.
What to do instead
Learn vocabulary in chunks, not isolated words: 'be interested in', 'enjoy playing', 'want to play'. For -ed/-ing pairs, apply the subject test: people feel -ed; things cause -ing ('I was bored' / 'The film was boring'). Before answering, read the whole sentence aloud mentally to check the pattern.
The candidate keeps the same tense across a passage that shifts time, writing 'When I got home, my mother cooks dinner' or mixing past and present inside one narrative.
The candidate focuses on each blank separately and does not track the time frame of the surrounding sentences. Japanese narration can also omit subjects and shift tense more freely, so the English sequence feels optional.
What to do instead
Before filling any tense blank, mark the time words in the passage ('yesterday', 'now', 'since 2020', 'next week') and write the time frame at the top of the paragraph. Then check subject-verb agreement and sequence of tenses, especially in reported speech and after 'when' clauses.
The candidate writes a composition that ignores one or more of the prompt's required content points, or lands well outside the specified word count, because the prompt conditions were read once and not checked.
The candidate starts writing immediately to save time, and the scoring conditions (number of points, tense, word count) are treated as decoration rather than as requirements. Under time pressure, the easiest point is developed and the harder ones are dropped.
What to do instead
Spend the first minute making a three-bullet plan that matches the required points exactly, and note the required tense and word count. Write one short paragraph or clear sentence per bullet. Leave two minutes to tick each requirement and count words, adding or cutting one sentence to fit the range.
The candidate composes by translating a Japanese sentence word by word, producing unnatural English such as 'I very like my school because it is happy place' or a sentence with no subject.
The candidate composes in Japanese first and maps each word to English, so Japanese word order, omitted subjects, and countability carry over. Limited grammar control then makes the errors hard to self-correct.
What to do instead
Plan in short English chunks using patterns already learned ('I like ... because ...', 'There is/are ...', 'It is important for me to ...'). Write simple subject-verb-object sentences and combine them with 'because', 'so', and 'when'. After writing, read each sentence and check three things: subject present, verb agrees, article or plural correct.