Kanagawa Entrance English cheat sheet

Japanese entrance listening items usually play the question once or twice; on the first hearing lock onto the question word (what, where, when, who, why, how) before the dialogue starts.

Numbers, times, prices, and dates are the most common traps: the first number spoken is often corrected later ("actually, make it..."), so record the final figure.

Signal words that mark the answer: "but", "however", "actually", "in fact", "instead" usually introduce the corrected or true information.

Distinguish similar-sounding pairs: thirteen/thirty, fifteen/fifty, can/can't, walk/work, right/light, live/leave; final consonants carry meaning in English.

In picture or map tasks, note spatial prepositions (next to, across from, between, behind, on the corner of) and direction verbs (turn left, go straight, take the second right).

When a speaker asks a question and the other answers, the answer is usually the key; when a speaker states a plan, expect a follow-up change or condition.

Reason/attitude items: match tone words (excited, worried, relieved, annoyed) to the situation, not to the literal words alone.

If you miss a detail, keep listening: later lines often repeat or paraphrase the missed information; do not freeze on one word.

Short-dialogue items are usually one of three types: detail (who/what/when), inference (how the speaker feels, what happens next), or function (what the speaker means by a line).

For function questions, paraphrase the target line into plain meaning first, then match it to the option with the same intent, not the same vocabulary.

Pronoun reference (it, they, this, that) points to the nearest preceding noun phrase that fits grammatically and logically; test each candidate by substituting it back.

Dialogue structure often follows invitation → acceptance/refusal → condition ("Sure, if I finish my homework"), so the answer is frequently the condition, not the invitation.

Negative and double-negative wording flips meaning: "not uncommon" = common; "I don't disagree" = I agree; mark these before choosing.

Time and sequence words (before, after, until, by the time, as soon as) determine the correct order of events in short narratives.

Eliminate options that are true but not asked, or that use absolute words (always, never, all) unsupported by the short text.

Notices and short messages: extract the action required, the deadline, and the target reader; the answer is usually one of these three.

Read the questions first, then scan for the paragraph containing the keyword; answers to detail questions appear in passage order in most test passages.

Main-idea questions: the answer covers the whole passage, not one paragraph; reject options that are too narrow (one detail) or too broad (beyond the text).

Paragraph-insertion and ordering items rely on discourse markers: however, therefore, for example, on the other hand, in addition, as a result.

Information-retrieval tasks (timetables, notices, ads, tables) require matching multiple conditions at once; cross out rows that fail any single condition.

Vocabulary-in-context: substitute each option into the sentence and check grammar and surrounding logic; the common meaning of the word is often the wrong choice.

Inference answers must be supported by textual evidence; if an option needs outside knowledge not stated or implied, it is wrong.

Author's purpose choices (to inform, persuade, warn, entertain, compare) are decided by the overall verb style and the presence of opinion markers.

Watch for scope words: some, most, all, only, mainly; a single changed quantifier makes an otherwise correct option false.

Tense agreement: a past-time adverb (yesterday, last week, in 2019) forces past tense; present perfect pairs with since/for/ever/never and cannot take a finished past time.

Subject-verb agreement: each, every, everyone, nobody, and uncountable nouns take singular verbs; the number is set by the head noun, not by a phrase after it.

Relative pronouns: who for people, which for things, whose for possession, where for places, when for times; omit the pronoun only when it is the object.

Participles after perception and causative verbs: see/hear/make/let + object + bare infinitive; have/get + object + past participle for arranged actions.

Conditionals: if + present, will (first); if + past, would (second); if + had + past participle, would have (third).

Ordering items: build the sentence around the fixed verb pattern first (e.g., ask someone to do, too ... to, so ... that, not only ... but also), then attach modifiers.

Transformation rules: active↔passive keeps tense and moves the object to subject; direct↔indirect shifts tense back one step and adjusts pronouns, time, and place words.

Preposition collocations are fixed: interested in, good at, afraid of, depend on, look forward to + -ing, instead of + -ing, despite + noun/-ing.

A scored short composition typically needs a clear topic sentence, two or three supporting sentences with reasons or examples, and a closing sentence.

Answer the prompt exactly: if it asks for your opinion plus two reasons, an essay with no stated opinion loses content points regardless of grammar.

Use cohesive devices correctly: first, second, in addition, for example, however, therefore, as a result; one connector per logical step, not stacked.

Keep tense consistent within a narrative; switch to present only for general truths or direct commentary.

Vary sentence length; a short sentence after two longer ones adds emphasis and reduces run-on errors.

Avoid translation-shaped English: "I very like it" → "I really like it"; "discuss about" → "discuss"; "because ... so ..." is redundant in English.

Word-count guidance is a floor and a ceiling: being far under loses development points, being far over increases error density without added credit.

Proofread for the high-frequency errors: third-person -s, plural -s, articles a/an/the, and preposition choice after common verbs.

Situational English is judged on appropriateness as well as grammar: polite requests use Could you / Would you mind + -ing; offers use Would you like ...?

Refusals should include a reason or an alternative ("I'd love to, but I have practice then. How about Sunday?") to count as communicative.

Summary tasks: state the main idea in one sentence, then compress supporting points; omit examples, repetition, and the writer's rhetorical flourishes.

A summary must not add opinion or new information; it stays in the source's person and tense unless the prompt requires a shift.

Response items (reply to an email or message) require answering every question asked and matching the register of the original (formal vs. casual).

Email conventions: greeting, purpose sentence, body, closing, and signature; formal closings are "Best regards" or "Sincerely", not "Bye".

Telephone and service English: "Could I speak to ...?", "Hold on, please", "I'm calling about ...", "Could you say that again?" are fixed functional phrases.

When two pieces of information conflict (a chart vs. a text), the prompt usually specifies which source governs; read that instruction before writing.

Typical paper order is listening, then reading, grammar/vocabulary, and writing; allocate writing at least 10–12 minutes so the composition is complete.

Mark difficult items and return later; a single hard reading question should not consume more than about two minutes.

For multiple-choice items, eliminate two options first, then decide between the remaining two using textual evidence, not familiarity.

Spelling counts in production tasks: check doubled consonants (beginning, occurred), -ing forms (making, writing), and irregular past forms (bought, taught).

Answer sheets: transfer listening answers as you go; do not leave blanks, since an unanswered item scores zero while a guess may score.

If a passage topic is unfamiliar, focus on the question keywords and the sentence containing them; background knowledge is not required.

Word-family conversion: decide the part of speech needed by the gap's position (article + noun, adverb + adjective, subject + verb).

Common suffixes: -tion/-ment (nouns), -ive/-ous/-ful (adjectives), -ly (adverbs), -ize/-en (verbs); prefixes un-, in-, dis-, im- negate.

Distinguish look-alikes: affect (verb) vs. effect (noun); advice (noun) vs. advise (verb); lend (give) vs. borrow (take).

Phrasal verbs are tested in context: give up, put off, turn down, look after, come up with, run out of; the particle changes the meaning entirely.

Countable vs. uncountable: information, advice, furniture, luggage, news take no plural -s and use much/little, not many/few.

Academic verbs frequent in passages: suggest, indicate, argue, claim, assume, conclude, emphasize; knowing their stance helps inference items.

A comma cannot join two independent clauses; use a period, semicolon, or a conjunction (and, but, so, because).

Commas set off non-defining relative clauses ("My brother, who lives in Osaka, is a teacher") but not defining ones ("The man who called is my uncle").

Apostrophes mark possession (the student's book, the students' books) and contractions (it's = it is; its = possessive).

Capitalize proper nouns, languages, nationalities, days, months, and the first word of a sentence; seasons and school subjects (except languages) are lowercase.

Direct speech punctuation: the comma or period goes inside the quotation marks in English style.

Spell-check traps: their/there/they're, your/you're, then/than, quiet/quite, through/thorough, weather/whether.

True/False/Not-given: "false" contradicts the text; "not given" is simply absent; do not mark absent information as false.

Ordering events: locate each event's time marker, then rank; if two share a marker, use the surrounding sequence words.

Blank-completion: the completed sentence must be grammatical and must match the passage's wording or a close paraphrase; check number and tense.

Matching headings: match the paragraph's main point, not its first sentence, which is often an example or transition.

Reference questions: substitute the candidate noun into the sentence and confirm the verb agreement and logic.

Purpose questions: choose the option describing why the author wrote the whole text, not what one paragraph does.

Article omission: Japanese has no articles, so check every singular countable noun for a/an/the or a plural marker.

Plural marking: "many book" is wrong; quantifiers many, few, several, both require plural count nouns.

Preposition transfer: "in the train" → "on the train"; "married with" → "married to"; "explain me" → "explain to me".

Subject omission: English requires an explicit subject; "Is raining" → "It is raining".

Verb choice: "become" for future plans is wrong; use "will be" or "am going to be".

Pronunciation-to-spelling interference: "l" and "r", "th" and "s", final consonants; these affect listening and spelling items alike.

Skim the first and last sentence of each paragraph to build a mental map before answering detail questions.

Scan for proper nouns, numbers, and capitalized words to locate specific information quickly.

Underline contrast markers (but, although, while, whereas) - these often carry the author's real claim.

Do not read every word at equal speed; slow down only at the sentence containing the question keyword.

For long passages, answer the main-idea question last, after detail questions have revealed the structure.

If time runs short, answer vocabulary and detail items first; they are faster and more certain than inference items.