Kanagawa Entrance English common mistakes
Kanagawa Entrance English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reading the four printed answer options before the listening passage plays, then choosing the option that repeats the word you heard rather than the one that answers the question.
The audio is played once or twice only, and candidates who have not previewed the options spend the first seconds reading instead of listening; when they hear a familiar vocabulary item they grab it as a life raft, because the exam's distractors deliberately echo words from the recording.
What to do instead
In the 10-second interval before each item, skim the options only for their type (numbers, times, places, actions) and underline the one word that differs between them; while listening, mark the option that answers the question even if it uses different wording, and cross out any option whose exact wording you heard, because verbatim repetition is a distractor signal.
Writing a Japanese translation of the question stem in the margin and then answering from the translation instead of from the English text.
Candidates are trained to translate word by word, and under time pressure the translation becomes the working text; nuance such as negation, tense, and who-did-what-to-whom is lost in the transfer, so the answer reflects the translation, not the passage.
What to do instead
Practise answering with the English sentence still in front of you: locate the sentence that contains the answer, copy its key noun and verb into the margin in English, and check the option against those two words; reserve translation for vocabulary you genuinely cannot infer, and never for whole sentences.
Choosing an option that is true in the real world or true somewhere in the passage, without checking that it answers the specific question asked (main idea, reason, or the writer's purpose).
Longer passages and information-retrieval tasks contain several true statements, and candidates match on familiarity rather than on the question type; the habit is reinforced because many practice items reward locating any matching sentence.
What to do instead
Before reading the options, write the question type in the margin (main idea / detail / reason / inference) and restate the question in your own words; then reject any option that is true but does not answer that question, and for main-idea items check that the option covers the whole passage rather than one paragraph.
In information-retrieval tasks (notices, timetables, flyers, e-mails), answering from the first matching line without cross-checking the second condition in the question.
These tasks are designed with two or three simultaneous conditions (day plus time, price plus eligibility, deadline plus required document); candidates scan for one keyword, find a hit, and stop, because scanning feels finished once something matches.
What to do instead
Underline every condition in the question before scanning (for example 'Saturday', 'under 2,000 yen', 'must bring'), then tick each condition off against the source; if any condition is unticked, the option is wrong no matter how well the first one matched.
Filling a grammar gap with the option that 'sounds right' without identifying the structure being tested (tense, passive, relative pronoun, infinitive vs gerund, comparison).
Japanese learners often rely on rhythm and translation feel because school instruction has emphasized meaning over form; the exam's distractors are built to sound natural while violating one formal rule.
What to do instead
Before choosing, name the structure aloud in Japanese or English (for example 'here the subject is the receiver, so passive'), then eliminate options that break that structure; after choosing, re-read the whole sentence to confirm subject-verb agreement and tense consistency.
In sentence-ordering items, arranging the clauses into a natural-sounding order without first finding the grammatical anchor (the conjunction, relative pronoun, or preposition that must be followed by a particular element).
Candidates read the numbered fragments as a meaning puzzle and build a plausible story, but ordering items are scored on syntax: the fragment beginning with 'because' or 'which' has a fixed position relative to its head word, and meaning alone will not reveal it.
What to do instead
Locate the fixed joints first: a relative pronoun must sit immediately after its antecedent, a preposition must be followed by its object, and a conjunction must introduce its clause; place those pairs, then fit the remaining fragments, and finally read the assembled sentence once for sense.
In sentence-transformation items, changing the words but keeping the original word order, producing a sentence that is grammatically wrong even though the meaning is preserved.
Transformation requires a structural rewrite (active to passive, direct to indirect speech, clause to phrase), and candidates focus on swapping vocabulary because that is the visible change; the required reordering of subject, auxiliary, and object is invisible in the prompt.
What to do instead
Before writing, state the transformation type and its skeleton (for passive: object becomes subject + be + past participle + by-agent), write the skeleton with blanks, then fill the content words; after writing, check that the tense and the number of the new subject match the original meaning.
In guided composition, writing everything the prompt asks in one long sentence joined by 'and' and 'but', so the required points are present but the structure is unclear.
Candidates try to save time and avoid grammar risk by stringing clauses together, and Japanese composition habits favour long connected sentences; the result reads as a single run-on and loses points for organization rather than content.
What to do instead
Plan one sentence per required point before writing, each with a clear subject and verb, and use a fixed pattern set (first / also / however / for these reasons); keep sentences under about 15 words and start a new sentence whenever the subject changes.
In free composition, listing opinions without a stated position at the start and without a reason or example for each, producing a paragraph that never answers the question.
Under time pressure candidates write whatever vocabulary comes to mind and stop when they reach the word count; they have practised sentences but not the paragraph shape (opinion, reason, example, restatement) that the task rewards.
What to do instead
Memorize a four-move template and rehearse it on five past topics: state your position in the first sentence, give two reasons each followed by a concrete example or personal experience, and close by restating the position in different words; count words only after the shape is complete.
In situational English and response items, replying with a grammatically correct sentence that ignores the social function of the prompt (request, apology, invitation, refusal).
Candidates match on topic words and translate a Japanese-style reply directly, so a refusal sounds like an acceptance or a request is answered with an unrelated statement; the exam tests whether the response fits the situation, not whether it is grammatical.
What to do instead
Label the prompt's function first (asking a favour, declining, apologizing, asking for repetition) and recall the standard English pattern for that function (for example 'I'm afraid I can't...' for refusal, 'Could you say that again?' for repetition); choose the option that performs the same function, then check politeness level.