Nagano Entrance English common mistakes
Nagano Entrance English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
While a listening passage plays, the candidate writes out a full Japanese translation of the previous sentence and stops tracking the audio, so the answer to the next question is missed entirely.
School practice trains students to transcribe and translate everything, and candidates carry that habit into a test where each passage is heard a limited number of times and the questions come in order.
What to do instead
Practise note-taking in keywords only (numbers, names, places, contrast words such as but/however), and pre-read the answer choices before the audio starts so you know which single detail to listen for. Do one full timed listening set per week with the rule that no sentence is written in full.
The candidate answers a listening question using general knowledge or a plausible guess about the situation instead of the exact number, time, or reason stated in the audio.
Distractor options in listening sections are deliberately reasonable-sounding, and candidates under time pressure stop checking the audio against the choice.
What to do instead
For every question, point to the exact phrase in your notes that supports the choice, and treat any option with no matching phrase as wrong. Drill sets that contain near-miss distractors (e.g. 3:15 vs 3:50, Tuesday vs Thursday) and mark the discriminating sound or word each time.
On short passages, the candidate reads the passage first, then the questions, and then re-reads the whole passage for each question, running out of time before the final passage.
Classroom reading is done passage-first for full understanding, but exam short passages are scanned for specific information under a strict time budget.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed order: read the question stems first, scan the passage for the keyword, read only the surrounding two or three sentences, then answer. Time yourself at roughly one minute per short passage and log which question types cost you the most time.
The candidate picks an answer choice that repeats words from the passage rather than the choice that paraphrases the passage's meaning.
Word-matching feels safe, so candidates choose the option with the most familiar vocabulary even when it states the opposite or an unsupported detail.
What to do instead
Before choosing, underline the passage sentence that answers the question and check whether the option matches its meaning, not its wording. Build a personal list of common paraphrase pairs (e.g. increase/go up, refuse/turn down) and review it weekly.
On long passages, the candidate answers detail questions but leaves inference, author's-purpose, and main-idea questions blank or guesses without locating the supporting paragraph.
These questions have no single sentence to copy, so candidates who rely on word-matching have no strategy for them and lose the highest-value items.
What to do instead
Practise a two-step routine: identify the paragraph the question points to, then state in one short sentence what the author is doing there (explaining a cause, giving an example, contrasting a view). Do five inference and purpose questions per study session and write the evidence line number next to each answer.
The candidate learns vocabulary as isolated Japanese-English pairs and then chooses the wrong option for a word used in a phrase or idiom (e.g. taking 'run' to mean only physical running in 'run out of time').
Word lists and flashcard apps present single translations, while the exam tests collocations, phrasal verbs, and idioms in context.
What to do instead
Record every new word with the phrase it appeared in, plus one original sentence, and review in phrase units rather than single words. Keep a separate idiom and phrasal-verb notebook organised by verb (take, get, put, run) and test yourself by filling blanks in sentences.
The candidate judges a grammar item by how the sentence sounds and ignores the structural cue, such as a singular subject with a plural-looking noun phrase or a tense marker elsewhere in the sentence.
Japanese sentence structure differs from English word order, so intuition built from translation often fails on subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, and tense sequencing.
What to do instead
For each grammar question, name the rule being tested before choosing (e.g. 'third-person singular present', 'preposition after adjective'). Keep an error log of rules you missed and re-test only those rules after one week.
In dialogue completion, the candidate selects a reply that is grammatically correct and polite but does not answer the actual question or fit the register of the situation.
Candidates focus on form and politeness formulas and skip checking what function the preceding line performs (invitation, apology, request, refusal).
What to do instead
Label the first line's function in one word, then eliminate any option that does not perform the matching function or that breaks register (too casual for a teacher, too formal for a friend). Practise with paired lines where two options are grammatically fine but only one responds appropriately.
In sentence-reordering items, the candidate builds a sentence by translating the Japanese meaning word by word instead of using English structural anchors such as the subject-verb core, connectors, and pronoun reference.
Japanese word order places the verb last, so direct transfer produces unnatural English order and candidates lose track of which clause depends on which.
What to do instead
Find the fixed first or last element the item gives you, then locate the subject-verb pair and attach modifiers around it. Use connectors (because, although, that) and pronouns (it, this, they) as links between chunks, and check the finished sentence by reading it aloud for natural flow.
In Japanese-English translation, the candidate writes a literal rendering that keeps Japanese sentence order and omits English articles, plurals, and prepositions, producing English that is understandable but marked wrong on accuracy.
Translation practice in school rewards meaning transfer, while this section rewards natural, grammatically complete English with correct tense and number.
What to do instead
After drafting, run a fixed three-point check: verb tense, articles and plurals, and preposition choice. Compare your version against a model translation and note only the structural differences, not vocabulary, then rewrite the same sentence from memory the next day.
In free writing, the candidate spends most of the time on a long opening sentence, writes one unstructured block of text, and runs out of time before stating an opinion or checking the ending.
Candidates prepare by memorising model essays rather than by practising timed planning, so they have no routine for generating and organising content quickly.
What to do instead
Use a three-minute plan before writing: one sentence for your opinion, two reasons, one example. Write short clear sentences with explicit connectors (first, also, however, for example), and reserve the last three minutes to check tense consistency, plurals, and spelling of common words. Practise one timed composition per week on a new prompt.