漢字・語句 - Kanji Reading, Writing, and Vocabulary
Reading and writing kanji
For the 漢字・語句 section, treat kanji as vocabulary, not as isolated symbols. Learn each character through words that show its common on-reading and kun-reading, its okurigana, and its usual compounds. Pay attention to transitivity pairs, homophones, and near-identical shapes. Candidates should also control idioms, 四字熟語, katakana loanwords, and context-dependent meanings.
The common traps are predictable. A character may have several readings, and the test may place a familiar character in an unfamiliar compound. Okurigana can change meaning, as in 治める/修める/収める. Similar forms such as 微/徴 or 概/慨 are easy to confuse. Do not choose a reading because it sounds familiar; test it inside the whole phrase. For writing, recall the meaning first, then the character’s parts and stroke pattern.
Worked example: the character 重 appears in 重い (おもい), 体重 (たいじゅう), 重箱 (じゅうばこ), and 慎重 (しんちょう). The reading depends on the word, not on a fixed rule. Memorize these as word units and note that 重箱 uses a compound reading while 慎重 uses an on-reading in a Sino-Japanese word.
Rule of thumb: when unsure, substitute a synonym or simpler phrase. If the meaning changes, the reading or kanji is probably wrong. Keep a personal list of confusions and review them in sentence context.