Oita Public High School Entrance Examination - Japanese (Kokugo) common mistakes
Oita Public High School Entrance Examination - Japanese (Kokugo) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In the broadcast listening section, the candidate begins reading the printed choices only after the audio starts, then writes an answer while the next question is being read; notes copy phrases verbatim instead of recording who did what and any condition such as 「ただし」「〜の場合は除く」.
The recording is played once at natural speed and cannot be replayed. Anxiety makes candidates try to transcribe everything, so they miss the final condition that changes the answer or the speaker's corrected statement.
What to do instead
Use the pre-reading time to underline the differences among the four choices, not to read them for meaning. During the broadcast, use a fixed note system: arrows for who→what, circles around numbers and times, and a box around 「しかし」「ただし」「〜のとき」. After each question, re-read the question stem and check the condition before marking the choice.
In the kanji writing questions, the candidate writes a same-on homophone that fits the sound but not the sentence, for example 関心/感心 or 対象/対照, or adds or omits a stroke in a required character.
Kanji were studied as isolated sound-meaning pairs, often from lists of readings. The candidate has not stored the character inside a phrase with its particle and 送り仮名, so context cannot select the right character.
What to do instead
Learn each new kanji only in a short collocation or sentence, e.g. 「環境に関心を持つ」「先生の話に感心する」. Keep an error list grouped by 音読み and review it by writing the whole sentence, then checking 送り仮名 and stroke count. In the exam, substitute the written phrase back into the sentence and ask whether the meaning fits.
For 慣用句・ことわざ・語句 questions, the candidate chooses an expression that sounds familiar but uses the wrong verb or particle, such as confusing 「油を売る」 with an invented phrase, or misidentifying the meaning of 「耳にたこができる」.
Only the rough meaning was memorized, not the fixed form. Idioms are stored as vague images, so a plausible-sounding distractor feels correct.
What to do instead
Make cards that show the full fixed phrase, its particle, and one complete example sentence. Say the phrase aloud and test yourself by covering the verb or particle, not the meaning. When reviewing, group idioms by body part or by verb so that similar forms are contrasted.
In grammar questions, the candidate classifies 品詞 and 文の成分 by surface position or by whether the word is written in kanji, rather than by 活用 and 修飾関係; for example, calling every 「ない」 an 助動詞, or labelling the first noun as 主語 without first finding the 述語.
Terms such as 主語・修飾語・助動詞 were memorized as labels, not as a procedure. School drills often ask for the name of a word in isolation, so the candidate never learned to test a word inside its sentence.
What to do instead
Use a two-step test: does the word inflect, and what does it modify? First underline the 述語, then ask 「何が・誰が」 for 主語 and 「いつ・どこで・どのように」 for 修飾語. For 品詞, check 活用の有無 and whether the word can stand alone; practise on sentences where the same form has two functions, such as 「ない」 in 「食べない」 and 「美しくない」.
In 敬語 questions, the candidate uses 謙譲語 for a teacher's action or 尊敬語 for their own action, producing sentences such as 「先生が申しました」 instead of 「先生がおっしゃいました」, or choosing 「伺う」 where 「聞く」 is required for the other person's action.
Honorific verbs were memorized as a list without direction. The candidate remembers that a verb is 'polite' but does not assign the action to a subject before choosing the form.
What to do instead
Before choosing, draw an arrow from the verb to its actor. Mark 尊敬語 for the other person's action and 謙譲語 for one's own action. Build a three-column table (普通形・尊敬語・謙譲語) and practise converting full sentences with explicit subjects, then remove the subject and repeat the direction check.
In the literary passage, when asked 「なぜXはそう言ったのか」, the candidate chooses an option that is factually true somewhere in the story but does not explain X's reason; they ignore 心情語 and the action immediately before and after the line.
The candidate reads for plot comprehension, so every true statement feels like a valid answer. Distractors are deliberately true-but-irrelevant, and without a causal frame the candidate cannot reject them.
What to do instead
Before looking at the choices, write one sentence: 「Xは〜だから、〜と言った／した」. Circle 心情語 and draw arrows from 行動 to 心情. Then test each choice by asking whether it supplies the reason asked for, not merely whether it appears in the text.
In the expository passage, the candidate underlines a concrete example or a quotation and treats it as the 筆者の主張; the chosen option repeats a detail from the text rather than stating the claim.
Japanese expository paragraphs often place the claim after an example or a contrast, and all sentences look equally important without paragraph roles. The candidate has not been taught to identify 接続語 as signposts.
What to do instead
Label each paragraph in the margin: 問題提起、具体例、対比、主張. Box 接続語 such as 「しかし」「つまり」「したがって」「たとえば」. Write the claim in the form 「〜べきだ／〜である」 and check that the chosen option matches that sentence rather than an example.
For 指示語 questions on 「これ」「その」, the candidate copies the nearest noun instead of the full preceding clause or sentence; they also ignore the logical relation signalled by 接続語 when combining paragraphs.
指示語 was taught only as 'pointing backward', not as clause substitution. The candidate stops at the first noun that fits grammatically, even when the content requires the whole preceding statement.
What to do instead
Substitute each candidate back into the original sentence and read it aloud; check both grammar and meaning. Mark every 指示語 with an arrow to its referent and label the relation between paragraphs as 原因→結果、対比、例示. If the nearest noun makes the sentence trivial or repetitive, widen the referent to the preceding clause.
In 古文, the candidate reads historical kana as modern kana, for example reading 「けふ」 as 「けふ」 rather than 「きょう」, and assigns a modern meaning to a 古語 such as 「あはれ」; in 漢文, they read straight down and ignore 返り点 and 送り仮名.
Modern Japanese intuition is strong and 古典文法 has not been practised enough to override it. The candidate also lacks the habit of writing 訓読 before translating kanbun.
What to do instead
Drill 歴史的仮名遣い conversion aloud: 語中・語尾のハ行→ワ行（ふ→う）, ぢ→じ, づ→ず, ゐ→い, ゑ→え, を→お. Use a 古語辞典 entry that shows 品詞 and 活用, and memorize 古語 in short phrases. For kanbun, number the 返り点 and write the full 訓読 with 送り仮名 before giving a modern translation.
In the composition task, the candidate writes a free-form account of a personal experience and never states a clear 意見, or ignores the stated conditions: 段落数、字数、「二つの理由」、文体. They discover near the end that they are over or under the 原稿用紙 limit.
Practice was limited to 体験作文, and the candidate begins writing immediately without decoding the prompt. No time or space plan is made, so conditions are noticed only after the content is fixed.
What to do instead
Spend the first three minutes on a 構成メモ: list every condition as a checklist, write a one-sentence claim, and choose two supports. Allocate lines to each paragraph and count by lines as you write. Practise 原稿用紙 rules such as one character per box, 句読点 also taking a box, and 行頭禁則, so the format does not consume revision time.