Reading Comprehension: Longer Passages and Information Retrieval (長文読解・資料読取り)
This is the heaviest block of the Shizuoka reading section: a narrative or explanatory passage of several paragraphs with content questions, a blank-sentence choice, a pronoun-reference question and an English answer question (英問英答), followed by an information-retrieval task (資料読取り) built from flyers, timetables or shop notices where you must apply conditions.
Map the passage paragraph by paragraph
After each paragraph, write a half-line in the margin: who, did what, how it changed. Questions then point to a paragraph instead of the whole text.
英問英答 rules
- Keep the tense, person and structure of the question: "Why did Ken start the club?" → "Because he wanted to…".
- Answer the question asked, not the topic; a "why" question needs a reason, not an event.
- Change "you" in the text to "I" or to the third person, and do not copy the question's wording as your answer.
Information retrieval: build a condition table
List every condition (day, price, level, place, age), then test each option against each condition and cross it out at the first failure.
Worked example
Choose a cooking class: must be Sunday, under ¥2,500, for beginners, near the station.
- A: Sunday, ¥2,000, beginners - but the venue needs a bus ride. Fails "near the station".
- B: Sunday, ¥2,300, beginners, station building. Passes all four. Reasoning: A matches three conditions, which is exactly why it is offered as a trap. Answer: B.
Traps that cost marks
- Answering a "why" with "what", or writing extra information that contradicts the text.
- Ignoring small print ("closed on the third Sunday", "price includes tax", "reservation by Friday").
- Overrunning a word limit, or copying a whole sentence where a clause or phrase is required.