Tokushima Public High School Entrance Examination - English common mistakes
Tokushima Public High School Entrance Examination - English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Choosing a listening answer simply because it repeats a word or number that was spoken in the audio, without checking whether the speaker actually said that about that person or item.
Under time pressure the ear latches onto a familiar sound, and the test deliberately puts the heard word into a wrong option so that matching sound feels like comprehension.
What to do instead
Before each track plays, read the options and predict what kind of information is needed (name, time, place, reason). While listening, note beside each option a mark for yes/no/not mentioned, and only confirm after the second listening. Treat any option that echoes a spoken word as suspect until the whole turn is heard.
Stopping attention after the first keyword is heard, so the answer that comes in the last sentence of the dialogue or monologue - often the correction ('Actually, let's make it 3:30') - is missed.
Candidates treat the first mention as the answer and relax, but school-entrance listening scripts routinely revise earlier information to test whether the listener follows the whole turn.
What to do instead
Train to listen to the end of every turn by tracking discourse signals: but, actually, so, then, instead, after all. Write timestamps in pencil and cross out any earlier number or time once a correction is heard. Never lock an answer before the track finishes.
Answering a content question from general knowledge or personal opinion instead of pointing to the sentence in the passage that proves it.
The topics (school events, environment, club activities) feel familiar, so the brain supplies a plausible answer that the text never states.
What to do instead
For every answer, physically underline the supporting line and write the line number next to the option. If no single sentence supports it, the option is wrong even if it is true in real life. Practise with 'the passage says / the passage does not say' sorting before doing full passages.
Reading 'it', 'this', 'they' or 'such a plan' as referring to the nearest noun rather than to the whole preceding clause or sentence, and therefore misreading the main idea.
Japanese and English differ in how often pronouns and demonstratives point to an entire clause, and candidates map the nearest-noun habit from their own reading style.
What to do instead
When a reference word appears, circle it and draw an arrow back to the candidate phrases, testing each with substitution ('does the sentence still make sense if I insert this?'). Explicitly practise sentences beginning 'This is because...' and 'That is why...'.
Choosing a grammar option by translating the Japanese sentence word-for-word, then picking the choice that mirrors Japanese word order or tense usage.
The first language pulls toward patterns such as omitting the subject, using the present tense for future events, or dropping articles, and the translated version 'sounds right'.
What to do instead
Before looking at the options, find the subject and the main verb and decide what the sentence needs (tense, agreement, article, preposition). Then eliminate options on grammar grounds only, and reread the completed sentence aloud to check it against English patterns, not Japanese ones.
Selecting a vocabulary item because it looks similar to a Japanese loanword or to another English word already seen, rather than because it fits the words next to it.
Vocabulary is stored as single words with one meaning, so words are matched by shape and rough meaning, while the exam tests use inside fixed phrases.
What to do instead
Learn new items in chunks, not alone: 'join the club', 'be good at', 'take part in', 'look forward to -ing'. When answering, cover the four options, read the whole sentence, predict a word or phrase, then uncover and choose. Keep a personal list of confusable pairs (listen/hear, borrow/lend, bring/take).
Composing in Japanese first and then translating sentence by sentence, producing answers that miss subjects, articles or plural -s, and that use 'because' or 'and' to chain three ideas into one long sentence.
Translation happens faster than construction, so the writer's attention goes to meaning and the grammatical frame is never planned.
What to do instead
Plan three short sentences with a fixed frame (who + does what + where/when + why) before writing full English. Keep each sentence to one clause plus at most one connector. Reserve two minutes at the end to check exactly five points: subject present, verb agrees, article before singular countable nouns, plural -s, capital letter and full stop.
Ignoring the task conditions - required number of words, the specified content points, the tense or the addressee - and writing a general opinion that is grammatically fine but does not answer the prompt.
Under exam pressure candidates start writing from the first idea that comes and treat the instruction lines as background rather than as a checklist.
What to do instead
Underline every condition in the prompt (word count, 'write two reasons', 'write to your ALT', tense) and turn them into a checklist. Write one bullet of notes per required point, allocate one sentence to each, then count words and tick each condition before moving on.
Replying to a question with only 'Yes' or 'No' when the situation requires a reason or added information, or replying to an invitation with a bare 'OK' that does not match the form of the question.
Short answers are acceptable in casual speech and in some classroom drills, so candidates do not notice that the communication task asks for two turns of information.
What to do instead
Use the answer-plus-reason pattern by default: 'Yes, I do, because ...' / 'Sorry, I can't. I have to ...'. Read the question form first (Do you...? / Would you like to...? / How about...?) and start the reply with the matching form, then add one sentence of detail.
Misreading a negative or tag question ('You didn't forget your notebook, did you?', 'Why don't we...?') and giving the opposite reply, or answering a suggestion as if it were a factual question.
The negative in the question is processed late, and 'Why don't we' looks like a question about a reason rather than an invitation.
What to do instead
Before answering, restate the question in plain form in your head ('Did you forget? No.'), and answer about the fact, not about the negative word. Memorise the fixed functions: 'Why don't we / How about / Shall we' = invitation, 'Would you like' = offer, 'Could you' = request. Practise ten of these until the function is recognised instantly.