Tokushima Public High School Entrance Examination - Social Studies common mistakes
Tokushima Public High School Entrance Examination - Social Studies · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When a map shows a scale bar and a measured distance between two cities, the candidate measures with a ruler, reads the number, and writes it as the answer without converting the scale-bar length into kilometres (or writes the unit as cm).
Scale-bar questions train students to measure, and the arithmetic step (measured length ÷ scale-bar length × the scale value) is dropped under time pressure. Unit conversion between cm and km is also weakly practised, so 4 cm on a 1:2,500,000 map is reported as '4' instead of 100 km.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed three-step routine for every scale question: (1) measure and write the measured length with unit, (2) write the ratio as a fraction 'measured ÷ scale bar', (3) multiply by the scale value and convert cm→km by dividing by 100,000. Practise 10 conversions until the answer sentence always ends with 'km'.
On a climate graph (climatic chart) the candidate reads the wrong axis: reporting monthly temperature from the bar/line values of precipitation, or describing a humid subtropical month as dry because the temperature curve is high.
Japanese climatic charts conventionally put temperature as a line and precipitation as bars, but textbook and exam variants swap or overlay them, and candidates memorise 'high line = hot' without checking the axis label and unit (℃ vs mm).
What to do instead
Before reading any value, circle the axis labels and note which series is a line and which is bars. Then state the pattern in a fixed sentence: 'winter temperature about X℃, summer about Y℃, annual precipitation about Z mm, concentrated in [season]'. Classify the climate only after that sentence is written.
The candidate identifies a Japanese region's industry by the name of a single famous company or product seen in a photo, rather than by the statistical pattern (e.g. share of national output, number of establishments) shown in the data.
Region names are strongly associated with brand examples in everyday knowledge (e.g. a car maker with a prefecture), and this association overrides the table or graph actually presented. Students also confuse 'head office location' with 'production location'.
What to do instead
Answer industry questions only from the data: read the highest and second-highest values in the table, name the type of industry (e.g. transportation machinery, electronic components, ceramics), then attach the region. Treat company names as illustration, never as evidence, and write one line citing the number that supports the choice.
In chronology questions the candidate orders events by rough 'old-to-new' feeling and places events of the same century in the wrong sequence, especially mixing Edo-period reforms (Kansei, Tempo) with Meiji-era changes, or placing the opening of the country before the arrival of Perry's squadron.
Dates are memorised as isolated numbers rather than as a timeline anchored to era names, so events within one century have no internal order. The era-name system (Nara, Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, Azuchi-Momoyama, Edo, Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei, Reiwa) is often known only as a list.
What to do instead
Build a one-page timeline with era boundaries and 20 anchor events, then for each new event write 'which era, which half of the era'. Practise ordering sets of five events drawn from the same century, and always justify each position with an anchor event already on the timeline.
The candidate describes a historical reform or policy by its slogan only ('rich country, strong army', 'civilisation and enlightenment') without stating who carried it out, when, and what concrete institutional change followed, so the answer scores no points on the explanation.
Slogans are short and memorable, and students reproduce them as if they were explanations. Exam rubrics award marks for cause, actor, content, and result, which the slogan does not supply.
What to do instead
For every slogan or policy, memorise a four-part card: period and actor, stated aim, concrete measure (e.g. conscription, land-tax reform, establishment of a national bank), and consequence. In the answer, write the concrete measure explicitly and use the slogan only as an opening phrase.
When comparing world civilisations, the candidate assigns a river to the wrong civilisation or mixes the achievements of one civilisation with another (e.g. cuneiform writing with the Indus, the caste system with Egypt), and cannot place them on a map.
Civilisations are learned as parallel lists rather than as a spatial pattern, so rivers, achievements, and religions drift between entries. The map of the ancient world is rarely practised.
What to do instead
Draw a blank map and place four river civilisations with their rivers, one key achievement each, and one religion or social feature each. Re-test by covering the labels and writing them from memory, then add a column linking each to a later influence on Japan or on world religion.
The candidate explains a modern international event only from the Japanese side, omitting the counterpart's position and the treaty or conference that resolved it, so answers about the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the Washington Naval Conference, or the post-war peace treaty are one-sided.
Textbook narratives are written from a national viewpoint, and students reproduce the domestic motive without the diplomatic exchange. They also confuse the League of Nations with the United Nations, or the Treaty of Versailles with the Washington system.
What to do instead
Use a two-column note for each event: 'Japan's aim / other side's aim', plus the forum (conference, treaty, organisation) and the year. Add a short list distinguishing the League of Nations, the Washington system, the United Nations, and the San Francisco Peace Treaty by membership and purpose.
In civics, the candidate answers a question about the Constitution by quoting a principle ('sovereignty of the people', 'pacifism') without naming the article or the institution, and treats 'basic human rights' as a single item rather than distinguishing equality, liberty, social rights, and the right to receive education.
Principles are taught as headings, and the article numbers and the rights categories are treated as optional detail. Candidates also mix up the three principles with the structure of the National Diet, Cabinet, and courts.
What to do instead
Make a table of the three principles with the relevant articles (e.g. Preamble and Article 1, Article 9, Article 41), and a second table of rights categories with one concrete example each and the duty that pairs with it (e.g. right to receive education with the duty to have children educated). Answer questions by naming the article or institution first.
On economy questions the candidate confuses the direction of a statistic: reading a trade surplus as a deficit, mistaking the meaning of a rising price index for rising output, or describing deflation as 'prices rising'.
Terms are memorised as labels without a defined direction. Students also read graphs left-to-right and assume any upward slope is 'growth' regardless of what the axis measures.
What to do instead
Before interpreting, write the definition of the axis quantity in one clause ('trade balance = exports minus imports; positive means surplus'). Then state the direction in words ('from surplus to deficit between years X and Y') before giving any reason. Keep a glossary of five paired opposites: surplus/deficit, inflation/deflation, strong/weak currency, export/import, supply/demand.
In source-analysis questions the candidate copies a phrase from the source and presents it as the answer, without stating what the source shows, what it leaves out, or how it relates to the question's period, and cannot distinguish a primary source from a later commentary.
Quoting feels safe and fast, and students have not been taught to separate 'what the source says' from 'what can be inferred'. Authorship, date, and purpose are usually ignored.
What to do instead
Use a three-line frame for every source: 'This source, written by [who] in [when] for [purpose], states [claim]; it does not mention [gap]; therefore it supports/limits [conclusion].' Practise by classifying five sources as primary or secondary and writing one inference and one limitation for each.