Tokyo Metropolitan Public High School Entrance Examination - English study plan
Tokyo Metropolitan Public High School Entrance Examination - English · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Listening comprehension & Grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure
Shadow a 3-minute English monologue daily and write down every word you mishear, then look up the meaning and pronunciation of each
Drill 60 high-frequency basic verbs and their past forms until you can produce each within 2 seconds
Listen to 10 short announcement-style recordings and answer one factual question per recording without replaying
Build a personal error list of 20 sound-spelling mismatches (e.g., words where the written form misleads listening)
Your checkpoint
A 1-page listening error sheet with 20 entries plus a self-recorded 2-minute read-aloud of a scripted dialogue, checked against the original text for accuracy
Listening comprehension & Grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure
Practice 15 dialogue-response items where you must choose the reply that fits the question, and justify each choice in one sentence
Review tense and aspect rules (present perfect vs past simple, future forms) and apply them to 30 fill-in-the-blank sentences
Listen to 8 recordings containing numbers, times, and prices and transcribe the exact figures
Take dictation of 5 short passages of 40-60 words each and correct against the transcript
Your checkpoint
A timed 15-minute listening mini-test (15 items) with a score log and a written note on each wrong answer's cause
Reading comprehension (short passages) & Grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure
Read 12 short passages of 100-150 words and identify the main idea in one sentence for each
Practice scanning for specific details: answer 20 detail questions by underlining the exact source phrase
Review pronoun reference and conjunction logic (however, therefore, otherwise) with 25 sentence-completion items
Memorize 80 academic and school-life vocabulary items and use 40 of them in original sentences
Your checkpoint
A short-passage practice set of 12 passages with answers, each annotated with the line number where the evidence appears
Reading comprehension (short passages) & Reading comprehension (longer passages and dialogue)
Read 6 medium passages of 200-300 words and outline each in a 3-line structure (topic, supporting points, conclusion)
Answer 20 inference questions and write the reasoning chain for each in one sentence
Compare 4 paired passages on the same topic and state the difference in viewpoint
Practice time-boxing: complete one passage plus questions in 6 minutes, 8 times
Your checkpoint
A timed reading test of 3 passages completed in 20 minutes with a score record and a list of every question type missed
Reading comprehension (longer passages and dialogue) & Composition / free writing
Read 5 longer passages (350-500 words) and summarize each in 40-60 words
Analyze 4 dialogue passages and identify speaker intention, agreement, and disagreement for each turn
Write 4 opinion paragraphs of 60-80 words using a claim-reason-example structure
Learn and apply 10 linking expressions appropriately in your own writing
Your checkpoint
Two 80-word opinion paragraphs written in 15 minutes each, self-scored against a checklist of task response, organization, and grammar accuracy
Composition / free writing & Reading comprehension (longer passages and dialogue)
Write 6 timed compositions of 80-100 words in 15 minutes each on school and daily-life prompts
Revise each composition once, fixing at least 3 grammar or word-choice errors
Build a personal template bank of 8 sentence patterns for opening, giving reasons, and concluding
Read 3 model essays and label the function of every sentence (topic, support, example, conclusion)
Your checkpoint
A portfolio of 6 compositions with first and revised drafts side by side and a self-scored rubric for each
Information transfer and practical reading (charts, notices, emails) & Reading comprehension (short passages)
Interpret 10 practical texts (notices, timetables, menus, flyers) and extract the required information for 3 questions each
Practice 6 email and message reading tasks and identify sender purpose, request, and deadline
Complete 4 chart or table tasks that require comparing two data points in a written sentence
Practice answering with the exact format required (number, time, short phrase) to avoid losing marks on form
Your checkpoint
A practical-reading set of 10 items completed under a 15-minute limit with all answers in the required answer format
Listening comprehension & Reading comprehension (longer passages and dialogue) & Composition / free writing
Take 2 full mock exams under real time limits and record section-by-section scores
Re-do every missed item from weeks 1-7 and explain the correct answer aloud
Write 3 final timed compositions and compare them with your week-6 drafts to confirm improvement
Build a one-page exam-day checklist covering time allocation, answer-format rules, and common personal errors
Your checkpoint
A full mock-exam score report with a before-and-after comparison against week 1 and a final one-page review sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Score at least 70% on the 15-item listening mini-test and correctly transcribe numbers, times, and prices in 8 of 10 attempts
Week 4: Complete 3 reading passages in 20 minutes with at least 65% accuracy and no unanswered items
Week 6: Produce an 80-word composition in 15 minutes that meets the checklist on task response and organization, with no more than 3 basic grammar errors
Week 8: Improve the full mock-exam total by at least 15 percentage points over the week-1 baseline, with the composition section at 70% or above