Yamaguchi Prefectural Public High School Entrance Examination - Japanese (Kokugo) common mistakes
Yamaguchi Prefectural Public High School Entrance Examination - Japanese (Kokugo) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In the kanji writing section, the candidate writes a homophone kanji that fits the meaning of the sentence but not the exact word being tested (e.g., writing 関心 where 感心 is required, or 対象 where 対照 is required), because the sentence sounds plausible either way.
The candidate reads the sentence for overall meaning and then supplies whichever kanji is most familiar, instead of identifying the target word from its context and collocation. Yamaguchi's kanji items routinely pair 同音異義語 in one sentence precisely to test this discrimination.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the target word and say its meaning aloud, then check which kanji pair carries that meaning. Build a personal list of the 同音異義語 pairs that appear in past papers (関心/感心, 対象/対照, 機械/器械, 改正/改定, 制作/製作) and write each in a short original sentence of your own.
The candidate writes a kanji with the correct reading but wrong internal structure - missing or extra strokes, wrong 部首, or a component written in the wrong position (e.g., 成り立つ confused with 生り立つ, or 往復 written with 住).
Kanji are memorized as whole shapes, so a candidate who has only seen the word in reading passages reproduces an approximate shape. The writing section requires production, which is a different skill from recognition.
What to do instead
Switch from recognition to production practice: cover the word and write it from the reading alone, then check stroke order and radical. Keep an error notebook organized by component (氵, 忄, 糸, 辶) rather than by word, so one correction fixes a whole family of characters.
In the vocabulary and grammar section, the candidate answers 慣用句, 四字熟語, or ことわざ items by matching a single familiar word inside the phrase rather than the full expression, and chooses an option that is idiomatic-sounding but wrong in meaning or in particle.
These items reward exact knowledge, but candidates try to reason them out from partial cues. Distractor options are deliberately built to contain one correct-looking element, so partial recognition produces confident errors.
What to do instead
Memorize idioms as fixed chunks with their particle and meaning together (e.g., 油を売る＝むだ話をして時を過ごす), and for each one write a sentence where the meaning is unmistakable. For 四字熟語, learn the pattern type (対句, 数字入り, 故事由来) so an unfamiliar option can be judged structurally.
On grammar identification items, the candidate labels a 文節 or 単語 by counting spaces or by intuition about where a phrase 'feels' like it ends, rather than applying the 文節 tests (can it stand alone; can a particle be inserted after it).
School grammar in Japan defines 文節 by the 自立語＋付属語 unit and by the 「ネ」「サ」 insertion test, but candidates who read a lot rely on natural phrasing, which fails on long modifiers and compound verbs.
What to do instead
Apply the mechanical test every time: insert ネ after a candidate boundary, and check whether the unit can be pronounced alone. Drill with sentences containing long 連体修飾語 and 補助動詞 (〜ている, 〜てしまう), where intuitive chunking most often breaks.
In the expository passage, the candidate answers a 理由説明 or 筆者の考え question with their own opinion or general knowledge instead of the reason stated in the text, and writes it without quoting or paraphrasing the relevant sentence.
Expository passages in this exam are chosen to be accessible, so the candidate feels entitled to answer from background knowledge. The question, however, asks what the 筆者 says, and grading rewards correspondence to the text.
What to do instead
For every answer, first locate and mark the sentence containing the 答え, then build the answer by joining that sentence to the question's wording (「〜から。」「〜ということ。」). If you cannot point to a specific line, your answer is probably from memory, not from the passage.
The candidate treats 接続語 and 指示語 as decoration and skips them, so they miss the logical relation between paragraphs (逆接, 添加, まとめ) and misread which content a 「しかし」「つまり」「このように」 governs.
These small words carry the argument's structure, but they are visually insignificant and are read quickly. In expository text, the 筆者の主張 usually sits immediately after a 逆接 or before a まとめの語.
What to do instead
On the first read, circle every 接続語 and box every 指示語, and draw an arrow from each 指示語 to the content it points to. Answer 指示語 content questions by copying the referent from the preceding sentence, not by inventing a summary.
In the literary passage, the candidate answers 心情把握 questions with a stated emotion word (悲しい, うれしい) that is not supported by the character's actions or by the surrounding description, or attributes the narrator's feeling to the wrong character.
Fiction in this exam conveys feeling indirectly through 行動, 表情, 会話, and 情景, and candidates substitute a label for the evidence. Confusion of speaker is common because Japanese fiction omits subjects and uses 敬語 and 方言 to mark speakers.
What to do instead
For each 心情 question, write two things before choosing: the objective fact (what the character did or said) and the emotion it implies. Track who is speaking by marking 敬語, 呼称, and 方言 in the margin. Reject any option whose emotion word has no corresponding action in the text.
In 古文, the candidate reads classical text with modern-Japanese word meanings, so をかし, あはれ, うつくし, いと, and あやし are mistranslated, and 歴史的仮名遣い is read as if it were modern orthography.
Modern Japanese shares the letter forms but not the meanings, and the candidate has had little exposure to classical usage. Reading けう as 'keu' rather than 'kyō' then makes the sentence unintelligible and invites guessing.
What to do instead
Memorize a core list of 古語 (about 50 high-frequency words) with their 現代語訳, and practise 歴史的仮名遣い conversion rules (ゐ→い, けふ→きょう, あう→おう) on short passages until automatic. Read each classical sentence aloud in converted pronunciation before translating.
In 漢文, the candidate translates without applying 返り点 and 送り仮名 in the correct order, reading the characters straight across, and ignores 置き字 and 再読文字 such as 未, 将, 盍, 猶.
The candidate treats kanbun as Chinese text read left to right. The 訓読 order is encoded entirely in the 返り点, and skipping that step produces a translation that is grammatical but unrelated to the original.
What to do instead
Before translating, rewrite the passage in 訓読 order with numbers (レ点 = go back one, 一二点 = return after the marked span), then read it as Japanese. Learn the handful of 再読文字 as fixed patterns (未ダ〜ズ, 将ニ〜ントス) and mark them in the margin.
In the composition section, the candidate ignores the stated conditions - the 字数 limit, the required topic sentence, the specified number of reasons or examples, or the instruction to use a given word - and writes a general essay about the theme.
Under time pressure the candidate writes what comes to mind and treats the conditions as decoration. Conditional writing is graded heavily on satisfying the stated conditions, so a well-written essay that misses them loses most of its marks.
What to do instead
Spend the first minute copying the conditions into a checklist (字数, 段落数, 指定語句, 理由の数) and the last two minutes checking each one against your draft. Practise with a timer at the real 字数, counting characters in 20-character blocks so you can hit the limit without recounting.