ISALC, Lewis and Clark College

How to Succeed on a Fiercely Competitive Entrance Examination by Fumika Yamamoto

 

Japan is a typical society, which sets a greater value on the academic career of an individual than on his or her real ability. This overemphasis of educational qualifications causes a particularly challenging situation for the young children. A lot of parents make their children aim at a well-known private kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, or senior high school. The final aim is to have the students enter a noted university because making their children enter a famous university is one of the most efficient ways for the parents to insure the success of their children. In addition, the entrance examinations of certain high-level universities are so hard that the parents want their children to enter the primary school attached to the universities. This causes the strange situation in which little children, such as 3 or 4 years old, are busy preparing for an entrance examination. For example, there are many infants who go to a cram shool teacher who teaches them how to pass the entrance examinations of the renowned kindergartens that are attached to the top-ranking universities. There are some strategies for the parents who wish to help their children pass the entrance examinations of such a kindergarten.

First of all, it's very important for children to have parents who have good educational backgrounds because the schools cannot examine the children's knowledge; they are too young. This means that schools judge the children's ability, not only by the children, but also the parents. If both the father and the mother graduated from high-ranking universities, it's much easier for the children to pass the examination. And also what kind of job the parents have is important. If the parents work at a prestigious job such as governor, politician, lawyer, or doctor, this will help. But you cannot change your educational background now, so I will explain the next step.

If you want to succeed, you should find a "good" cram school or teacher. It depends on the character of your child. If your child is quiet, it's better to find a private teacher. It's much more efficient for this kind of child to study under a tutor because if there are many little children, it's hard for the quiet children to draw the teacher's attention. On the other hand, if your child is naughty, it's necessary to find a strict cram environment because the well-behaved children are evaluated highly at the interview.

I should say that another thing your child needs is the family's help. That is, because of the age, it's very hard to study for a long time alone. Even though the kindergarten exams usually emphasize inherent cleverness rather than acquired knowledge, it's still important to practice how to solve the questions fast or how to answer at the interview. And also they should study certain Japanese words or certain knowledge, so it's impossible to succeed without the family's cooperation. For example, you should always try to let your child's interest go to the subjects for examination. Three or four year old children usually don't have enough concentration to study subjects that they cannot feel are interesting. If your child doesn't show any curiosity for the subject, try to lead your child to be interested in it. You should use not only books, but also videos and pictures. If it takes a long time to do this, don't give up; make up your mind to spend your time for your child as much as you can.

In addition, you should make an effort to get the information about the exams. Almost all high-ranked kindergarten are not public schools, so they can organize the exam forms however they want. Some schools focus on the interview, and others focus on the test score. Some schools have long exams, and others have short exams. That's why the information is really important. Besides, it's very efficient to get information on how the test subjects have changed from last year or how the consideration of the number of the candidates has changed because if a subject has changed, it's a waste of time to study it. And if the number of examinees has increased extraordinarily, it can be too difficult for your child to pass the exam so you can avoid that school. Thus, it's very important process to choose schools and make a schedule of schools where your child should take the exam. It tends to be a crowded schedule because almost all schools give the examination during the same period. You should think about the difficulty of the crowded schedule, not from your point of view, but your little child's perspective. Moreover, you should choose not only the really high-ranked schools, but also the second-class schools as insurance against failure at all the other schools.

I can't say how many school exams you should choose because it depends on the child's concentration and physical strength. Children usually they take 5 or 6 school exams and these consist of various quality levels of schools. If your child goes to the big cram school, you can get specific information easily from the administration or the other parents; however, if you take on a tutor, you should use some information magazines. The more information you have, the greater possibility your child will get in because you can find the best schedule to cope with the situation. Especially, if you decide early which exams you child will take, it makes your child's situation better because considering past test problems is effective. Be careful not to be slow to act, or neglect to take appropriate measures promptly.

To get good results on the exam, the most important thing is health care. Namely, if your child's health breaks down, she cannot concentrate on the subject. You should make sure that if your children becomes ill, it's not your children's fault but your fault. So you should always take care of your child's health in order to produce satisfactory results. I recommend that you stay up late together because you can monitor your child's health condition directly. And also if you study together, your child can avoid getting sick because you can control the temperature or other conditions. For a young child, it's easy to catch cold, so you should make her wear a flu mask. Actually, it works well. For example, when I was a 6 year-old, I was preparing for my entrance examination. I had to go to cram school and stay up late, but my mother was always sitting next to me and taking care of me. She prepared miso (soybeans) soup containing many vegetables or a delicious, flavorful rice ball. Before the period of the exam, she made me wear a flu mask all the time even though I didn't like it at all. Because of my mother's effort, I never got sick before the exam period.

I think these strategies are more important than the exam-taking techniques. Some people have said this situation looks like an examination ordeal for such little children. Others have said if children want to enter a top-ranking university, they should prepare to take examinations anyway, so it's much easier to take the kindergarten exams than to wait and take university exams. Of course, it's true that the university exams are much more complicated and severe than the kindergarten exams; however, I think it's significant for the infants to spend their time, not for tests, but for what they want to do as children. As for me, I, even though I was already 6 years old, I didn't like the cram school very much. However, I had no choice and I always felt I wanted to play with my neighborhood's children more. This experience makes me think about the stressful situation in which young children cannot have enough time to play with their friends. I think if the children choose the situation, there is no problem; otherwise, if it's not their choice, but their parents choice, it's not really a good idea because there are much more important things for young children to spend their time on other than cram schools. I think it's much more meaningful education for the young children to take a walk, look around and explore to arouse their curiosity, and talk together. This can be as important for their future success as attending a prestigious elementary school.

Created by:krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 10/23/99