EXAM QUICK REFERENCE
This subject tests not how much grammar you know but whether you can process academic Japanese under time pressure. The twelve chapters follow the syllabus's four sections: the reading chapters match the drills now open, while the listening-reading, listening, and writing chapters are marked as official scope with their banks still in preparation.
Written from the four sections of JASSO's Japanese syllabus. The current bank leads with reading; the listening-reading, listening, and writing chapters describe official scope while their drills are added in later batches.
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QUICK REFERENCE
Showing 6 items
接続表現
Words like しかし, したがって, ただし, and 一方 mark reversal, consequence, and parallel relations.
Circle every connective in the passage.
Use them to segment the text into logical blocks.
Establish each block's relation to the one before.
What follows しかし is usually the author's real claim, with what precedes it serving as setup or concession.
指示語の指示内容
The referent of これ, それ, その, or こうした is nearly always within the preceding sentence or two.
Look backwards for the nearest nominal content.
Substitute the candidate into the sentence and reread.
Confirm the sentence still makes sense after substitution.
The referent may be a word, a sentence, or a whole paragraph; substituting the candidate back into the sentence is the reliable check.
因果関係の特定
Markers such as ため, によって, and 結果 signal causation, though cause and effect can appear in either order.
Locate the causal marker.
Decide which side is cause and which is effect.
Draw an arrow on the page to fix the direction.
Japanese often postposes the cause, as in 〜のは〜からだ, so reading by your own language's order can reverse it.
対比構造
Expository writing often builds on contrasts: past versus present, Japan versus elsewhere, common view versus the author's.
Find contrast markers such as 一方 or これに対して.
List the two sides being contrasted.
Determine which side the author takes.
Once you spot the contrast, the second half becomes predictable and reading speeds up.
具体と抽象の往復
Examples exist to support an abstract claim, and reading means mapping each example back to the proposition it supports.
Find the abstract sentence bracketing the example.
Identify which claim the example supports.
Eliminate options that stay at the level of the example.
An option that merely restates the example without reaching the claim is usually wrong — a trap EJU favors.
文の挿入位置
Restoring a given sentence to its slot tests your sensitivity to demonstratives and connectives.
Analyze the first word of the sentence to insert.
Infer what the preceding sentence must say.
Try each candidate slot and read through to confirm.
The connective or demonstrative opening the sentence dictates what the preceding sentence must contain.
