Preparing for High School Entrance Exams

A Jr. High third grade student of mine wrote this on a test in July, “I have played volleyball for six years. It’s very fun. But I can’t play now because I have to study.” In July the first term of the school year ends. At this point, third graders are no longer allowed to take part in club activities so that they can devote their time and attention to studying for the High School entrance exams. In one of my schools the third graders are on the third floor of the school while all of the other kids are on the second floor. It is hoped that the isolation will help them not be distracted from their studies. So begins the ultimate terrors of Jr. High.


In America, the pressure is all on taking your SATs to get into the right college. But you can retake the SATs…a lot. It costs a lot of money, but if you think you can improve your score you can retake the test as many times as you like. And this pressure is on High School students, normally juniors and seniors.

In Japan the pressure begins much sooner. If you want to be successful in Japan, you must go to the right High School. The High School you go to helps determine the college you can be accepted at. So getting into the right High School is very important. And very competitive. Interestingly, High School is not compulsory in Japan, meaning that after Jr. High School graduation young people are no longer required by law to go to school. But from what I have seen, most still do. One of my teachers told me that nationwide 95% of students do attend High School because they can’t find jobs if they don’t.

High Schools come in highly specialized varieties. There are technical high schools for students who want to learn a more mechanical trade, and high schools geared more toward students who plan to go into creative fields like fashion. There are super academic high schools. And then there are the public high schools. It is not uncommon for children to go to High School hours away from their hometown. They live in special dorms and sometimes go home for the weekend. A few of my former students (the smartest ones actually) are in Kumamoto City which is a good two and a half hour bus ride away. I had a student last year move to Oosaka and one this year who is going all the way to Hokkaido for High School, but those two moves were both family related and not due to those being the only places they could go to a school they wanted to attend.

Now the schools are so specialized because they are preparing you for your future career. The students must know what program of the High School they want to enter. This means that by the third grade of junior high school (9th grade) my students must know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They are 14-15 years old at this point. This is a HUGE amount of pressure. And everything comes down to the dreaded High School entrance exam.

After New Year’s my third grade students are cranky and stressed. As far as I understand the system, they have 2 chances to get into the school they wish to attend. The first test has a cut off score and if you get above that score you are in. Once the school evaluates how many spots they have left open for the year they set the score for the second round and the kids can try again about a month later. Some of the really prestigious schools also have an interview process (one of my students applying for an international program had to do an interview in English!). The kids who get in on the first round are able to rest easier, but for many the second round is a make or break point. If they do not get into their school of choice they are going to have to reevaluate what they want to do with their lives. And by that point it may be too late to take other school’s tests.

Private school testing comes first, with most of the schools having their test on the exact same day to force the students to choose between them. Then comes the first round of public school exams about a week later. Results come in and the next month we do it all again in round two, this time with more stress. This year 19 of my 37 students passed on the first round of entrance exams.

Most of my students go to public high schools because the private schools are very expensive. Out of my class of 28, only 6 took private school exams this year. Five passed the first run. High school in general is expensive, with all students having to pay for their own textbooks. This really cements the idea in my mind that High School in Japan is a lot like College is in America.

The most unfortunate thing is that if a student has slacked off in his first and second grade year but finally wises up to how important it is for him to know these things in the third grade, it is probably too late. There isn’t time to catch up. And since no one fails or gets held back here (more on that later) it is entirely possible for a student to be almost two years behind in any given subject.

I do believe it is possible to transfer High Schools, but I don’t believe it is done frequently. The College Entrance Exams are possibly even more feared (although being in the right high school helps). If you are at all familiar with anime or manga that take place in schools you have likely seen students freaking out about these various tests. And you probably wondered what the big deal was. It’s just High School, right?

From what I’ve heard, college in Japan is pretty laid back. I’m sure there are exceptions, but it sounds like getting into college is the hardest part of the whole equation. Once you’re in, you’re pretty much set. But there is another interesting difference to American colleges. I was talking with one of my teachers about college in America. I mentioned that college was normally for 4 years, but that I had many friends who were there for 5 or more because they had to make up classes they failed or they changed their major. He looked at me in shock and said, “You can change your major? We are told it is impossible.” It really shocked him when I told him I knew people who had changed their majors 4 or 5 times. This teacher told me once that he wanted to be a travel agent. I didn’t really think much of it at the time, after all, we’ve all wanted to be things that we ended up not pursuing or later found out weren’t to our liking after all. Now I have to wonder if he still wishes he could have become a travel agent but couldn’t alter the career path he was already on.