Hello everyone,

Last weekend, while next year’s new students took an entrance test for our school, our seniors went to Wakayama University for the Center Test. English has two tests, one reading test and one listening test. This year’s listening test was especially difficult. Let’s look at the first six questions.

Question one:

The difficult word here is “skyscrapers”, which are tall buildings found in cities, and the phrase “in the distance”, which means far away. Students don’t hear the word “trees”, so they should be able to elimate two pictures. Students also have to remember that the man speaking is the boy in the picture, so the line “Who is the girl beside you” means there are two people in the picture.

Question 2:

There are always calculation questions in the first part of the listening test, but this one is especially difficult. $85 bill – $15 coupon – $10 Mom’s (Mother’s) money =$60 / 2 people. That is a lot to do in a very short time. Students also have to pay attention to own money and each person in the question.

Question 3:

The vocabulary in this question makes it the most difficult of part 1. There are many synonyms (words with the same meaning) that have to read and listen to. “Colleagues” = “coworkers”, and “enjoy being with” = “get along with”. The word “commute” is how much time it takes to get to work.

Question 4

This is an easier question, as students are listening for old vs new (model), and now vs later (time). Students have to infer that when the customer says “Do you have anything cheaper?”, that the latest (newest) phone is too expensive. Then the phrase “out of stock” means the shop does not have any right now.

Question 5

Question five is another calculation question, but it is easier than the money question above. The meeting is at 2:00 – :10 “starts in 10 minutes” – :20 “My watch is twenty minutes behind” = 1:30.

Question 6

This question asks about adjectives increasing and decreasing. Another way to say something is increasing is to say it is “on the rise”. Even if students don’t catch that, the comment that visitors from Asia is “good news” is a good hint.

That is it for part 1. The listening test only got more difficult from this point onwards. So to everyone who took the test, otsukare! If you want to read more about the test, go to the English blog. http://www.shin-ai.ac.jp/sys/english/2018/01/17/center-listening-test-parts-2-4/