High School Tests

High school students are frequently tested.  We have Mid-Term and End-Term Exam week as well as English and Japanese vocabulary tests after lunch and quizzes during class.  While these are incredibly important for you to graduate, many universities require standardised English tests.  Here at KIHS, we cover a wide range.

Japanese Tests of English

Japan has developed test like TOEIC and Eiken STEP to measure your understanding of English vocabulary, grammar, and receptive skills like Listening and Reading.  During English classes, our teachers guide students through the grammatical knowledge needed and help them with their reading skills.  Our students work hard learning Eiken STEP’s extensive lists of vocabulary and many have passed the Second and Pre-First Level.  But this is not the only tests our students take.

International Tests of English

Students across the world are taking standardised tests of English.  The most common are IELTS and TOEFL.  In the past few years, students have gained IELTS scores of 7.0 and TOEFL scores of 90+, which allowed them to apply to the highest levels of University, both in Japan (Akita International University, Waseda University, and APU) and abroad (U.S, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Holland, and Malaysia at present). So, how did they achieve such heights?

Preparing to Take a Test

How do we get ready to produce on these tests?  Number one is using English all day long.  Getting used to responding quickly without needing to plan what you want to say is extremely important for the speaking sections.  This does mean you will make mistakes, but correcting yourself is fine so you should not be distracted by them.  For the writing section, practising the structure of IELTS and TOEFL is vital.  Once you have this, having a variety of vocabulary is beneficial.  So, how should you learn vocabulary?  You need to think about groups of synonyms (words with a similar meaning – hot and warm) and antonyms (words with the opposite meaning – hot and cold) to give your language variety.

Useful Resources for Improving Yourself

Finally, you will need to read and listen to as much variety as possible.  If you have access to graded readers, try to find some that are about a subject (science, geography or business).  The more you read informative books, the more prepared you will be for the technical reading IELTS and TOEFL requires.  This applies to listening, too.  Check out some podcasts such as BBC’s “6 Minute English” that talk about using English naturally.  You don’t need to read or listen to difficult materials, so find something fun. Good luck!

English Teacher  Gareth Warham

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