Today I will talk about the characteristics of Japanese university entrance exams.
I am Japanese and have graduated from Japanese universities twice with two bachelor's degrees in law and education.
Based on this experience, I would like to tell you about the characteristics of Japanese university entrance exams.
In my opinion, there are two characteristics of Japanese university entrance exams:
Firstly, it is a relatively fair entrance examination system that emphasizes paper exams, and secondly, it is a career choice that ignores your interests.
First, let's talk about paper exams.
Paper exams are emphasized in Japanese university entrance exams.
Paper exams are called general entrance exams.
From here on, I will use the term general entrance examination.
The subject is Japanese, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English.
This trend is especially noticeable at national and public universities, where it is difficult to enter.
The advantage of paper exams is that they are relatively fair.
For example, in the recommendation entrance examination, academic performance and non-academic activities during high school are evaluated.
However, with general entrance exams, although there are exceptions, the score on the day of the exam basically determines whether you pass or fail.
This is relatively fair.
Even if my grades in high school were the worst, if I got a high score on the day of the exam, I would have the right to enter university.
In other words, if you get a high score on the exam given by the university, you can enter the university regardless of your past grades.
Let me give you one extreme example.
In the recommendation entrance exam, highlighting your experience, such as studying abroad, will give you a convincing reason for applying.
However, in order to study abroad, you will need a certain amount of money.
There is a problem of economic inequality here.
Children of parents with money have an easier time gaining such experiences, while children of parents with less money have a harder time gaining such experiences.
However, in the case of general entrance exams, acceptance or failure is decided based on paper test scores, so even children whose parents don't have a lot of money can get into a good university if they study hard.
However, some parents pay large sums of money to cram schools to get high scores, but I think that the inequality in paper exams is smaller now that children can study online than in the past.
Next, I will talk about choosing a career path that ignores your interests.
If I were to describe this phenomenon in one word, it would be ``competition on deviation value''.
Normally, when deciding to enroll in a university, you would consider the following points when deciding on a faculty.
・What kind of job do you want to do and what kind of career do you want to pursue after graduating from university?
・What qualifications/licenses do you want to obtain?
・Interest in own academic studies
However, in Japan, when choosing a university, the deviation value of the university is often prioritized, rather than their career or interests.
For example, suppose there is a university with a deviation value of 60 and a university with a deviation value of 70, and in the former you can study the subjects you are interested in, and in the latter you can only study subjects you are not interested in.
Strangely , in Japanese university entrance exams, there are many applicants who choose the latter option.
This is the true nature of deviation competition.
Of course, not all students make this choice, but the trend does exist.
Despite having little interest in medicine or being a doctor, there are many people who go on to medical school because they get good grades in math and science.
So why does this phenomenon occur?
This lies in the uniqueness of job hunting in Japan.
When job hunting in Japan, more emphasis is placed on which university you entered than what you studied at university.
This is called the "educational background filter."
Simply put, students from universities with higher standard deviation scores have a higher probability of finding employment at companies with higher salaries.
I don't know if this kind of phenomenon exists in other countries, but at least it has been pointed out that it exists in Japan.
For these reasons, in Japanese university entrance exams, more value is placed on getting into a university with a higher deviation value than on what you study.
The deviation value quantifies and stratifies universities.
This hierarchy is a kind of magic.
When you become involved in Japanese university entrance exams, you create the illusion that this hierarchy is the whole world.
It's a really strange phenomenon, but it certainly exists in Japan today.
