How to save yourself if you fail in the graduate school entrance examination?
Graduation is approaching, what should I do if I want to escape from involution?
Is it too far away to apply to a prestigious school in Japan?
Is it too difficult to prepare for the exam across disciplines?
...
Xiaoyuan has been receiving a lot of messages like this every day recently.
So, Xiaoyuan will tell you today with an article full of dry goods - even if it is a zero-based double non-cross-examination party, a senior year, or a failed party in the graduate school entrance examination, as long as there is reasonable planning and efficient implementation, it will go ashore to a famous Japanese school and successfully reverse involution!
01
What do you need to prepare for the graduate school entrance examination in Japan?
Let Xiaoyuan take you to take a look at the must-have items for graduate school entrance examination in Japan:
Prepare for language scores
■ JLPTN1
Japanese universities usually require candidates to have at least N2 or higher Japanese language proficiency.
■ TOEFL/TOEIC (IELTS for some institutions)
A mainstream test used by Japanese universities to measure candidates' English.
Learn the know-how
■ Professional course knowledge
In addition to the knowledge of the specialized courses taken at the domestic university, it is necessary to supplement the knowledge of the specialized courses taken by the Japanese university examination and convert the existing knowledge into Japanese.
■ Documents such as research proposals/statements of reasons for aspirations
A research proposal is one of the essential materials for graduate school entrance examinations in Japan, and it is difficult and time-consuming to write.
Determine your progression pathway
■ Common pathways to higher education
You can make specific preparations for different ways of going on to higher education!
02
Timeline of Japan's graduate school entrance examination
Next, let's analyze the timeline of Japan's graduate school entrance examination~ Let's see how students who go to Japan after graduating from university need to prepare for the exam~
Master's programs at Japanese universities are usually divided into April or September.
To put it more intuitively:
Graduated from domestic universities in June and July
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1st Round of Vows (April) / 1st Round of Vows (September of the following year)
Vows start from July to August / December - Vows start in January of the following year
Written interview in August-September / Written interview in January-February of the following year
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2nd Round (April) / 2nd Round (September)
Vows start from November to December / May and June of the following year
Written interview from December to February of the following year / Written interview from July to August of the following year
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Entrance exams are over in April / Entrance exams are over in September
Graduates from domestic universities are in June and July, which means that students who come to Japan after graduation can enroll in April/September of the following year. As shown above, some schools start to apply in July, and the written interview will be held in August and September.
Even if it is a little later, the written interview will probably end by February of the following year. The time left for the students is less than half a year. In just half a year, it is extremely difficult to prepare for English and Japanese professional knowledge and even interviews! There's so much to learn!
Therefore, most students choose to prepare for the September semester to give themselves more time to prepare for the exam. However, although the study time will be longer in September, on the other hand, the prolongation of the preparation time will bring a lot of torture to students.
We need to maintain a high-intensity study state for a whole year, and under this high-intensity study, it is easy to get bored with learning, which eventually leads to failure or even giving up in exams, and ultimately not only wastes time, but also wastes money during the study abroad period.
You can refer to the study schedule of students who enrolled in business administration in July after graduating from their senior year last year to see if they can accept such a time span.
Case study of Zhiyuan study planning
(*Swipe up and down to view)
This kind of long-term and high-intensity learning is still not very affordable for many students. Although the enrollment in April is short and the task is heavy, it is not an impossible fantasy with reasonable study distribution and hard work.
It can be said that this is the ultimate choice for long and short pain! Xiaoyuan personally recommends "short pain" and efficient learning to go ashore. After all, it can not only save half a year of examination time, but also graduate half a year early, and the money incurred can also be avoided, so why not work hard?
Next, let Xiaoyuan take you to see how to prepare for the exam~
03
How do I start preparing for the exam in my senior year?
It's graduation season again, and students who want to continue their studies after graduation or fail in the domestic postgraduate entrance examination can consider fighting for the Japanese postgraduate entrance examination again with zero foundation. Today, Xiaoyuan has specially prepared a special timeline strategy for the graduate students who graduated in June 24 to help everyone go to Japanese graduate school as soon as possible.
For those who graduated in June '24 and have zero foundation in preparing for the graduate school entrance examination in Japan, the main opportunities to go ashore are the winter exam of '25 (January-February exam of '25), the summer exam of '26 (August-September exam of '25) and the winter exam of '26 (January-February exam of '26).
The following is to take these three time nodes as the goal and introduce the specific preparation process to the students~
Pre-Exam Initiation (May '24 - September '24)
During this time, students can have a preliminary understanding of the process and requirements of the Japanese graduate school entrance examination, and roughly make a simple expectation of their own entrance examination.
(1) Choice of college, major and preparation for application
Decide on the university and major you want to apply for, and collect information about the target research room and professor. Check the application requirements in the past and check the documents required to make your application and the format of the test.
(2) Preparation for language scores
According to the information collected, the language score will be prepared accordingly. In terms of Japanese, you can aim for the JLPT exam in December '24 or July '25, and arrange your Japanese study according to your study habits. In English, I began to study TOEFL and TOEIC to prepare for the later scores.
(3) Professional knowledge learning
When you start the first round of professional courses, you can prepare according to the recommended textbooks of the target major. Sort out the knowledge framework and build a mind map.
(4) Preparation of research plan
Determine the research direction and specific topics, read the previous literature, and sort out the research context.
25 Winter Exam Sprint Stage (October '24 - February '25)
For students who are not yet fully prepared, they can continue to study according to the ideas of the previous stage. For students who have already obtained language scores, professional knowledge and research proposals, they can try to take the winter exam in 25.
(1) Preparation for vows
Refer to the key items for the winter exam, and contact the professor to set up magnetism in advance as needed. Determine if the school requires a prior review. Prepare sufficient transcripts, graduation certificates, degree certificates and other materials, which are generally required to be issued within 3 months, and students need to pay attention to the validity period.
(2) Consolidation of professional knowledge
Carry out intensive learning in professional courses, and ask more questions.
(3) Dismantling and analysis of the research plan
Constantly revise and improve the proposal, and conduct mock interviews. For students who need to contact the professor in advance, ask the professor for their opinions on the revision of the research plan during the application of magnetism.
Precipitation stage (March 25 - May 25)
For students who did not take the 25th winter examination or the results of the winter examination were not satisfactory, they need to summarize and consolidate the previous learning results at this stage.
(1) Preparation for language scores
In order to ensure a successful application for the next summer exams, it is advisable to obtain the required language score at this stage. Students who have not yet achieved Japanese language scores must seize the opportunity of the July 25 exam to review and prepare for the exam.
(2) Professional knowledge sprint learning
On the basis of ensuring the basic mastery of the knowledge framework of professional courses, we will conduct adaptive exercises for the past questions of the target school, simulate the real examination time and examination environment for familiarization training, and try to summarize some rules of questions.
(3) Finalization and improvement of the research plan
For each part of the proposal, we will disassemble and analyze the research of the professor according to the target, and conduct targeted mock interviews.
26 Summer Exam Sprint Stage (June '25 - September '25)
For most students who have begun to prepare for Japanese graduate school after graduating from their senior year, the summer exam in '26 should be the main opportunity to enter the exam.
(1) Pledge and examination preparation
Prepare the application documents in advance, and conduct a preliminary examination (if any) and make a wish in a timely manner. According to the arrangement of the school you are applying for, determine the specific itinerary of the exam and take the exam in an orderly manner.
(2) The final summary of professional knowledge and the investigation and filling of gaps
Summarize the past questions that have been practiced, check which knowledge points you have mastered weakly, and memorize them in a key way.
(3) Be familiar with the interview draft
Organize the points that may be asked about the research plan in advance, and summarize the key questions frequently asked by the target school based on the interview experience of the seniors. Don't panic even if you find a hole in your research plan, and prepare for improvements in advance in case you get asked during the interview.
(4) JLPT score supplement
For students who have time to submit their JLPT scores at the time of application, please remember to submit them as soon as possible after the results are released.
Post-exam summary stage (October '25 - December '25)
Similarly, for students with unsatisfactory results in the summer examination, they should sum up their experience in time, and as long as they seize the opportunity of the winter examination in 26, they can still achieve the 26-year landing.
(1) Strengthen professional knowledge
Train more for the difficult problems encountered in the summer exam, and continue to repeat the process of asking questions and giving feedback.
(2) Revision of the research plan
Revise the research proposal based on the interview feedback and optimize the research ideas.
(3) Preparation of language scores
Students who miss the opportunity to take the summer exam because of insufficient language scores should seize the time to get the desired results.
26 Winter Exam Sprint Stage (January '26 - February '26)
(1) Exam preparation
Just like the previous exams, adjust your mentality, arrange your itinerary, and take the exam smoothly.
(2) Adjust the status of the written test and interview in a timely manner
Based on the experience of the school that took the exam first, improve the knowledge framework and interview draft in a timely manner, and make the final sprint.
The above is a super detailed timeline for the graduate students who graduated in June 24. I hope that through Xiaoyuan's time planning, I can help students complete the tasks at each stage in an orderly manner and successfully pass the dream school.