Well, the exam season is under way for this year. Although there are some exams that come much earlier, the season officially starts with Japan’s Center Exam. Most prospective college students take this exam as a kind of benchmark (if you are aware of the U.S. system, think SAT or ACT on steroids) of their achievement from their high school studies (or in the case of those who don’t get in the first time, high school studies plus a year or two). The Exam is actually a series of ten exams held over two days. On the first day, Saturday, there is a series of five tests aimed at social studies and the humanities. The day is capped with an English listening exam where everyone listens to a customized player with an IC card prerecorded with 30 minutes of conversations. The second day of exams is all about math and science.

For all the students who come and all the tests that are administered, everything runs quite smoothly. For those of us administering and proctoring, we have at least two meetings beforehand (one just for the listening exam) where the procedures are explained and people can ask questions. On test days, we are required to show up 45 minutes before anything happens, given a pep talk, and our watches synchronized (my new Casio MR-G performed beautifully as it is synced to a radio signal here in Japan). Each room has a team of an administrator and two or more proctors, plus a person to distribute, count and check the finished scan sheets after each exam. It is two full days, from 8:00 in the morning until after 7:00 or 6:00 in the evening.

The students then take exams for each of the colleges (more accurately the departments) they are considering. Those scores are combined with the relevant Center Exam scores, and those with the highest scores are offered a spot starting in April. Some who are offered a slot at more than one school can then take their pick. Any slots which are passed on are open for a second round of testing at those colleges. If any part of this sounds confusing, just think test, test, test, test, and test. Rinse, repeat. As the number of 18-year olds falls each year, it is becoming easier to get into college. The economic fundamental of supply and demand is taking an interesting twist here. Perhaps more on that later.