Why take a junior high school entrance exam?　*Image by godfather/stock.adobe.com (Maidona News)

The regions with the largest number of elementary school students who answered that they plan to take junior high school entrance exams were... "Chugo

The results showed that the percentage of respondents planning to take junior high school entrance exams was high in the Chugoku, Kanto, and Shikoku regions, at more than 40% each.

The survey was conducted via the Internet from December 2022 to January 2023, targeting elementary and junior high school students who visited the site, and received 2,042 valid responses. First, elementary school students were asked, "Do you plan to take the entrance examination for junior high school?" The survey found that the percentage of children living in the "Chugoku Region" (45%), "Kanto Region" and "Shikoku Region" (both 43%) who took the entrance examination was high, exceeding 40% in both regions. When those who answered that they planned to take the junior high school entrance exam were asked what prompted them to do so, the most common answer was "because there is a school I want to go to" (65%), followed by "because I don't want to attend a local public junior high school" (38%) and "on the recommendation of my family" (35%).

On the other hand, when junior high school students were asked if they had taken the junior high school entrance exam, 26% said they had. When asked why they took the entrance exam for junior high school, "because there is a school I want to go to" (12%), "because I don't want to go to a local public junior high school" and "at the recommendation of my family" (both 9%), "because I don't want to take the high school entrance exam" (6%), and "because I need to take the exam because my child is in a university-affiliated elementary school" were also cited. In addition, "I had to take the entrance exam because I am a university-affiliated elementary school" was also cited. Next, we asked elementary and junior high school students how long they spend studying at home, and the most common response was "30 minutes to 1 hour" (26% of elementary school students and 18% of junior high school students), while junior high school students were equally divided between "less than 30 minutes," "1 to 1.5 hours," and "1.5 to 2 hours" (both 16%), which was not much different from the first place result.

In addition, many junior high school students answered "more than 30 minutes" (18%), indicating that the difference between those who study and those who do not study much is becoming apparent. Regarding "things I do to motivate myself to study," many respondents answered "I start while listening to my favorite music," indicating that many of them study with music playing as background music. Other responses included "Making a reward after I finish" and "If I start with the thought, 'Just one problem! I can do other problems if I start with that in mind," "I study using my favorite stationery," and "I imagine myself taking the exam.

Source: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/fbe044208d7d27dea70b4c341505cbe8fa0e47a7/images/000