exams

Japanese exam-taking jeans: The luckiest jeans in Japan

Drawing on cool traditional details and the mystical power of kotodama to help you pass any test in style.

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Getting a driver’s license in Japan the hard way: The first driving test

Turns out failure is an option.

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Getting a driver’s license in Japan the hard way: The first written test

They say the hardest part of any task is getting started… We’ll see about that.

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Which one is former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn? Japanese students surprised by test question

Perhaps Freddie Mercury or Mr Bean were really in charge of the Japanese car company.

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Want to get into medical school? Learn how to dump someone in 600 characters or less

Japanese exam writers have a sense of humour, confound students who studied rather than pursued romance.

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W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 craziest Japanese certification exams 【Weird Top Five】

Even in the land of tests, there are some things that shouldn’t be tested.

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Japanese confection maker offers students support with lucky four-leaf clover rice cakes!

Confectionary maker Suehiroan is hoping these daifuku rice cakes decorated with a four-leaf clover will provide encouragement for students taking entrance exams!

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Student takes mechanical pencil lead to the groin in a possible attempt to skip exam

When I was in school, it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for a classmate to claim that his dog ate his homework or ask to see the school nurse about a stomachache only moments before a big test. I myself remember having to tell one of my elementary school teachers that I couldn’t turn in my math assignment because my cat had vomited all over it. (She didn’t believe me, so the next morning I bagged it and left it on her desk.)

Nowadays, it seems like students have become even more creative with their excuses, like one male university student who recently had to visit the hospital to get some pencil lead removed from his urethra.

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This store’s attempt at encouraging students preparing for entrance exams creeps us out

Ah, it’s almost that time of the year again: the dreaded high school entrance examination season. In Japan, high school and college entrance exams, held in early March before the start of the new school year in April, are the bane of every student’s existence. To get into a top-notch school or university, students need to pass a grueling entrance examination, for which they will study months on end until they essentially become zombie slaves with no social lives.

However, Sofmap, a retailer of new and used electronics in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, is apparently using a different tactic to cheer on stressed-out students before their exams. The following twee, which shows a rather inappropriate sign found in the store, almost makes us question the sanity of the store’s employees.

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China turns to tech to curtail cheating on tests, employs fingerprint scanners and metal detectors nationwide

In China this year, 7 June was the day prospective tertiary education hopefuls sat down to take the national university entrance examination. It’s a high stakes affair that has a great impact on each young person’s future.

Given the pressure these students and their family face there’s no question some will resort to cheating to get through. This year alone 9,120,000 people will take the exam. Considering those numbers, even if the cheating rate is only 0.1 percent, there is still a serious problem.

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