While entrance exams typically test for academic prowess, one school required applicants to show off their dancing skills in front of examiners. 

On Feb. 2, Fujimura Girls' Junior and Senior High School in Musashino in western Tokyo held its first “dance selection” to take into account students’ performances and interviews for determining successful applicants.

Adjusting the music volume and greeting, an applicant flashed a big grin and started dancing. Despite looking nervous initially, the student performed dynamically to the assigned song before three judges.

To music of their own choice, applicants likewise showcased their distinctive talents, such as jazz dance and rhythmic gymnastics.

Adding an extra twist, one applicant even changed costumes within her allotted three-minute time frame.

Toshio Maejima, a chief of the admission and marketing division of Fujimura Girls' Junior and Senior High School, stressed that applicants’ diligence and creativity are evaluated via dance. Also among assessment criteria is how well they perform to music.

“Students are usually screened mostly based on their written test results,” said Maejima. “Our idea is that there should be a certain number of pupils who are selected from a different perspective.”

NOT JUST CORE SUBJECTS ANYMORE

Operators are offering a variety of options for entrance exam applicants at junior high schools, catering to students from diverse backgrounds.

An increasing number of schools test students’ logical thinking abilities and English skills, while educational institutes typically assess prospective students based on the four core subjects of Japanese, mathematics, science and social studies.

In 2012, dance was included in the mandatory health and physical education program for junior high schools. Dancing has alike become part of the physical activity course for elementary school students to refine skills to express themselves.

That way, dance is said to have grown increasingly popular among primary school pupils.

“I feel children who dance excel in metacognition,” said Takumi Ito, the admission and marketing division manager at Fujimura Girls' Junior and Senior High School. “They appear to have excellent abilities to see themselves objectively and to maintain concentration, which gives them significant potential to succeed in school.”

St. Cecilia Girls' Junior and Senior High School in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, is known for its “English expression” test that examines applicants through stage dramas and body language.

On a recent day, 11 applicants repeated sentences such as, “This is for you” and “Really? Thank you,” with gestures after a teacher. Running and singing, they performed the famed story “Momotaro” (Peach Boy).

“I gradually became less nervous and could enjoy it,” said a 12-year-old girl, who was one of the entrance exam takers. “It was nice for me to be able to work together with others, unlike written tests on paper.”

The special screening framework was put in place in 2022.

Takayuki Ohashi, the assistant principal of St. Cecilia Girls' Junior and Senior High School, noted that primary school children have grown more interested in English conversations for their after-school activities, now that the foreign language is an official subject for pupils in the upper grades of elementary school, starting in 2020.

“Children seeking to enter prestigious junior high schools are apt to give up their outside-school activities in preparation for enrollment tests,” said Ohashi. “Our hope is to provide a chance for kids who have kept on improving their English conversation skills in our entrance examination process.”

Ohashi emphasized that the school operator especially gauges whether applicants actively try to communicate with other students, to “estimate their diligence and integrity.”

The number of applicants is on the rise, underscoring the “growing demand” for the communication-based screening system.

One-of-a-kind entrance tests can be found elsewhere as well.

Seigakuin Junior and Senior High School in the capital’s Kita Ward has been utilizing toy blocks with the aim of predicting applicants’ “thinking” abilities since 2013.

Tokyo Kasei Gakuin Junior and Senior High School in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, launched the “food design” screening mechanism in 2020 under its home economics program.

Pupils need to present proper methods to cook eggs, spinach and other ingredients while referring to given tables and graphs. Working in groups is also among their tasks.

According to mock exam provider Shutoken Moshi Center, these “new-type” tests, inclusive of single-subject exams, were available at 147 schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area in 2024, hoping to screen applicants beyond the traditional four-subject framework.

FORECAST COMPETITION, DEMAND

Nobuyasu Morigami, director of the educational research institute Morigami Kyoiku Kenkyujo and an expert on junior high school enrollment processes, stated that untraditional examinations began appearing around 2013.

At the time, fewer students applied for costly junior high entrance tests following the 2008 collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

“Operators then aimed to reach out to a wider range of students, since conventional four-subject screening procedures failed to appeal to applicants,” Morigami recalled.

Another reason behind the trend was the heightened emphasis of non-cognitive skills in the education industry. New exams have successively been introduced in a quest to check students’ broad skill sets beyond traditional academic performance.

“New types of tests are designed primarily to confirm if applicants can do well at school after enrollment,” said Morigami. “The objective is to welcome a diverse range of students, rather than eliminate them through the screening process.”

However, these specialized tests are spreading slowly for now. Operators can easily recruit applicants thanks to the recent higher percentage of children aspiring to study at prestigious junior high schools.

Morigami pointed out that schools currently select students mainly based on their academic performance under their conventional method, as implementing new-type tests requires “extensive preparation.”

The tide may shortly turn again, though: the number of sixth-graders in the Tokyo metropolitan area is on the decline.

Sixth-year elementary students in Tokyo as well as Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures totaled 288,951 in fiscal 2024, compared with 289,201 in fiscal 2023. Fifth-graders in fiscal 2024 totaled 287,337.

Morigami suggested that demand for unorthodox selection procedures “could grow” from here on out amid the diminishing pool of applicants.

Operators may similarly be motivated to adopt unconventional approaches, much like colleges and universities that increasingly frequently select students via comprehensive screenings.

“Enrollment examinations should reflect the skills considered essential in today's world,” he said. "New selection methods will emerge in response to changing trends from now on, too.”

(This article was written by Jin Nishioka and Honomi Homma.)