Preparing for a Japanese Speaking Exam: School, University and Interview Orals
The best way to prepare for a Japanese speaking exam is to practise speaking under exam conditions with someone who can correct you: answer likely questions out loud, on a timer, and get feedback on accuracy, range and pronunciation. Reading notes is not enough, because speaking exams test what you can produce on the spot. This guide covers school and university oral exams (such as GCSE, A-level, IB, AP and university modules), placement and scholarship interviews, and how to practise for each.
Common Japanese speaking exams
| Exam | What it usually involves |
|---|---|
| School exams (GCSE, A-level, IB, AP, VCE, HSC, NCEA) | Role-plays, describing a picture, a prepared presentation and an unprepared conversation on set themes. Formats differ, so always check your board’s current specification. |
| University oral exams | A conversation with your lecturer on topics from the course, sometimes with a short presentation. |
| Placement interviews | A short conversation to decide your class level at a university or language school in Japan. |
| Scholarship and exchange interviews | Questions about your motivation, study plans and background, partly in Japanese. |
| Speaking proficiency tests | Some tests, unlike the JLPT, assess speaking directly through an interview or recorded answers. See does the JLPT test speaking? |
What examiners listen for
- Communication: did you answer the question and get your message across?
- Range: different tenses, connecting words and some more advanced structures, not just short です／ます sentences.
- Accuracy: particles, verb forms and the right level of politeness.
- Pronunciation and fluency: clear vowels, natural rhythm and keeping going without long silences.
- Interaction: responding to follow-up questions, asking for clarification politely and keeping the conversation going.
How to prepare
- Collect the likely questions. For school exams, the themes are published. For interviews, the core questions are predictable: self-introduction, why Japanese, your studies, your plans.
- Prepare flexible answers, not scripts. Memorised paragraphs fall apart at the first unexpected follow-up. Prepare key points, useful phrases and one or two examples for each topic instead.
- Build in “upgrade” structures. A reason with から or ので, a comparison, an opinion with と思います, a past experience with たことがあります. Use them naturally, not all in one sentence.
- Practise out loud, on a timer. Record yourself and listen back. You will hear hesitations and mistakes you don’t notice while speaking.
- Do mock exams with a native speaker. Unexpected follow-up questions are the hardest part, and you can only practise them with a real person.
- Learn rescue phrases. もう一度お願いします (could you say that again?), えっと (um), そうですね (well…), and how to say you don’t know a word. They keep you talking instead of freezing.
On the day
- Greet the examiner properly and use polite Japanese throughout, unless told otherwise. See casual vs polite Japanese.
- Give more than a one-word answer, then add a reason or an example.
- If you make a mistake, correct it calmly and keep going. Self-correction is usually seen positively.
- If you don’t understand, ask. That is part of real communication.
How a tutor helps
A tutor gives you what is hardest to get alone: a real conversation partner who asks unexpected follow-up questions, corrects your mistakes as they happen, and tells you honestly how you would score. Exam-focused lessons usually combine mock exams, targeted grammar and pronunciation work, and feedback on how to make your answers richer. For written exams too, see high school Japanese exam tutoring and Japanese tutoring for university students.