September of 4th Grade, From 20 Weeks Behind to S Course | A Month of Redesigning Taken on by Parent and Child

This article is part of the [Middle School Entrance Exam Series].
Read from the beginning ↓
① The total cost of 1.2 million yen for middle school entrance exams

1. Leaving Hamagakuen

Around the time the summer vacation of 4th grade was coming to an end, we switched from Hamagakuen's web course to Yotsuya Otsuka's Shingaku Club.

As I wrote in the previous article, Hamagakuen is a cram school designed on the premise of building up from 3rd grade, and it did not suit my son who joined from 4th grade.

With the web course, the class is fixed for one year.
I judged that an environment without growth goals was a risk given my son's personality.

Instead of conforming to the cram school, we returned to our own design. That was the decision this time.

2. Joining Shingaku Club

When I called the Shingaku Club call center, the response from the person who answered was truly wonderful, and it became the deciding factor for our final enrollment.

When I asked about the videos,
“I will check the videos, please wait.”
When I asked about the class content,
“I will ask the instructor.”
They confirmed each thing thoroughly and replied politely.
I felt a great sense of relief at that sincerity and decided to trust this web system.

Yotsuya Otsuka has classes divided in the order of S→C→B→A.
Since we could choose up to C, we decided to start with the C course.

3. Yoshu Series: 20 Weeks Behind and Social Studies

The “Yoshu Series” (Preparatory Series) that I often saw as “Yoshiri” on social media
finally arrived at our home.

Since we joined in September, the Yoshu Navi (class videos) starts from the second volume, but
naturally, we also had to do the first volume.

There was a 20-week backlog for the first volume.
Moreover, “Social Studies” was added.

In the Kansai region, it is possible to take exams with only 3 subjects (Japanese, Math, Science), so there are many cases where Social Studies is not taken,
and in any case, Social Studies does not start until 4th grade.
However, since Yotsuya Otsuka is a Kanto-based cram school, Social Studies is naturally included.

“We have no choice but to do it.” My son and I had decided to do it.

4. Suddenly taking the class placement test 3 days after joining

The Yoshu Series (hereinafter Yoshiri) arrived at the end of August, but
we were facing the “class placement test” right at the beginning of September.
There was almost no preparation period.

The color textbooks captured my son's heart, and he progressed rapidly.
He finished the first volume of Science thoroughly.

The things he learned at Hamagakuen were well-ingrained in Math,
and he was doing the first volume more smoothly than I imagined.

And as for Social Studies, we decided to skip the first class placement test and take it with 3 subjects.

The result was “C8 Group”.
It was a good start.

5. Yotsuya Otsuka's Routine

Yotsuya Otsuka has a “Weekly Test,” which is a test every week on the curriculum covered that week.
It is by course, and all 4 subjects are combined, with rankings and deviation scores also provided.
It felt like taking a mock exam every week.

And once every 5 times (5 weeks), there is a “class placement test” common to all courses, and the course changes each time.

The course changes, the group moves.
Taking tests where his standing was clearly understood became my son's motivation.

6. 5 Weeks of Desperate Struggle

5 weeks until the next class placement test.
“The week's study” and “the 20-week backlog of the first volume”
Doing both properly seems reckless.
But I identified my son's unlearned parts and calculated the necessary time backwards.
I decided on the amount to process per day and judged that “if we do it, we will make it in time.”

Shingaku Club is a format where you watch class videos called “Yoshu Navi” and do practice problem workbooks to solidify the knowledge.

Since it was four subjects, the study volume became quite significant.
My son became absorbed in the rich, colorful textbooks and the well-crafted video lessons.

Regarding Japanese, since tackling descriptive questions was still in the future in the Kansai region,
he struggled with the difficult descriptive questions in the Yosiri (Yotsuya Otsuka) materials.
There were times my son cried when his deviation score on the weekly test was terrible.
The grading criteria for kanji were very strict, which helped him develop the habit of writing kanji accurately.

Since we didn't have much time, we watched the Yonavi (Yotsuya Navigation) videos at 1.5x speed.
(You can set it to your preferred speed by installing a Google Chrome extension.)

I created a to-do list and had him place a magnet on it once he finished a task,
which helped visualize what needed to be done.

Things we did in parallel were "Kanji Kentei," "Math Kentei," and "English."
I would like to touch upon these in a separate article.

7. Results followed: To the top of the S-Course

Five weeks of studying with parent and child completely absorbed.
My son seemed to be having so much fun that he kept absorbing knowledge.
We did what we had to do, and took on the second class-sorting test with four subjects.

The result was "Top of the S-Course."

What made me happy wasn't just the ranking.
It was proving that "if you change the environment, you can grow."

In middle school entrance exams, it's not just about natural intelligence or just about effort.
I became convinced that your true potential is only unleashed when the "design" aligns.

Next time, I will write about the A3 printer we introduced to keep up with Shingaku Club. It is still very useful in our home today.

[Middle School Entrance Exam Series]
① Total of 1.2 million yen spent on middle school entrance exams
② From Hama Gakuen to Shingaku Club | Our family's design change
③ September of 4th Grade: From 20 Weeks Behind to S-Course
④ What I learned by taking Zukei no Kiwami at three different cram schools
⑤ Is an A3 printer necessary?
⑥Do you use equations for middle school entrance exams?
⑦Aptitude test cram school vs. Shingaku Club: Which one? (Public integrated junior high school preparation)
⑧Why public integrated junior high schools require "difficult private school level academic ability"
⑨Strategy for 6th grade without a cram school ~ Part 1: Until summer, the Tennozan
⑩History mastery method: "Taiga Drama"
⑪Strategy for 6th grade without a cram school ~ Part 2: From September to the actual exam