How I passed Eiken Pre-1 without a vocabulary book

Hello. I've started with a rather shocking title.
Today, I will honestly share what materials I used when I passed the Eiken Pre-1.

I am not good at speaking.
But I did pass the Eiken Pre-1.
Actually, I didn't do any particularly special study methods.

Rather, I just repeated simple, plain tasks.

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Many people recommend starting with a vocabulary book.
When people hear "Eiken Pre-1," I think some give up right away because of the difficulty of the vocabulary.
It is true that vocabulary books are filled with difficult words.

But in the end, I didn't use a vocabulary book.
Instead, I only did this:

"Learn the words that appear in past exams as they come up."

Words that appear in the options often appear in the text, and keywords used repeatedly in questions are actually similar every time.
In other words, I only learned the words that appeared, tailored to the "Eiken trends."

That was far more efficient.
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And,

what really helped was a book on "syntax."The biggest deciding factor in my passing the Eiken Pre-1 was "thoroughly reading through syntax."


Specifically, this one book.Pole Pole English Reading Process 50 (Kyoji Nishi / Yozemi)

It is a so-called "university entrance exam reference book," but this gave me the most reading comprehension power.

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Long reading passages can be conquered through "syntax practice."
Many people read Eiken long passages by "relying on the words they know."

But actually, you can reach a passing score just by being able to read each sentence accurately.

I practiced by writing out the SVOC structure of all 30 questions in Pole Pole in a notebook to understand them thoroughly.

Doing this naturally increases your English reading speed and prevents you from panicking when you "can't grasp the meaning."
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"Speed reading" starts with reading slowly.
People often say, "Let's build speed reading skills!"

But practicing reading fast didn't mean much to me.
Speed reading naturally comes later if you repeat the practice of "reading slowly and accurately."

In fact, as I broke down the sentences in Pole Pole over and over, there was a moment when I realized, "Wait? It didn't take me that long to read this long passage..."
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More haste, less speed.

You don't need a vocabulary book.

But if you properly repeat syntax practice, you will reach a passing grade.
I really understand the feeling of being anxious, wondering, "Is this enough?"

I also had a period where I was impatient, thinking, "I need to do more various materials."

But the thing I could believe in at the end was "the ability to properly understand one sentence."
Those who accumulate plain, steady study pass the Eiken Pre-1.

It's not a trick. It's not magic.

But it definitely leads to passing.

I believe that is the power of syntax analysis.
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After this, I plan to add sections on listening, interviews, and more in order.
Please follow me if you'd like!

*If you have any questions, please feel free to comment on note or contact me on X (@lazy_eigo)!