I am researching English for university entrance exams. (All national universities and major private universities)
I have researched in detail the 25 years from 2000 to 2025.

Detatan University Entrance Exams is created by carefully analyzing the words and their usage that have actually appeared in university English entrance exams.

Researching English for university entrance exams

In creating Detatan University Entrance Exams, I solve entrance exam questions almost every day.

I will list some of the expressions that are repeatedly asked and that I feel are rare in textbooks and vocabulary books.

Included in idioms (scheduled to be added as Stage 5 in early July)

take its toll (on ~)

In 1999, cynicism starts to take its toll. appeared in the Eiken Grade 1 exam.

In university entrance exams,
2003 Osaka University (2nd term)
2004 Aoyama Gakuin University (Law)
2009 Waseda University (Commerce) - Question on choosing a paraphrase for "time took its toll" (contextual expression)
2011 Keio University (Law) - Question on choosing a paraphrase for "takes its toll on". negatively affects
2017 Seikei University
2021 Waseda University (International Liberal Arts)
2021 Kyoritsu Women's University - Question on choosing a paraphrase for "take its toll on". have a negative effect
2024 Aoyama Gakuin University (Literature) - Question on choosing a paraphrase for "take its toll". have a negative effect

It means "to have a negative effect, cause damage or loss, bring about bad results".
Even if you choose a famous university, it appears eight times, and four of those times you are asked to choose a paraphrase.

If we also take into account the form of "take a toll",
2002 Nagoya City University (take a toll on has an annotation)
2013 Meiji University
2015 Rikkyo University
2018 Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
2019 Keio University School of Medicine (medicine) (annotation "have a bad effect")
2025 Sophia University (Economics and Management)
and many other expressions that have appeared in exams.

Since it has appeared many times, I thought I would include it in "Detatan University Entrance Exams".

I put special effort into "auxiliary verbs" and "conjunctions".

Would sooner and would as soon are also included.

would sooner "I would rather..."
2004 Mie University Japanese translation of the underlined part including would sooner
2006 Yamanashi University Choices including would sooner as a usage of would
2007 Nanzan University I would sooner cut off my right arm than be (blank) to right-handedness. Fill in the blank. A question to choose the answer converted.
2007 Miyazaki University A question to choose from the options to express the feelings of the woman who said, "Look, if you would sooner finish these drinks and say goodbye, we can. The meal hasn't been ordered."
2015 Kansai Gaidai University A question to underline would sooner and choose a paraphrase.
A quick search shows that this question has been asked 5 times out of 5 times.

would as soon "I would rather..."
2003 Tokyo University
A question to paraphrase the underlined part of I'd just as soon remain in my seat.
Tokyo University is good at creating multiple choice questions, so I would like you to actually try and solve this question.

Tokyo University likes to use would in questions, and includes almost all possible usages in the range of auxiliary verbs and conjunctions.

(adjective) in the knowledge that SV form (included in conjunctions)

2017, Tokyo Jikei University
The whole is a translation of the underlined part

With genuine trust, we could negotiate to coordinate our strategies and produce cooperative solutions, secure in the knowledge that we could trust each other not to break agreements for individual advantage.

You may be nervous at the exam venue and translate it literally as "with peace of mind in the knowledge that..." or "knowing that...". It is sufficient for reading comprehension, but I think it would be good to translate the underlined part in Japanese as "with confidence that neither party will break the agreement for their own benefit."

2019 Keio University (Pharmacy)
First half omitted... happy in the knowledge that they have found the solution to some
particular puzzle,

2001 Nagoya University
Once a man in his fifties could feel secure in the knowledge that he had another 10 working years at least.

(adjective) in the knowledge that SV (adjective) part can be secure, happy, safe, confident, etc. We have also created example sentences for these words that were asked in the entrance exam.

Noun
2013 Meiji University
Q. Answer the meaning of concentration in the text
1 Old Maid 2 Poker 3 Sevens 4 Concentration

This is a reading comprehension question after the explanation that it is a card game played with cards face down, but it is possible to interpret it in a way that all four apply, so I think that candidates who have confirmed the meaning of "concentration" will have an advantage when it comes to concentration.

concentration
[U] concentration, attention, [C][U] concentration, crowding, (playing cards) memory breakdown

The collection is based on this.

Most questions are asked with the meaning of "attention, concentration".
The next most common question is with the meaning of "concentration, crowding".
2001 National Center Test (now the Common Test) "Concentration of carbon dioxide"
2006 Kobe City University "Crowding, concentration"
2008 University of Tokyo (later term) "Crowding, concentration", underlined part
2009 Tohoku University "Concentration of greenhouse gases, concentration of carbon dioxide"
2010 Keio University (SFC) "Concentration of arsenic"
2013 Nihon University College of Science and Technology "Concentration of salt"
2015 Tohoku University "Concentration of salt"
2016 University of Electro-Communications "Crowding"
2016 Okayama University "Concentration"
2024 Kobe University "Concentration"

As we conduct this analysis, we record it in the Detatan app. We will continue to analyze it.

For verbs and adjectives, we analyze their "forms" (present tense, past tense, progressive tense, passive voice, characteristic objects, etc.) and provide example sentences in the forms that are actually used frequently. (We are adjusting it daily)

We compared it with English vocabulary books on the market, and we organized it to see how well it matches the entrance exam questions of the past 25 years, and how many words that have not appeared in it are included. In order to provide a more efficient and effective word list, we created the university entrance exam version of Detatan.

We have created it with the intention of providing unparalleled comprehensiveness, detail, and appropriateness for auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, and group prepositions.

Stage 1-3 (by parts of speech, words, in order of importance)

Stage 4 (phrases, about 1300)

Stage 5 (idioms, to be added in July)

Inclusion for motivated people
There is no limit to the number of pages, so we have included a lot.
If you want words included in Detatan University Entrance Exam (app), you can register the text format English word list in your vocabulary book all at once and study them.
Currently contains about 14,000 words (May 2025)

*Developed and created by Namiko Takahashi
13 passes of Grade 1 (records confirmed)
Around 2018, total 2916
Eiken Grade 1 (1st exam 2273/2550 G1 +10, 2nd exam 643/850 G1 +2)
Eiken Grade 1 writing perfect score 850/850
2nd exam in 2023, total 2937
Eiken Grade 1 (1st exam 2313/2550 G1 +11, 2nd exam 624/850 G1 +1)
TOEIC L&R perfect score (new format 990 points, old format 990 points)
Formerly worked at a major consulting company and a famous English education publisher

*English audio
Patricia D. (University of Washington graduate)

*Sound effects in the app
Free sound effects material Kurage Kosho
http://www.kurage-kosho.info/

Sound effects: Pocket Sound
https://pocket-se.info/