Overview
- Testing began January 17 at 650 venues with 496,237 applicants, according to the National Center for University Entrance Examinations.
- Day one covered geography/history and civics, Japanese, and foreign languages, with no major nationwide disruption but localized delays and re-tests.
- In Sapporo, 29 examinees started 25 minutes late due to electronic noise, guidance errors in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Chiba delayed starts for four people by up to 150 minutes, and one person qualified for a re-exam.
- English listening issues included alarms affecting 113 examinees who became eligible for re-tests and 69 restart-tests conducted across 61 sites because of equipment trouble.
- Day two began January 18 with science in the morning and mathematics and information in the afternoon, as 813 universities plan to use scores; interim averages post January 21, potential score adjustments are announced January 23, final averages arrive February 5, and make-up exams run January 24–25 in Tokyo and Kyoto.