daily life

How to study for qualifications

Mar 31, 2022

How to study for qualifications

The other day, in Clubhouse, where I have been receiving continuous opportunities to talk recently, the topic “How to study qualifications”, which is a little different from usual, started with the patent attorney qualification test strategy, the English qualification test, and finally “qualification and life”. It was a lot of fun and memorable time, so I would like to summarize it here as well. You may be able to listen to the archive from the Clubhouse room below, so if you are interested, please listen.

American Intellectual Property and Legal on Clubhouse

When aiming for a so-called difficult qualification, I personally think that it is necessary to be prepared and improve the environment. Especially in the case of Japan, it was also talked about in Clubhouse the other day, but rather than trying to achieve a certain level of ability, there are many compositions in which fierce battles are fought against a fixed number of people (so-called professional profession). In the case of qualifications, you need to be prepared for a long period of time to sacrifice much of your daily routine. It will be a family understanding, a balance with work or the choice to quit the job, financial risk hedging in that case, a truly life-changing choice. Also, unfortunately, (I personally think that the qualification system in Japan is not good), you can only get a chance once a year. It will inevitably be a battle over several years, and we also need to think about exit strategies.

On the other hand, in the case of the United States, the bar exam that was mentioned this time seems to be a little different from the qualification test in Japan, and it seems that if you can show a certain score, you will pass. However, in terms of getting through the qualifications for the Bar Exam, that is, going through the rigorous daily training in law school for several years, even in the United States, it is a difficult road with considerable preparedness and financial burden.

By the way, regarding the memorization ability required for the so-called Japanese qualification test, It seems to be important to determine which type you belong to, that is, to remember visually or the type that you can remember from your ears so that you can memorize more efficiently. In my case, it was a type that I could clearly remember visually, so the books were always full of colorful markers and lines. Also, especially in legal exams, I will handle a lot of books, so I think that e-booking will be a big means now, but about 10 years ago when I was challenging the qualification exam, I often cut books. I was using a service. I personally felt that it was a burden to always carry heavy luggage, so it is a way to reduce the burden around that.

Also, when studying legal qualifications, which are mainly memorization, I think it is important to repeat the output anyway, because you cannot acquire the skills to pass the exam just by listening to the input lecture. In Japan, especially the thesis-style exams are still handwritten, so this is only training on how to spit out the information necessary for passing with a fixed number of characters within the time limit. If you only input, you will get the illusion that you are studying (although you do need input), but I think the shortcut to passing is to always try to repeat the output.

In the case of a language qualification test, as I wrote a little on this blog and note separately, I am a painful type of language learning for the test, so I will take that language as much as possible in my field of interest. I often devised various ideas in my daily life. If you can broadcast in two languages, you can listen to TV in English, Internet radio in English, and news in English. Now that we have various resources, I think we can set our life to be completely English, at least for English, while I am in Japan.

Finally, this is my personal opinion, and depending on your qualifications, it’s up to you to use or spoil your qualifications. Qualifications are just the start, and just because you have a qualification is not a panacea. But if you feel you need that qualification in your life plan, I think you should challenge it, even if it’s a difficult qualification, and unfortunately, even if you don’t get that qualification, it never wastes your life. It’s up to you to decide if your life is wasted, so I think it’s up to you to brighten or spoil your life.