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Anzan Kentei 6 kyu mock exam

6 kyu is where the anzan kentei of the League of Japan Abacus Associations (Nishuren) takes the shape it keeps all the way up to 1 kyu: 80 questions on one sheet, three sections, a single 12-minute clock and a pass mark of 400 out of 500. It is also the first paper with multiplication and division.

  • 80 questions
  • 12 minutes
  • Pass: 400 of 500
  • First kake and wari anzan

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6 kyu

80 questions (20 mitori, 30 kake, 30 wari) · 12 minutes · pass: 400 of 500

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Every start of the mock exam builds a new 80-question 6 kyu paper to the same specification. Choose the 12-minute clock or untimed, answer the sections in any order, and at the end it scores mitori at 10 points a question and multiplication and division at 5, then shows whether the total reaches the 400-point pass mark. It is a practice paper, not an official one.

Built to the published format

Every paper follows the question counts, digit widths and question shapes of the published specification and sample papers, and a new paper is written each time you start.

The real clock

One 12-minute clock for a kyu paper, 3 + 3 + 4 minutes for dan, or untimed while you are learning. Answer the questions in any order, as in the exam.

Marked the way the paper is marked

Points per question, the pass mark or grade reached and, for dan, the rule that the lowest section decides the rank, then every wrong answer next to the right one.

The official format

6 kyu paper (Nishuren)

SectionQuestionsContentPoints
A: Mitori anzanNos. 1–201–2 keta, 5 kuchi, 6 ji: four 1-digit rows and one 2-digit row on the official sample200 (10 each)
B: Kake anzanNos. 21–50Jitsuho 3 keta: a 2-digit number times a 1-digit number on the official sample150 (5 each)
C: Wari anzanNos. 51–80Hosho 3 keta: a 1-digit divisor and a 2-digit quotient on the official sample, such as 65 ÷ 5 and 504 ÷ 9150 (5 each)
Whole paper80 questionsOne 12-minute clock, sections in any order500; pass at 400

Section totals are as printed on the official sample papers; the per-question points work out from them. On the official samples every division comes out exact, and every number is a bare number with no yen sign or unit.

Sample paper

The fixed sample below has 30 questions written to the 6 kyu specification: 10 mitori questions of five rows (four 1-digit rows and one 2-digit row), 10 multiplications of a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number and 10 divisions with a 1-digit divisor and a 2-digit quotient. Every row is added and every division is exact, as on the official samples. It is numbered 1 to 30 straight through, where the real paper runs 1 to 80, and the answer key follows. Kani Math wrote it to the published specification; it is not an official paper.

6 kyuSample paper

The fixed sample below has 30 questions written to the 6 kyu specification: 10 mitori questions of five rows (four 1-digit rows and one 2-digit row), 10 multiplications of a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number and 10 divisions with a 1-digit divisor and a 2-digit quotient. Every row is added and every division is exact, as on the official samples. It is numbered 1 to 30 straight through, where the real paper runs 1 to 80, and the answer key follows. Kani Math wrote it to the published specification; it is not an official paper.

Mitori anzan: columns

  1. No. 1454286
  2. No. 2285812
  3. No. 3109328
  4. No. 4817798
  5. No. 5289321
  6. No. 6966231
  7. No. 7926922
  8. No. 8746789
  9. No. 9456860
  10. No. 10963491

Kake anzan: multiplication

  1. No. 1193 × 3 =
  2. No. 1275 × 3 =
  3. No. 1372 × 4 =
  4. No. 1422 × 4 =
  5. No. 1547 × 6 =
  6. No. 1663 × 5 =
  7. No. 1798 × 2 =
  8. No. 1825 × 6 =
  9. No. 1914 × 2 =
  10. No. 2024 × 7 =

Wari anzan: division

  1. No. 21316 ÷ 4 =
  2. No. 2236 ÷ 3 =
  3. No. 23160 ÷ 5 =
  4. No. 24828 ÷ 9 =
  5. No. 25192 ÷ 8 =
  6. No. 26450 ÷ 5 =
  7. No. 27297 ÷ 3 =
  8. No. 2870 ÷ 2 =
  9. No. 2990 ÷ 9 =
  10. No. 30553 ÷ 7 =

Kani Math is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by the League of Japan Abacus Associations (Nishuren), the League for Soroban Education of Japan (Zenshuren), the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry or any other exam body. The sample papers and mock exam on these pages are written to the published specification; they are not official papers, and a mock result is not a certification. Flash Anzan is a trademark of its owner. Exam details can change, so confirm them with whoever runs your sitting.

Answer key
  1. 65
  2. 35
  3. 32
  4. 49
  5. 52
  6. 108
  7. 48
  8. 104
  9. 83
  10. 113
  11. 279
  12. 225
  13. 288
  14. 88
  15. 282
  16. 315
  17. 196
  18. 150
  19. 28
  20. 168
  21. 79
  22. 12
  23. 32
  24. 92
  25. 24
  26. 90
  27. 99
  28. 35
  29. 10
  30. 79

How it is scored

The three section totals printed on the official 6 kyu sample are 200 for mitori, 150 for multiplication and 150 for division. With 20, 30 and 30 questions, that works out to 10 points for each mitori question and 5 for each multiplication or division. The pass mark is 400 of 500.

Put another way, a candidate has 100 points to lose. That is 10 mitori questions, or 20 multiplication and division questions, or any mix that adds up to 100: for example 4 mitori misses (40 points) plus 12 misses spread over the other two sections (60 points).

Unlike the shared 10 to 7 kyu paper, there are no grade tiers: the sitting ends in a 6 kyu pass or in no grade.

What changes at this level

  • Two whole sections arrive at once. Section B has 30 multiplications and section C has 30 divisions, printed after the 20 mitori questions on the same sheet. The question count rises from 50 to 80 while the clock stays at 12 minutes.
  • The mitori rows are no longer all single digits. The specification reads 1–2 keta, 5 kuchi, 6 ji: five rows (kuchi) whose widths (keta) are one or two digits, with six digits (ji) in total. Five rows holding six digits can only be four 1-digit rows and one 2-digit row, which is what the official sample shows. For example, 7, 3, 25, 8, 4 adds to 47.
  • Multiplication is specified as jitsuho 3 keta: the digits of the multiplicand (jitsu) and the multiplier (ho) add up to three. On the official sample every question is a 2-digit number times a 1-digit number; 47 × 6 = 282 is a question of that shape. Working from the left is quick: 40 × 6 = 240 first, then 7 × 6 = 42 added on, for 282.
  • Division is specified as hosho 3 keta: the digits of the divisor (ho) and the quotient (sho) add up to three, and the dividend is not counted at all. So 65 ÷ 5 = 13 and 504 ÷ 9 = 56, both shown on the official sample, are the same size of question even though one dividend has two digits and the other three. In each, a 1-digit divisor gives a 2-digit quotient.

Pacing

80 questions in 12 minutes is 720 seconds, or 9 seconds a question on average, down from 14.4 seconds on the shared 10 to 7 kyu paper. The three sections, though, take very different amounts of time.

A workable split: 12 seconds for each mitori question (4 minutes for section A), 5 seconds for each multiplication (2 minutes 30 seconds for section B) and 6 seconds for each division (3 minutes for section C). That uses 9 minutes 30 seconds and keeps 2 minutes 30 seconds in hand for checking and for questions that were skipped.

Measured in points per second, the short questions pay better: a 5-point multiplication in 5 seconds earns 1 point a second, a 10-point mitori question in 12 seconds about 0.83. Each mitori miss still costs twice as much, but one stubborn mitori question should never eat the time of four multiplications.

How Zenshuren's exam differs

The League for Soroban Education of Japan (Zenshuren) also examines 6 kyu in three kinds of mental arithmetic: multiplication, division and mitori, but each section is timed separately at 3 minutes, so the exam takes 9 minutes of working time, and each section is marked out of 100.

A Zenshuren 6 kyu pass needs 70 or more in all three sections. Nishuren looks only at the total, so on its paper a strong mitori section can carry a weaker division section; at Zenshuren it cannot. Zenshuren publishes no per-level question specifications online, so the table above has no Zenshuren counterpart.

At both federations, 6 kyu is where division appears. Zenshuren's 7 kyu has multiplication and mitori but no division, and Nishuren's shared 7 kyu paper has neither multiplication nor division.

How to prepare

  1. Make the times tables instant

    Every multiplication and division on this paper rests on the 1-digit tables. If 7 × 8 takes a moment of thought, that moment repeats up to 60 times across sections B and C, so drill the tables until each product arrives without effort.

  2. Treat division as multiplication backwards

    With a 1-digit divisor and a 2-digit quotient, each division is two steps: find the tens digit, then the units. For 504 ÷ 9, 50 ÷ 9 is 5 with 5 over, and 54 ÷ 9 is 6, giving 56. Checking 9 × 56 = 504 takes a second and catches most slips.

  3. Move the 2-digit row around

    Practise mitori columns with the 2-digit row at the top, in the middle and at the bottom, so a two-digit number halfway down a column of single digits never catches the child out.

  4. Rehearse the whole paper

    Run the mock exam below on the 12-minute clock and settle on a section order. Some children like to start with section A while fresh; others bank the quicker multiplication and division first. The rules allow either.

Common questions

My child passed 7 kyu. How big a step is 6 kyu?
It is the largest jump on the lower ladder. A child who scored 400 or more on the shared paper already has most of the mitori accuracy it needs; the new work is the tables, the division and the pace, 9 seconds a question instead of 14.4.
Does the multiplication include 1-digit by 2-digit questions, like 6 × 47?
The specification only fixes the total: multiplicand and multiplier together have three digits. On the official 6 kyu sample every question is a 2-digit number times a 1-digit number. The product is the same either way round, so a child who is quick at 47 × 6 will manage 6 × 47.
Will any division leave a remainder?
On the official sample papers every division comes out exact, with no remainder, so exact division is the reasonable thing to practise. A quick multiplication back is the easiest way to confirm an answer.
Why is a mitori question worth twice a multiplication question?
The official sample prints section totals of 200, 150 and 150. With 20 mitori questions against 30 in each of the other sections, that works out to 10 and 5 points. On Nishuren's kyu papers the mitori section has had 20 questions and the paper 500 points since April 2003; before that, mitori had 15 questions, the paper was out of 450 and the pass mark was 360.
Can my child skip 7 kyu and start at 6 kyu?
Yes. Nishuren's FAQ says candidates may start at any grade. A child strong on 1-digit column addition who knows the tables can reasonably enter at 6 kyu; the mock exam below shows how close they are.
Is the mock exam an official 6 kyu paper?
No. It follows the published specification, but it was written by Kani Math, which has no affiliation with Nishuren, Zenshuren, the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry or any other exam body, and no endorsement or licence from any of them.

Sources

Kani Math is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by the League of Japan Abacus Associations (Nishuren), the League for Soroban Education of Japan (Zenshuren), the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry or any other exam body. The sample papers and mock exam on these pages are written to the published specification; they are not official papers, and a mock result is not a certification. Flash Anzan is a trademark of its owner. Exam details can change, so confirm them with whoever runs your sitting.

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