THE HEC STARTER KIT (Now available!)

HEC is an exciting opportunity for both the ALT and the students. There is a lot of information and steps that need to be done, so it can get overwhelming. But not to worry, this page includes all of the important documents you need to successfully administer the Hokkaido English Challenge right at your schools.

This includes:

The Official and Abbreviated HEC Guide
The Abbreviated Guide in Japanese
Letter Packs, a formal letter addressed to the BOEs, schools, parents, and teachers
Paper & Online Registration Forms
The Test Preparation Packet
The previous year’s JHS test
The previous year’s SHS test
Posters in both English and Japanese

Individual links to all these resources can be found below. If you have any questions about how to use these documents or about HEC in general, the HEC Director’s email is always available at hajet.hec.director@gmail.com.

1 & 2. The Official and Abbreviated HEC Guide for 2024-2025

Read all about HEC, how you can get your students involved, how to prepare for the test, and basically, all the information you need to administer a successful Hokkaido English Challenge! The Guide comes in two versions, an official guide with in-depth information and an abbreviated guide for a quick overview of the challenge.

The HEC 2025 Official Guide

The HEC 2025 Abbreviated Guide

The HEC 2025 Abbreviated Guide in Japanese

3. HEC Letter Pack

Want to talk to your BOE, schools, and parents about HEC but don’t know how? Not to worry! These letter packs are formal letters that explain the essentials of HEC. As a first step, please be sure to show these letters to your BOE and schools before approaching students about.

We advise that the ALT prints out a letter addressed to the BOE before proceeding to hand out posters to their students. The BOE may relay the information along to the schools, or the ALT can print out the letter addressed to schools to their respective Principal and Vice Principal.

When handing out information to the student, we also advise to print out a letter addressed to the parents to hand out along with the poster.

2025 HEC Letter Pack (English & Japanese)

4. Paper Registration Form & Online Registration Form

Registration is done in two parts. Please make sure you carefully complete BOTH parts!

First, students and parents will fill out a Paper Registration Form.

Then the ALT will input the information into an online form. For privacy reasons, each ALT will need to request access to the form before they can input their students’ information.

Please be sure to read all the information and Terms and Conditions.

5. The Test Preparation Packet

For everything you need to prepare yourself and your students for the test, we have put together a comprehensive The 2025 Test Preparation Packet, which includes contents such as how to administer the test, guidelines to follow, the judging rubric, and more.

6 & 7. Previous Tests (JHS & SHS)

Previous tests are a great way to practice with your students. The most recent test can be found below:

Previous Year’s JHS Test (2024)

Previous Year’s SHS Test (2024)

Other previous tests can be found here. HEC has years’ worth of tests, so you can get a lot of practice in! If you would like to request previous tests that are not available on the website, please contact our HEC Test Committee Chair, Joshua, at hajet.hec.test@gmail.com.