Yobikō

thumb|300px|At Tokyo University, at the announcement of test results, a successful student is being thrown into the air in celebration. The are privately-run schools marketed to students who are taking examinations held each year in Japan from January to March to determine college admissions. The students generally graduated from high school but failed to enter the school of their choice. The test, unlike the French baccalauréat and the South Korean College Scholastic Ability Test, has different versions, with different schools looking for results from different exams. In Japan, the test is generally considered the most important event in a child's education. Students who fail may spend a year or more studying to retake the examination. They are colloquially referred to as rōnin. Yobiko are similar to juku except for differences such as curriculum, legal status, and the main type of students who attend.

==Legal status== They are for-profit private corporations that are officially listed as schools by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. At the municipal level, they are supervised by boards of education. Even so, they are subject to little supervision, as compliance with regulations for physical conditions what is mainly checked, and curriculum and teacher salaries are not inspected.