First Monthly Exam

2019–2020 Academic Year, First Semester of Senior Year Two Final Exam Results

Xiao Yi: Chinese language 101, Mathematics 135, English 115, Physics 78, Chemistry 72, Biology 79, Total Score 580, Year Rank 99.

These were Xiao Yi's final exam results from the first semester of Senior Year Two, and these results...

How should he put it? They were somewhat less than satisfactory.

A total score of 580 and a top-100 year ranking was actually fairly good, relatively speaking. But the problem was that "fairly good" was clearly nowhere near enough to qualify for the Gifted Class.

To enter the Gifted Class, one had to be "exceptionally outstanding" to be considered qualified. At the very least, one should rank among the best of one's peers, right?

Liu Bin was somewhat surprised. Xiao Yi had clearly been able to solve all those competition problems he had given him with ease, so why were his exam results not particularly impressive instead?

At first, he had thought that Xiao Yi was undoubtedly a top student. Even if he was not the all-around kind, he should at least have been unparalleled in mathematics.

He asked, "Are you sure this Xiao Yi is that Xiao Yi?"

Luo Penghua shook his head. "There definitely can't be a mistake. The results clearly identify him as Xiao Yi from our Class 3 of Science Stream, and there aren't any other Senior Year Two students named Xiao Yi."

Liu Bin asked again, "Then... is there something wrong with your grading system?"

Qin Song waved his hand and said, "That definitely isn't possible. We checked all these scores, so there won't be any problems."

Beside them, Chen Liang stroked his chin and asked, "Then Xiao Yi's grades... don't seem as good as we imagined."

He knew that Class 3 was not an advanced class, so he had assumed that Xiao Yi was the sort of student who, despite not being in an advanced class, could completely match the students in one, or perhaps a super-lopsided math genius.

But now... these results were a little hard to understand.

Still, Luo Penghua offered an explanation. "These results are already from two months ago. According to my observations, Xiao Yi has become extremely diligent and serious about his studies since the beginning of this semester. So I think... we should view Xiao Yi with the attitude of regarding someone anew after three days apart."

Qin Song also spoke up for Xiao Yi. "Right. After three days apart, one should look at someone anew. We can't judge the current Xiao Yi based on results from two months ago."

At the very least, they could not let Liu Bin think Xiao Yi's past grades were poor and give up on the chance to recommend this promising Gifted Class candidate to USTC.

Liu Bin smiled at that point. "You two teachers needn't be nervous. I didn't raise this question because I think Xiao Yi is incapable. No matter what, he did indeed solve those math problems, and answers to those questions are basically impossible to find online. So he must have solved them through his own ability."

"After I return, I'll still submit his name. With my recommendation, he'll definitely pass the review. Then our school will issue him a College Entrance Exam Qualification Certificate so he can take this year's college entrance exam. As long as his results meet the requirements and he subsequently passes our Gifted Class test, there will certainly be no reason for our Gifted Class to reject him."

"That's good, that's good." Qin Song breathed a sigh of relief. That would do.

However, Luo Penghua thought for a moment before saying, "Professor Liu, perhaps we can do this instead."

"Next week will be our semester's first monthly exam. Perhaps then we can see how Xiao Yi performs on this exam."

"Who knows? Maybe he'll bring us a surprise."

Luo Penghua's words made everyone present light up.

"Not bad. That's a good method." Qin Song voiced his support.

Chen Liang nodded as well, expressing his approval.

Liu Bin also nodded. "Fine, we'll do as Teacher Luo says and see how Xiao Yi performs in next week's monthly exam. I'll hold off on submitting Xiao Yi's information for now and submit it together once these results are out!"

"Alright!"

Having made their decision, the teachers said no more. If Xiao Yi really was that kind of genius, then next week's exam surely would not disappoint them!

Xiao Yi had no idea that the teachers had decided to look at his monthly exam results the following week as well.

Luo Penghua had not told him because he wanted to avoid affecting his mindset.

The next day, Xiao Yi received a call from home. His parents wanted to confirm with him whether he had truly caught the attention of a USTC professor.

If they had not confirmed it with Xiao Yi, they would have suspected that yesterday's call had been a scam.

After receiving Xiao Yi's affirmative answer, Father Xiao and Mother Xiao were both overjoyed.

For parents, nothing made them happier than seeing their child excel.

And clearly, Xiao Yi being noticed by the Gifted Class made them feel genuinely proud of their child.

The immediate benefit this brought Xiao Yi was that his weekly living expenses went directly from 200 yuan to 300 yuan, allowing him to eat better at school.

That phone call lasted nearly half an hour before they finally hung up.

After the call, Xiao Yi hurried back to the classroom and resumed studying.

Very quickly, a week passed.

The first monthly exam of the semester began.

Outside Exam Room 4.

The school assigned exam rooms according to the previous exam's results, with thirty students in each room. Thus, the students in Exam Room 4 had ranked from 91st to 120th in the previous exam. Xiao Yi, who had ranked 99th, was here.

The exam had not officially begun yet, and the examinees were still waiting outside the room.

Xiao Yi's deskmate, Chen Wei, had ranked 109th in the previous exam, so the two were assigned to the same room. They were standing together and chatting.

"Who do you think that student admitted to the Gifted Class is? Shen Xing or Wu Ziyu? It feels like those two are the most likely."

Chen Wei glanced toward Exam Room 1 as he spoke to Xiao Yi.

What had happened in the Senior Year Department the previous week had naturally spread through Senior Years One and Two after so much time. By now, it was basically certain that the student was in Senior Year Two, but which class the student was in and what the student's name was had been distorted into all kinds of versions. Moreover, by the time the news had reached Senior Year Two from Senior Year Three, no one knew how many times it had been passed along.

As a result, no one knew who that student actually was.

Xiao Yi shrugged. "Maybe it's neither of them?"

"Then it has to be someone from Exam Room 1, right?"

"Perhaps."

Xiao Yi neither confirmed nor denied it.

Exam Room 1...

Perhaps he would be there by the next exam?

"Start entering the examination rooms now."

A proctor came out of the room and called out to the students outside.

Afterward, all the examinees entered in an orderly fashion.