"Shen Qi, 715 points!" Gu Xiaodan from Class 2 of Senior Three exclaimed. The ranking list in his hand was exactly the same as Shen Qi's. "Full marks in math, no surprise. 290 in Science Comprehensive, 133 in Chinese, 142 in English. Shen Qi, how could you do this? Are you going to crush us in every subject? You've already been admitted to Peking University, why did you have to take the exam!"
"If I can't take the college entrance examination, I'll always feel that my high school life is a bit of a regret," Shen Qi said.
"Shen Qi, you're dominating all subjects, are you on your way to becoming the top student?" Chen Xiaoting had been sitting alone at her desk for two weeks when she finally welcomed back her academic star deskmate.
Shen Qi pondered for a moment, "The possibility of someone becoming the top scholar... is possible."
"The person who scored 518 points didn't say anything, and you left them by almost 200 points," Gu Xiaodan said.
"A person who scored 520 points said that becoming the top scorer is something that's too far removed from our lives," Chen Xiaoting said.
Shen Qi glanced at the ranking list. "Gu Xiaodan got 112 in math, and Chen Xiaoting got 101. Actually, Xiaoting's Chinese and English are pretty good. If she had scored another 10 or 20 points higher in math, she would have had no problem getting into a top-tier university."
Over the past decade, a notable trend in college entrance examination admission scores in Nanyue Province has been that the admission scores for liberal arts students have generally been higher than those for science students.
This summer, the first-tier university admission score for liberal Nanyue Province was 535, and the first-tier university admission score for science was 522.
Last year it was even lower, with the first-tier university admission score for liberal arts at 510 and for science at 485, less than 500.
A few years earlier, the cutoff scores were higher, with the cutoff scores for arts and sciences reaching 550-580.
In terms of science subjects, scoring above 600 in your province should be enough to get into Tsinghua or Yenching University. Scoring above 700 is the level of a top scorer.
Chen Xiaoting sighed, "Sigh, getting a score in the teens or twenties isn't that easy."
"If I can score 120 or 130 on my math test, getting into a top university won't be a problem at all." Gu Xiaodan tore open an Oreo and handed it to Shen Qi: "Boss, where's the Math Secret Manual you were promised?"
Shen Qi picked up a biscuit and popped it into his mouth. "This trip to the Yenching University Math Camp has been a real eye-opener for me. I'll be able to compile a first draft by the end of this month at the latest. But I need Xiaoting and Xiaodan as my assistants to help me complete this task."
"What can the two of us do?" Chen Xiaoting and Gu Xiaodan asked in unison.
Shen Qi: "Don't ask too many questions, just follow my orders."
After returning home, Shen Qi immediately turned on his computer and entered writing mode.
Shen Qi did not follow the model of those tutoring books sold on the market, but instead used the writing style he was most proficient in—diary style.
"My name is Shen Qi, and I'm a high school student. First of all, let me clarify that this isn't some kind of math tutoring guide; you can think of it as a high school student's diary."
"This diary entry uses mathematics as its main theme, interspersed with snippets of my daily life during high school."
"I won't use any technical terms outside the high school syllabus, because this is just a diary."
"Plane Vectors possess both algebraic and geometric properties, serving as a paradigm of combining numbers and shapes, and they permeate the entire high school mathematics curriculum."
"In my view, vectors are a tool. Yes, they are a tool, ubiquitous and visible every day, just like a kitchen knife."
"For example, please see the next question."
In the Cartesian coordinate system xoy, the vector μm = [√2/2, -√2/2] is given.
"ιn=(sinx, cosx)."
"X∈[0,π/2]."
(2) If the angle between μm and ιn is π/3, find the value of x.
"This question is common; if I can't give the correct answer within 3 minutes, I'll admit defeat."
"It's actually very simple. I only have two kitchen knives, one called 'Linear Representation of Vectors,' and the other called 'Dot Product.'"
"Is it that my knife isn't Shen Qi enough, or have you gotten carried away with the math problem again?"
"I don't care if you're arrogant or not, I have two kitchen knives in my hands, I'll chop you down until you're begging for mercy."
"Based on the calculation of the Dot Product in coordinate representation, I take the following steps:"
"@@##@@!@@@..."
"This procedure is universal; we should never put down our two kitchen knives."
"Look, I chopped down the second-to-last question on last year's college entrance exam in just 3 minutes."
"And you, with a little practice, can do it too."
Shen Qi got more and more into writing, using his unique language to explain Trigonometric Function and vectors, which he considered one of the most important parts of high school mathematics.
The best strategy is to have no strategy at all. The college entrance exam doesn't require a legendary sword or a dragon-slaying saber; all it needs is a stainless steel kitchen knife.
The kitchen knife, a folk magic weapon, can be skillfully used by anyone to chop melons and cut vegetables after a little practice.
The most crucial element is knife skills and techniques; this is where the difference between top students and ordinary students lies.
Shen Qi temporarily forgot about Advanced Mathematics and Advanced Algebra, and used pure high school mathematical language to write a manual on the art of cleaver making. This was a summary he made himself, with guidance from Professor Sun of the Peking University Math Camp giving him a lot of inspiration.
Shen Qi wrote nearly 10,000 words in one night, surpassing the typing speed of many online writers. Some writers can only write seven or eight thousand words or even less after sitting in front of the computer all day.
The main reason is that Shen Qi is very familiar with this field, so he can handle it with ease, hence his fast typing speed.
In the process of writing the diary in a simple and unpretentious style, Shen Qi's understanding of mathematics deepened further. Zhang Wuji's ability to defeat opponents without using any moves, and Qiao Feng's ability to defeat hundreds of people by relying on the most basic set of Taizu Long Fist despite knowing the Eighteen Subduing Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.
Therefore, true masters rely on internal strength and awareness, a principle that also applies to mathematics.
Shen Qi printed out the Heart Sutra he had written that night, two copies on each side of five A4 sheets.
The next morning, around 5 a. m., Shen Qi got up and rode his bicycle to school.
The first semester of senior year is very tough. Just after six o'clock in the morning, all the students in Class 2 of Senior Year 3 sat in the classroom, except for Xu Rui.
Shen Qi and Xu Rui are two special individuals; one was admitted to Yenching University through a special recommendation program, while the other abandoned academic studies to focus solely on sports.
During morning self-study, Shen Qi handed two copies of the Heart Sutra that he had personally written to Chen Xiaoting and Gu Xiaodan: "You two use this time to read through it, and understand as much as you can. Give me your feedback after you're done."
"This... this is the legendary Shen's Saber Technique?" Gu Xiaodan quickly scanned the Heart Sutra and noticed that the words "kitchen knife" appeared frequently.
"Pfft, a diary format, how creative!" Chen Xiaoting dreaded reading math tutoring books; they were incredibly boring.
Shen Qi's diary-style problem-solving guide isn't particularly well-written; it's at the level of a high school student's essay. However, its strength lies in its exceptionally vivid language.
Chen Xiaoting and Gu Xiaodan buried themselves in studying the Heart Sutra compiled by Shen Qi.
After morning self-study ended, Gu Xiaodan said in a puzzled tone, "I... I understand?"
"I... I think I understand about 70-80%?" Chen Xiaoting said, puzzled.
Shen Qi handed Chen Xiaoting and Gu Xiaodan each a sheet of white paper. "Based on this 10,000-word content, write down everything you understand and don't understand on this sheet of paper, and give me your feedback before noon. Your feedback is very important to me because you are the most representative people."
Gu Xiaodan: "So you're saying our math grades are terrible?"
Chen Xiaoting: "Isn't it rotten?"
Shen Qi: "You two probably have no hope of getting a perfect score in math in your lifetime, but it doesn't matter. As long as you can get an extra ten or twenty points in the college entrance exam math, I believe it will help you."
"Very helpful!"