Chapter 200

The key lies in this grouping.

For example, anyone in the class who gets into the same group as Aragaki Shun naturally doesn't need to worry at all; they're guaranteed to win before the exam even starts.

But if the last and second-to-last students in the class team up, the final outcome becomes unpredictable.

"If the Small Test determines the group assignments, then what exactly does PaperShuffle consist of?"

As Aragaki Shun stood up to ask a question, the other noises in the classroom immediately disappeared, and everyone's eyes were fixed on Hoshinomiya was tilting his head and smiling.

"There are a total of eight subjects in the exam, each with a full score of 100 points. Each subject has 50 questions, for a total of 400 questions."

"Also, there are two types of failing grades this time. The first is similar to the previous passing grades: all subjects have a minimum passing score of 60. If either student fails to reach 60 in any subject, they will have to drop out."

"This 60 points refers to the combined score of the two people. For example, if Aragaki and Honami-chan become partners, even if Aragaki only scores 0 points, as long as Honami-chan scores 60 points, there will be no problem."

Emmm... that's such a low requirement!

A combined score of 60 is considered passing, but no one in Class A scored below 80.

Therefore, the impact of this expulsion rule on their class is negligible.

Thinking of this, everyone in the class relaxed considerably.

Seeing this, Hoshinomiya stopped keeping him in suspense and went on to explain the second passing grade.

"Then there's the newly added expulsion standard, which sets a passing score for the total score. For example, if all eight subjects score above 60, but the combined total score of the two partners is below the second passing score, they will also be considered to have failed and will have to withdraw from school together."

"This sounds ominous, but what exactly is the passing score?"

Aragaki Shun calmly inquired, "If it's too high, I don't believe that only one or two groups of students from Class C and Class D drop out each year because of it."

"I'm sorry, the school hasn't made a decision on this yet," Hoshinomiya said, shrugging with a regretful expression. "But in previous years, the passing score has been around 700 points, so it won't differ too much."

Oh, I see. That does sound easy.

With 8 subjects, you'll have a total of 800 points. If you team up with your partner, the total score doubles to 1600.

Among the students in Class A, nearly half are outstanding students with an average score of over 90 in all subjects. They can achieve the goal of 700 by their own efforts and with normal performance.

Now that two people are working together to calculate the total score, there's absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Just a reminder, this Special Exam will be held over two days, with four subjects each day. The order of the subjects will be announced later."

"If you are unable to attend due to physical discomfort, the school will review the validity of your absence. If the absence is deemed valid, the score will be estimated from your past exam results. However, if the absence is not valid, it will be treated as an absence, and your score for all subjects will be 0. Please take note."

Upon hearing this, Aragaki Shun subconsciously looked in the direction of Sakayanagi Arisu. Compared to the fact that missing the Uninhabited Island Exam only resulted in a temporary deduction of points, and missing the Sports Festival resulted in a deduction of Class Evaluation Points, the cost of missing this PaperShuffle was far too high.

However, even if the girl has a congenital heart condition, she should be fine with two days of exams. Moreover, even if she is unwell, it would be justified, so there is no need to consider her health condition.

"Then there's the punishment for formal exams. Naturally, cheating is prohibited. Anyone caught cheating is immediately disqualified and expelled along with their partner. This applies not only to this exam, but to all midterms and Final Exam."

This has been stated before, but teachers always remind students of it again before each midterm Final Exam.

The students in Class A could pass the test with their own abilities, so there was no need for them to use cheating methods.

However, it is also necessary to guard against being framed by other classes, since being caught cheating means expulsion. If used properly, this rule can indeed be used to eliminate competitors.

"Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

If not, Aragaki Shun felt he didn't need to do anything and could simply let everyone in the class do as they pleased.

But it can't be that boring, right? It's just two people paired up and the passing score is changed. Can this lazy competition format really be considered Special Exam?

"There is one more thing, and that is that you will need to create all the questions for this exam yourselves."

"Then you can decide for yourselves which of the other three classes to send this paper to. The four classes will compete against each other, and after the results are released, the average scores of each class will be compared. The winning class will take 50 Class Evaluation Points from the losing class."

"Comparing class average scores," Aragaki Shun raised an eyebrow, "Why not compare the total scores?"

Hoshinomiya smiled but did not answer.

The students in the classroom burst into laughter. If it really came down to comparing total scores, Class A could crush any other class just by the number of students; there was no need to even compare.

The school administration would not be so foolish.

"Ahem~ Anyway, if Class A attacks Class D, and then Class B attacks them, as long as our average score is higher than theirs, we can get 50 points from each of those two classes."

"If Class A attacks Class D at the same time, and Class D also attacks Class A, then the Class Evaluation Points will change by 100 points. Although this is rare, if the average scores of both sides are the same, then nothing will happen."

"Finally, if both classes nominate the same class, then representatives from both classes will have to draw lots to decide."

At this, many people in the class looked thoughtful.

With students creating their own questions and different classes challenging each other, it does indeed feel a bit like Special Exam.

But shouldn't there be clear restrictions on this kind of thing?

Otherwise, if a class sets problems that are absolutely unsolvable, or uses knowledge that is only taught in university, wouldn't the difficulty of the exam suddenly become hellish?

"Teacher, how does the school set limits on the scope and specific content of the exam questions?"

Aragaki Shun, resting his chin on his hand, posed a hypothetical question, "For example, could I use textbooks from other schools or even other countries to create exam questions?"

If such operations are allowed, then each class could simply take high school exam papers from remote, small countries and use them. In that case, a large number of students in the attacked class would definitely be expelled for failing the exams... after all, they can't even understand the text.

However, this kind of thing is of course not allowed.

"Ahem~ Little Aragaki's mind is really quick, but that won't do. Although you're allowed to create your own questions, the school will still check them. If there's anything beyond the textbook, the reviewers will revise it."

"In other words, the exam papers you create must be limited to the learning scope of the second semester of the first year of Advanced Nurturing, and those exam questions without answers will absolutely not pass."

Therefore, it seems that PaperShuffle is testing students' ability to create questions, that is, observing whether everyone can effectively shift from the perspective of a problem solver to that of a question creator.

It sounds interesting, but the problem is that all three first-year classes are under Aragaki Shun's command.

If he wanted, he could easily pick any opponent from Class C or Class D and then create his own exam paper.

At that time, we can just create some questions about what 1+1 equals, and everyone can easily get full marks.

"With the four classes competing for points in the exams within the grade... let's just go straight for Class B."

Aragaki Shun calmly stated his decision. "Class C and Class D will attack each other; it doesn't matter who wins, who loses, or even if it ends in a draw."

The meat will eventually rot in the pot.

From Aragaki Shun's perspective, the evaluation scores for the two classes increased while the final total score remained the same, so it made no difference to him.

As for Class A, they naturally launched a frontal assault, relying on sheer strength to suppress the original Class A.

"We've been going through several months of tutoring since the start of the semester. Surely you all have the confidence to face the challenge head-on?"

If that happens, then Aragaki Shun will really have to put a lot of pressure on his classmates.

He didn't mind being seen as someone who could carry others to new heights, but in exchange, his subordinates should at least meet some basic quality requirements, right?

If someone is truly a black sheep like the defective product in Class D, then it would be better to let him personally handle it and expel them from school.

"I agree with Aragaki's decision. The time has come to test everyone's true strength, and using Class B as our opponent is the best course of action."

Kanzaki Ryuji also expressed his opinion.

Even if choosing Class C or Class D guarantees a win, they should still target Class B, the only class that poses a real threat.

After all, they were the strongest among the first-year students; how could they possibly avoid the sharp edge of their defeated opponents?

"Hehe~ Class B is on a roll, we should definitely press them hard and completely crush them who haven't given in yet."

These words were spoken by Sakayanagi Arisu. The sickly girl clearly had a radical style and was ruthless towards her original class, wishing she could reset its evaluation score to zero and plunge it into a zero-score hell that was even more humiliating than Class D.

"Then let's choose Class B!" Ichinose Honami said energetically, clenching her little fist. "I believe everyone will definitely not lose."

At this stage, both Class C and Class D are subordinate to Class A, so the pink-haired girl naturally wouldn't suggest attacking her teammates. Therefore, she can only make things difficult for the students in Class B who are still persevering.

In this way, the will of the class's management team was easily unified, and the other students naturally had no objections.

"So, this time we're not going to use any strategy and just go head-to-head with Class B?"

"It seems pretty good. Let's let the school see if their initial class assignments were right or wrong."

"I have no objection, and I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I've wanted this opportunity for a while now to test my progress since enrolling in the Advanced Nurturing Program."

The members of Class A all looked relaxed, having no doubts about Aragaki Shun's decision.

Aren't they just a bunch of defeated opponents?

In a direct confrontation, the other side is the challenger and has no right to make them fearful!

Seeing this inspiring scene, Chie Hoshinomiya was also particularly pleased, adding with a smile:

"In short, these are the rules. When creating exam questions, it's acceptable to do it alone in your class, consult with teachers, consult with students from other classes or higher grades, or even utilize the internet. There are no special restrictions."

"Any exam questions that the school can accept, whether easy or difficult, are acceptable, and the content is not limited. There are also contingency plans in place in case we are unable to complete the exam paper and answer key."

"After the submission deadline, we will provide the other class with a test paper prepared in advance by the school. But you should be aware that the difficulty level of the test paper will be very low. Once it gets to this point, it's basically a defeat without a fight."

Looking around at the audience below the stage and seeing that they all expressed understanding, Chie Hoshinomiya proceeded to give her concluding remarks.

"That concludes the explanation of the rules for the Small Test and PaperShuffle. The rest is up to you to figure out."

"That concludes today's lesson. You are now free to discuss and engage in any activities."

After speaking, the homeroom teacher stretched, pulled up a chair, sat down, propped his chin on his hand, and looked utterly bored, clearly leaving all the students in Class A to their own devices.

The group exchanged glances with their classmates, then looked in Aragaki Shun's direction in unison, ready to follow instructions.

"There's still a little over a month until the exam, and we need to create 400 questions in total. Time is a bit tight, so we need to identify a few key question creators first."

Ensuring the difficulty of the questions while completing the exam before the submission deadline is quite a demanding task.

If one person is to create the questions, he would need to create 10 to 15 questions per day. Although the more people creating the questions, the easier it would be, the quality of the questions would become uneven. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a balance.

"By the way, to test your true abilities, I won't be part of the Exam Question Committee this time. I'll only review your submitted work, and only after it passes my review will I submit it to the school."

If he has to handle all these trivial matters, then what about the talented students in the class, both the original ones and those invited from other classes? Are they just sitting around doing nothing?

After saying that, Aragaki Shun then instructed Chie Hoshinomiya, "Hoshinomiya-sensei, please confirm within the class that I am the only one qualified to submit the PaperShuffle exam paper. If anyone else does anything extra, please refuse them immediately and contact me."

"Huh? This doesn't seem to be in accordance with the rules," Hoshinomiya said, tapping her chin with her index finger. "But if everyone agrees, then I, as the teacher, will have no choice but to comply."

"That's certainly the case. After all, the easiest way to win this exam is to find a way to get the opponent's exam paper in advance."

Kanzaki Ryuji chimed in, "No one in Class A would betray the class, but we're worried that Ryuen from Class B might pull some tricks, so having Aragaki submit the exam paper is the safest option."

The students in the class naturally did not object to this.

Then Ichinose Honami also stood up and expressed her doubts. "Next week's Small Test will determine the groups for the Special Exam, so how exactly will they be divided?"

"That's a good question, but the teacher can't answer it."

He looked up and gestured to the camera on the ceiling, indicating that he was powerless to Hoshinomiya.

"There's no need to worry about that. The teacher just mentioned that in previous years only one or two groups were expelled in PaperShuffle, so it's likely that all classes are paired with students from the top and bottom ranks."

"Otherwise, based on the grades of Class C and Class D, if the groups were randomly assigned, it wouldn't be surprising if more than a dozen people were expelled at once."

That's easy to understand. The first-place winner in the Small Test will team up with the last-place winner, the second-place winner with the second-to-last, and so on.

Only this grouping method can balance the strength of each group and reduce the number of students dropping out.

"Shiina is so beautiful and smart! Teacher, I don't know anything about her."

Hoshinomiya clapped his hands in delight, seemingly trying to evade the question, but he had essentially acknowledged the correctness of Shiina's guess.

In this way, all doubts become clear, and all that is needed is to confirm the Exam Question Committee.

This isn't a difficult decision, after all, there are really a lot of top students in Class A, such as Ichinose Honami, who is second in the whole grade and only behind Aragaki Shun, Kanzaki Ryuji Ichinose Honami, who is in charge of tutoring, Shiina Hiyori, who is very smart, and Sakayanagi Arisu... These people are all capable of taking on important responsibilities.

But Aragaki Shun's choice was not one of them, but an unexpected one.

"Let Xiao Mei be in charge of Exam Question Committee!"

As an international student from mainland China, this happens to be the girl's forte.

276. The excruciatingly difficult "Five Three" textbook; an inescapable storm of terror.

It's not Ichinose, nor Kanzaki Ryuji, nor Shiina Hiyori, nor Sakayanagi Arisu.

Aragaki Shun's final choice was surprisingly Wang Meiyu!

The students in the class looked at each other, all casting puzzled glances at the gentle girl with dark blue twin ponytails.

The other person also seemed surprised, their lips slightly parted, their eyes filled with astonishment.

"Huh? Me?"

It was obvious that the girl lacked self-confidence, which made the other classmates who were watching her a little worried.

It's not that Wang Meiyu's grades are bad.