Exam Rules: Teaming Up Comes First / Ichinose Honami's Plan of Action
"Teacher, could you please tell me the specific format of the exam?"
Hashiba Hikaru raised her hand, her expression utterly calm.
"The exam format is very simple. You can recall the PaperShuffle exam you took before; the rules are similar."
Chie Hoshinomiya smiled. She had always thought highly of Hashiba Hikaru, but recently she had a vague feeling that the other girl was putting less effort into Class A, and she didn't know why.
Without him leading Class A, there could be serious problems during the Special Exam.
"Is that so?"
"If we follow the rules of Paper Shuffle, does that mean we'll be paired with first-year students and take the exam together?"
Kanzaki Ryuji quickly realized what was going on and replied, "If it's Written Exam, our level of knowledge isn't the same as the freshmen's, is it?"
"This is indeed a bit troublesome. Let me explain it to you in detail."
Upon hearing this question, Chie Hoshinomiya smiled instead, since the difficulty of the test questions was the core of this exam and concerned everyone's final score.
"First of all, I want to say that this exam has some very difficult questions. In all the Written Exam you've taken so far, it might be considered one of the most difficult. However, if you're not aiming for a high score, it might not seem so difficult after all."
The female teacher turned on the Electronic Blackboard, which displayed a detailed score prediction table.
Academic ability E: 150-200 points.
Academic ability (D) 200-250 points.
Academic ability C: 250-300 points.
My academic ability score is around 350.
Academic ability: around 400 points.
"Based on the academic level statistics you have compiled so far, we can roughly estimate the score range. This is the school's approach to setting the questions; everyone should be able to understand it, right?"
Hoshinomiya smiled and said, "The students in our class are probably all between B and D in terms of academic ability, and there are a few outstanding students with A grades."
"Teacher, if that's the case, what is the specific exam procedure? What is the maximum score?"
At this moment Ichinose Honami raised her hand to ask a question. She had always had excellent grades and was very concerned about the rules of this Special Exam.
"In this Special Exam, the two-person teams will take five subjects together, each worth 100 points, for a total of 500 points."
"There are two ways to judge the exams: the first is a competition based on the class, and the second is a competition based on the individual."
Chie Hoshinomiya manipulated the Electronic Blackboard, and the predicted scores on it changed into specific exam rules.
[Competition Rules Based on Classes]
[Calculate the class average score using the total score of the class and the scores of each student's partner, and then award the class a corresponding reward based on the average score.]
[The rewards, from highest to lowest, are 50 points of Class Evaluation Points, 30 points of Class Evaluation Points, 10 points of comparative evaluation score, and 0 points of Class Evaluation Points.]
[Individual Competition Rules]
[Rankings are based on the combined scores of the individual and their partner.]
[The top five team compositions will each receive 100,000 Private Points as a reward.]
[The top 30% of team compositions: each member receives 10,000 Private Points as a reward.]
"The rewards are written so clearly, and since it's Special Exam, there should be corresponding penalties, right?"
The students in Class A already understood the design rationale behind the rules. Now that we've discussed the rewards, let's talk about the punishments.
That's right.
Chie Hoshinomiya tapped the Electronic Blackboard again, and three lines of bold text popped up at the bottom of the screen.
[Penalty Regulations]
[If the total score of all students in the first team is less than 500, the Second Year students will be expelled. First-year students, regardless of their class, will not have their Private Points transferred for the next three months.]
[Chapter Two states that, based on the school's review and judgment, students who intentionally answer questions incorrectly or manipulate scores will be expelled regardless of their grade.]
[Chapter 3: If a student is found to have forced others to take a low-scoring exam, and this is verified, the student will be expelled on the spot.]
The three consecutive rules, each containing the word "expulsion," completely stunned the students in Class 2-A who were staring at the blackboard.
"This is truly... incredible."
Gazing at his girlfriend's stunned face, Hashiba Hikaru couldn't help but sigh softly.
Chapter 708 Exam Rules: Team formation is preferred.
"Based on the published rules, everyone should understand one thing: the higher a student's academic ability, the easier it is to form a team successfully, and even to select excellent teammates to achieve a high score."
Chie Hoshinomiya's tone was very serious, after all, she was about to announce the specific procedures for the exam, and she had to make sure everyone understood.
"That's certainly true."
"Those first-year students will probably also choose the most academically gifted students from our Second Year to form teams, and there might even be some competition between them."
A boy with a grade of only C curled his lip and uttered something that everyone knew.
"Yes, this time we're selecting partners from the entire first year, and the freshmen are selecting from the entire Second Year. With this system, those with higher academic abilities will definitely be more popular."
"Wait a minute, didn't three students drop out in our Second Year? Won't that create vacancies?"
Shibata Sou suddenly realized this problem, after all, during the Voting Exam, only Class A had no students dropping out, while the other three classes were missing one person.
"Yes, I will explain this later, please be patient."
Chie Hoshinomiya smiled slightly and used the electronic screen to explain the rules of the Special Exam to everyone.
"First of all, the selection process for you and the first-year students is very flexible. The exams will begin today, with Written Exam in about two weeks."
"These two weeks are for you to choose your partners and study together, so don't waste them."
The students in Class 2-A were all staring intently at the blackboard screen, and some were even taking notes—a good habit they had developed over time.
"Then, choosing a partner is actually quite simple."
She manipulated the screen, and several pictures with text labels popped up, arranged somewhat like a matching game.
[The partnership is formed with the mutual consent of both parties. Logging into the OAA System will complete the process. Theoretically, team formation can begin today. However, once a team is formed, it cannot be dissolved for any reason.]
This means that if neither party has the academic ability to pass the exam with certainty, they will consider and hesitate, since making a hasty decision could very likely lead to regret later.
[You can only send one application per day to someone you wish to become your partner through the OAA System (if the other party does not agree, the application will be reset within 24 hours.)]
[If the other party accepts the application, they will be automatically paired up and cannot be easily disbanded.]
[The two people who are confirmed to be partners will have their personal information updated on OAA at 8:00 AM the following day, changing their status to indicate that they are no longer able to accept partner invitations.]
Below these rules are two additional points marked with an asterisk.
[Important Notes]
[Firstly, in the event of force majeure such as dropping out of school or serious illness, the partner may apply for termination.]
[Secondly, your partner's full name will not be listed below their profile.]
Hashiba Hikaru carefully reviewed the rules with everyone, and based on the school's question-setting approach, there were actually many points worth noting.
The first thing is to control the number of times everyone sends out partner requests. After all, once you've formed a partnership, it will only show up the next day. If you send a request but find out the other person has already formed a partnership the next day, you've wasted your time and opportunity.
Furthermore, not specifying the partner's name is also a layer of protection, because once everyone's partner is announced, it would be easy to calculate the overall combat strength of each class based on the publicly available academic information.
This can create unnecessary disruptions before the exam, which is not a good thing.
"Teacher, just as Shibata said, three of us Second Year students dropped out, which means there will be three fewer team spots for first-year students. How should we handle this?"
Hashiba Hikaru raised her hand and asked.
"Please don't worry about that; the school has considered all possibilities."
Chie Hoshinomiya nodded and said in a calm tone.
"First, regarding the situation where students cannot form teams within the deadline, if someone is still unable to form a team within two weeks, the school will randomly match them with other students from the remaining pool, and the results will be announced the following day."
"Then there are the three students who are left out. The school will use double their exam scores as the final result."
"Of course, neither of these methods is a standard exam format. Therefore, students who fall into either of these categories will have 5% deducted from their total score as a penalty during the final score calculation. Please take note."
After explaining this passage in detail, Chie Hoshinomiya's lips suddenly curled into a meaningful smile.
"Starting today, everyone must try their best to find teammates. Don't assume that the three people who are alone are all freshmen; there's a good chance they're Second Year students."
"That's true."
"Yeah, the academic level of first-year students is based on their junior high school grades. Maybe some of the high-achieving students have already formed teams, leaving us seniors to be left out."
Don't be too discouraged, your academic performance is a B, isn't it?
Everyone was discussing it animatedly. After all, this was an exam where partners were selected based on academic ability, and everyone hoped that their teammate would be someone with excellent grades, so that they could guarantee passing the exam smoothly.
"In short, these are the general rules for this Special Exam. Before school ends today, everyone can hold an internal class meeting to discuss how to deal with the Special Exam. Then, it's up to Ichinose to handle it."
The female teacher gazed tenderly at Ichinose Honami, who was the class representative; of course, she needed to be instructed on this matter.
"Yes, I will try my best to lead everyone in the exam."
The pink-haired girl nodded solemnly. She had been analyzing the exam rules, and she needed to devise a strategy to ensure that all her students could pass.
Although everyone is academically capable, they could still face a crisis if they can't find a suitable partner.
Ichinose Honami glanced instinctively at her boyfriend beside her, only to find that the boy seemed to be deep in thought, his expression slightly serious.
"..."
She didn't speak, afraid of interrupting his thoughts.
Hashiba Hikaru was indeed thinking, pondering an extremely important question.
The assassin in the [White Room].
If the [White Room] really does send new students to this school, according to this rule, there are many things they can do.
After all, Second Year and first-year students have to team up to complete the exam.
Although the rules emphasize prohibiting deliberately scoring low marks and using special means to make a third party score low marks, the people in the [White Room] can completely disregard this and casually hand in a zero-mark paper, and their partner, Second Year, will also be expelled.
After all, the rules don't state that "if a partner intentionally manipulates the score, the other person can be exempted from punishment." This is a loophole that was deliberately designed, since Tsukishiro calculated that everyone would only work hard to get a high score, and it was unlikely that someone would intentionally get a low score.
"It all depends on what Ayanokoji plans to do. Don't let her lose in the first round."
Hashiba Hikaru touched her chin, looking forward to the upcoming exam.
Chapter 709 Ichinose Honami's Action Plan.
After the announcement of the Special Exam and the content of the new OAA system were all covered, time quickly came to the last class of the afternoon.
"Classmates, now that the rules for the Special Exam are clear, we need to think about our initial strategy."
Ichinose Honami stood on the podium, her face stern.
The pink-haired girl scanned the classroom, but couldn't spot Hashiba Hikaru, as he had already gone to the Student Council.
As the Student Council President, Hashiba Hikaru needs to preside over the general meeting for the start of the semester today, so she needs to get there early to prepare materials.
"The first step should be to collect everyone's information, first to compile a general overview of the academic abilities of our class, and then to collect overall data on the new students."
Shibata scrolled through the information on his phone. If a one-to-one match was to be made, it was crucial to gather intelligence first.
"Yes, this step is indeed very important. Currently, everyone's understanding of the new students is only through their personal profiles in the OAA System, and they don't really know what kind of person the student is."
After pondering for Ichinose Honami suddenly asked, "In order for all the students in our class to successfully form teams, could we organize a larger New and Old Student Exchange Meeting?"
"I think this is a great idea!"
As a pro at organizing group activities, Ando Sayo immediately understood what her friend meant and stood up to speak.
"We can apply for the right to use the Gymnasium and then invite first-year students to participate. This will not only allow them to get to know the students but also increase the chances of successfully forming a team."
"That's right, it's a great idea, and the funding for applying for Gymnasium shouldn't be too expensive; none of us in our class are short of money."
Upon hearing the proposal, the students in Class A responded enthusiastically.
After all, the first-grade classrooms are not on the same floor. If there is an opportunity for them to meet, it might help them get to know each other better.