The Reincarnated Science Whiz

Chapter 30: The College Entrance Exam Approaches

“What did you say!?” Qin Yuanqing cried out in surprise, staring in shock at the grade-level coordinator—a female teacher who, though a woman, was every bit as capable as her male counterparts and ranked among the top three most renowned female teachers at the school. “Qin Yuanqing, with only one month left until the college entrance exam, I hope you can set aside some time to go to the experimental class to go over some problems and share your study methods.” The grade-level director adopted a very humble tone. There was no other way—when asking someone for a favor, one had to adopt a humble attitude. This time, the Experimental Class had lost half of its students ranked in the school’s top fifty, and three spots in the top twenty had also slipped away. Aside from Qin Yuanqing, only Lin Yuling and a boy from the neighboring class had made it into the top twenty. This instilled a profound sense of crisis in the year-level director. In previous years, the Experimental Class had firmly dominated the top fifty, with at most two or three students being pushed out of the top fifty. Now, however, more than half had been displaced—this was simply unacceptable! The grade-level director also served as the homeroom teacher for the experimental class. “Year-level Director, if I go to teach in the Experimental Class, the students won’t even let me get a word in,” Qin Yuanqing said with a wry smile. That group was made up of the school’s elite—they were incredibly arrogant. “If those little brats dare give you a hard time, I’ll skin them alive,” the year-level director said imperiously. “Qin Yuanqing, you’re the pride of our school. I’m sure you also hope everyone will do better on this year’s college entrance exam!” Qin Yuanqing thought for a moment, then nodded: “Alright, I’ll give it a try, but if the students don’t welcome me, I’m out.” Seeing that Qin Yuanqing had agreed, the Year Level Director immediately broke into a smile. That day, Qin Yuanqing walked into the experimental class with a nervous heart. While other classes had sixty or seventy students, the experimental class had only fifty, so the classroom didn’t feel quite as crowded. “Classmates, let’s give a warm round of applause to Qin Yuanqing!” The grade-level director stood at the back of the classroom and addressed the students after Qin Yuanqing reached the podium. Clap, clap! Instantly, enthusiastic applause filled the classroom. Qin Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief; if the atmosphere had been awkward, that would have been truly embarrassing. Qin Yuanqing gave a slight nod to a few classmates he recognized, then addressed the group: “Hello, everyone. I’m very happy to be here in our experimental class to share some thoughts. With only 30 days left until the college entrance exam, let’s ask ourselves: how far are we from the universities of our dreams?” “I imagine that, aside from Chen Hong, none of you are 100 percent certain, right?” Qin Yuanqing said with a smile. His gaze then lingered briefly on the petite, slender girl in the front row. Before the monthly exam, she had received an acceptance letter from the University of California, Berkeley, causing a sensation throughout the school—though the buzz didn’t last long before it was overshadowed by Qin Yuanqing’s IMO gold medal. The University of California, Berkeley, located in Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a world-renowned public research university that enjoys a prestigious reputation in academic circles. It ranks among the world’s top public universities, with programs in physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, economics, and many other fields consistently ranked in the world’s top ten. Together with Stanford University in the South Bay of San Francisco, it forms the academic Center of the United States West. At the University of California, Berkeley, the university ranks third in the world for Nobel laureates, fourth for Fields Medalists, and third for Turing Award winners. Qin Yuanqing wrote a problem directly on the blackboard. It was a comprehensive problem with five sub-questions that spanned geometry, algebra, and functions. Qin Yuanqing gave them half an hour to work on it, after which he began to walk them through the solution. Since they were all students, he decided to engage them through an exchange of knowledge. Qin Yuanqing intended to give everyone a taste of his prowess, so he chose a problem of considerable difficulty—apart from the first and second parts, the difficulty of each subsequent part gradually increased. Sure enough, when the 30 minutes were up and Qin Yuanqing asked if anyone had answered all five parts, not a single hand went up. When he asked if anyone had answered the fourth part, only two hands went up. When he asked if anyone had answered the third part, barely half the class raised their hands. Qin Yuanqing first read the problem aloud, highlighting the given conditions and the relevant concepts. Then, starting with the first sub-question, he converted the text into a diagram, labeling the elements corresponding to the given conditions, and solved the first sub-question using the Pythagorean theorem and trigonometric functions. For the second sub-question, building on the first, he drew an auxiliary line, marked the moving point, and applied the principle that the perpendicular line in a triangle is the shortest. He let the unknown side be x, ultimately converting it into a quadratic equation to find the area of the triangle. Throughout the problem-solving process, other relevant concepts were integrated, and sometimes a second method of solution was even presented. The final part of the problem required strong inductive reasoning; without it, the proof would be impossible. As expected, no one in the entire experimental class was able to solve it. Using this problem as a starting point for discussion, Qin Yuanqing quickly established himself and gradually began to feel less of a sense of alienation. This routine continued until June 1, less than a week before the college entrance exam. On that day, the homeroom teacher walked into the classroom, beaming with joy, and said to everyone, “Class, I have some good news: today I’ve brought Qin Yuanqing’s acceptance letter!” “An acceptance letter!?” Everyone was stunned. They’d all heard that Qin Yuanqing, having previously competed in the CMO and IMO, had repeatedly turned down offers from prestigious universities like Shuimu University and Yan Da University. As a result, he hadn’t received any of the so-called special admissions or guaranteed spots—so how did he suddenly end up with an acceptance letter? “Teacher Chen, did I hear that right?” Qin Yuanqing scratched his ear, thinking he must have misheard. This had to be a joke—he hadn’t signed a contract with any university, so naturally, he wouldn’t have an acceptance letter. The homeroom teacher took a stack of papers out of his briefcase and laid them out in a row on the blackboard—there were twenty admission letters. A student sitting in the middle of the front row gasped, “This is an acceptance letter from Shuimu University, this one from Yan Da University, and this one from Fudan University…” Instantly, the entire class was stunned. The top twenty universities in the country had all sent Qin Yuanqing admission letters—and it was clear he had no idea. Instantly, they all looked at Qin Yuanqing with a mix of envy and jealousy. Just look at that! That’s the difference! They were facing immense pressure from the college entrance exams, yet Qin Yuanqing had actually received acceptance letters from all twenty of the nation’s top-ranked universities even before taking the exams! The kicker is that Qin Yuanqing hadn’t even known about it himself. It’s just… so infuriating! Qin Yuanqing shook his head nonchalantly. Aside from Chinese, where he still had a bit of room for improvement, he’d already achieved a Level 10 in every other subject—making him virtually unbeatable in high school. He didn’t need these early admission letters; as long as he performed to his full potential on the college entrance exam, he’d be free to choose any of these universities at his leisure. Still, Qin Yuanqing put the acceptance letters away—even if he didn’t need them, he could keep them as mementos. As for the class president, though he was envious, he hadn’t forgotten today’s events. With the college entrance exam drawing nearer, everyone had started compiling contact lists and setting up QQ groups to stay in touch after graduation. In reality, though, after graduation, almost no one would ever use the contact lists again, and the QQ groups would mostly be inactive—with perhaps only a handful of messages exchanged all year. Still, at that moment, everyone took it very seriously—some even wrote messages to their classmates. A few of the boys, blushing, secretly jotted down things they wanted to say but didn’t dare voice aloud. With the college entrance exam less than a week away, the school has slightly loosened its strict rules. In two days, the entire school will undergo a major cleanup, after which the campus will be sealed off and classes will cease. So for these past two days, teachers haven’t interfered with students’ preparations; instead, they’ve focused on repeatedly reminding everyone to keep their ID cards and exam admission tickets safe, to eat well and stay well-nourished, and to take care of their health. If you were to fall ill or get seriously sick at this point, it would be disastrous. Qin Yuanqing was lucky—he was assigned to an exam site at the nearby Daozhou Middle School, which was within walking distance. Unlike some of his classmates, who had to take a motorcycle taxi to get there. It’s still relatively convenient since the exam is in the same county; many students have to travel from their towns to the county seat to take the exams. The college entrance exam period is also the busiest time of year for hotels, inns, and restaurants in the county seat. Parents, hoping their children will do well on the exams, come directly to the exam site to support them and stay in hotels. Parents’ love for their children knows no bounds—they truly give everything they have for their kids. Qin Yuanqing knew that many parents even stopped working altogether, living right next to the school and cooking for their children every day, just hoping they’d eat well. They don’t know if this approach works; they’re simply doing what they believe is best for their children.