Chapter 699: Shocked examinees!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
That night.
In the dorm.
Zhang Ye opened the game ring and bought a "Memory Search Capsule." After eating it, he started recalling his previous world's memories of the college entrance exam questions. He could still clearly remember many of the wondrous questions he had come across before but had also forgotten a lot of them, so he could only rely on the Memory Search Capsule to remember them.
One capsule was not enough.
Then he used some more Reputation Points to buy another three capsules and gulped them all down in one go.
Zhang Ye's goals were not just purely limited to his previous world's past college entrance exam questions. Many of the questions used by Tsinghua and Peking University for their student admissions and other kinds of extremely difficult questions were brought up within Zhang Ye's memory. He expanded his coverage on the quantity of questions so that he could make the questions better.
An hour.
Two hours.
Zhang Ye kept the lights on and worked nonstop.
"Eh, this question is pretty good!"
"Haha, this question must be used!"
"This question is fine too, let me shortlist this first!"
"F**k, this question will definitely get me some scoldings! Hehe, but it has to be this! What Dean Pan said was right. Other people might be afraid of being scolded but does this bro seem scared of being scolded?"
He progressed very quickly and efficiently. In the process of setting the questions, this guy would even laugh evilly sometimes. Without a doubt, he must have come up with some extremely tough questions!
……
Meanwhile.
Each province's, municipality's, and autonomous region's higher education entrance examination boards were also busy with the setting of their college entrance exam questions. Some of the provinces had already finished their papers while others were still finishing up theirs.
There were a lot of discussions online.
On Weibo and some of the forums, all sorts of discussions were going on. It was always like this on a daily basis; some people would discuss makeup products, some would gossip about celebrities, and some were still dwelling on the surprise of the success of The Voice of China. Of course, there were also numerous examinees, their parents, and members of the public fervently discussing this year's national college entrance examination. As the college entrance exam's date neared with each passing day, the news regarding the college entrance exam of each province was also getting increasingly popular.
"It's time for the annual college entrance exam again."
"Ai, my child is going to take the exam soon but I wonder if he can score well enough to pass!"
"That's right, it's only a few days away."
"Who will oversee the setting of the questions in Shanghai this time? The questions for the History exam last year were all rather difficult."
"Our Greater Jiangsu Science exam questions last year were also quite difficult. It will be my turn this year to take the college entrance exam. I hope that Greater Jiangsu won't try too hard and just give some easy questions. I'm begging for easier questions!" [1.]
"The people of Jinshi express their great stress!"
"The people of Jiangnan Province cannot help but laugh. Who's saying that their stress is greater than ours? Last year, our college entrance exam questions were evaluated as the most difficult in the entire country. No one in the entire province got full marks in any of the Mathematics, Chinese Literature, Arts, and Science sections. Even the top student had points deducted!"
"Our Liaodong Province had questions that weren't simple too."
"Haha, as the greatest, I have absolutely no stress!"
"Pfft, your Beijing exams are always so simple every year!"
"That's right. I've attempted three of Beijing's exams and could achieve tier 1 scores. But when I attempted the other provinces' exams, I could only achieve tier 2 scores. Don't you think there's too big a difference in difficulty?!"
"You people from Beijing are too fortunate!"
"F**k, I could do the Beijing exams when I was in my second year of high school!"
"They are all college entrance exams but why is there such a stark difference in difficulty?!"
"I despise your Beijing college entrance exams!"
……
A certain Weibo trending topic.
The topic regarding this year's Beijing exams had appeared on Weibo for discussion. The people who joined the discussion were the examinees in Beijing and their parents.
"I hope that this year will even be slightly easier."
"Actually, it's pointless to be any easier. If the subjects are easy and everyone can get high scores, it will just result in a higher cutoff entry to college. It will be the same outcome in the end."
"There will be surely some difference, the easier the better!"
"Right, but I hope that the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board will maintain their style and inherit the fine tradition of the Beijing college entrance exam difficulty. I will give a Like to all of you if the papers are strictly set with a very, very, very, simple line of thought to the questions!"
"Ha, it shouldn't be too easy, otherwise it won't be challenging at all!"
"Agreed, it's meaningless if it's too simple."
Beijing's examinees obviously had less stress compared to other provinces' students as the conversations showed. Some of the examinees were happily chatting with extremely relaxed manners. Others were positively cocky, bragging that they wished the college entrance exams would be more difficult, or else it would not be a challenge to them.
"The question setters are still the same old batch of people this time? Wasn't there some news released earlier?"
"Yes, I saw it too."
Someone immediately posted a screenshot of the roster online.
"That's right, it's this one."
"It's the same teams as last year!"
"Yu Fan was the chief of the Chinese Literature question setting team. He normally sets essay and short answer questions. It's always more or less the same thing every year with nothing new to expect."
"I also know that Teacher Liao Qi from the Chinese Literature team was present on last year's team as well. His questions were pretty easy as they were basically as good as gimme questions."
"The Chinese team added Teacher Su Na from Peking University's Chinese Department? And she's even a young teacher? Her standard should be somewhat limited then, I don't think she will be able to set any difficult questions."
"Right."
"It's the same teachers for the Science exam section as well."
"The Mathematics team is also comprised of the same old teachers. When I saw these familiar question setters' names, I suddenly had an unprecedented confidence for this year's college entrance exam! Hahaha!"
Suddenly, just as these examinees and parents were discussing the exam restfully, a piece of news appeared online out of nowhere.
"Latest news from the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board: This year's lead question setter for the Beijing Mathematics exam section has been changed to Associate Professor Zhang Ye from Peking University's School of Mathematical Sciences!"
When this news report was published, the entire batch of Beijing college entrance examinees were stunned!
Many of these examinees and parents who were arrogant earlier were now at a loss for words.
"Holy shit!"
"Your sister!"
"F**k your second granny!"
"Zhang Ye is setting the questions? How can that be?!"
"You can't do things like that!"
"That's such a d*ck move! What are they trying to achieve with that! Are they even leaving us a path to retreat?! Of all people, why did you people find Zhang Ye?!"
"I'm stunned!"
"Heavens! I have a bad feeling about this!"
"Me too, why am I getting the shivers!?"
"Zhang Ye…Zhang Ye…"
"It's over! It's going to suck!"
"That Teacher Zhang never does things predictably! Let him set the questions? Then do we still have a chance of survival?"
After many of the examinees from the other provinces saw the news released by the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board, they all gathered to this discussion board. People from Beijing were sarcastic to begin with. Due to their past year exams always being so simple and having little to worry about, the examinees from Beijing were bragging and stepping on people everywhere, enraging the masses. But upon hearing that Zhang Ye was going to be the Beijing question setter for the Mathematics section, the examinees from other provinces all came in laughing and observing the fallout!
"Serves them right!"
"Hahahaha! I'm dying of laughter!"
"Pride goes before the fall! This is what it means to suffer after ultimate joy!"
"With Zhang Ye setting the questions, there will be lots for you guys to suffer with!"
"Hehe, he is one of the few world-class mathematicians in China! Zhang Ye is such a wondrous and wicked fellow, so the questions he'll set definitely won't be any good for you!"
"The people of Jiangsu send their condolences to the Beijing examinees. You're on your own! Good luck!"
"The people of Jiangnan send their condolences to the brothers and sisters of Beijing. Everyone, take care!"
At this moment, there were still some confused examinees and parents from Beijing who did not normally pay attention to the news online. They asked with doubt: "Although Zhang Ye is one of the top mathematicians in the country, the questions he set might not necessarily be difficult and could even be very simple instead. Aren't you people overthinking it? Everyone is just scaring themselves maybe?"
The next moment, someone posted the elementary math questions that were leaked from the time when Zhang Ye presented them at Beijing's Experimental Primary School.
The questions were: Follow the rhythm and write out the multiplication formula (a set of onomatopoeic words):
1: Ding Ding Ding, Ding Ding Ding;
2: Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah;
3: Wu Wu Wu, Wu Wu Wu;
4: Miao Miao, Miao Miao, Miao Miao.
Following that, another set of elementary math questions which were posted by Zhang Ye when he held "Zhang Ye's Classroom" on Weibo previously were all screenshotted and posted one by one.
After that, those examinees and parents who did not know about it earlier all fainted at once!
"Holy sh*t!"
"What kinds of questions are those?!"
"Elementary math questions? Elementary your sister!"
"This is too damn difficult!"
"These elementary questions are already so difficult? If Zhang Ye were to set the college entrance exam questions, wouldn't it be insane? Who would be able to answer them? Oh my dear lord! Does the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board need to be so aggressive?!"
"Zhang Ye, cursing your great grandpa!"
"I want to cry! What to do?"
"Why did I have to be taking this year's college entrance exam?! If I knew it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have f**king repeated my studies last year! I would have just gone to study at a third-tier college and be counting my blessings now!"
"Back then, someone mentioned on Weibo what it would be like if Zhang Ye became the question setter for the college entrance exam. But who could have expected this to be a f**king prophecy that came true! Our cursed mouths! Pui! Pui!"
"That's right, it actually turned out to be real!"
"The gods are out to destroy me! My math has never been good!"
"Teacher Zhang, I'm your hardcore fan. Please don't come to Beijing to set the questions, go be a scourge to the examinees of the other provinces or autonomous regions instead! I beg of you!"
Among them, some straight-A students of Beijing remained fearless.
Some of the straight-A students left their comments on Weibo.
"It's not such a big deal. They're just questions made by Zhang Ye. How different can they be!"
"I'm pretty good at math, so no matter who sets the questions, I'm still confident."
"I also don't have any stress as long as the Chinese Literature exam section remains easy."
"Yes, the Chinese Literature exam questions are key. It doesn't matter whether the Mathematics exam questions are difficult or not, those will still be a breeze for me."
Usually, people who excelled in math would only receive average marks in their Chinese Literature results. That was the reason why they felt that even if the Mathematics exam questions were more difficult, it was a good thing for them as it would help mark a distinct difference between them and the weaker students, which was advantageous to the straight-A students. All they wanted was for the Chinese Literature exam section to be easy.
However, just a few seconds after these straight As student had happily posted their thoughts online, another piece of news appeared on Weibo!
"Latest news from the Beijing college entrance examination's question setting team: The latest update confirms that Zhang Ye has also joined this year's Beijing Chinese Literature exam question setting team and will likely be responsible for creating the short answer questions. It is understood that this is the first time in history that a person will be handling the question setting in both the Mathematics and Chinese Literature teams concurrently! "
Upon reading this news, those straight-A students from Beijing were totally stunned!
"What the f**k!"
"Holy shit, Zhang Ye is also setting the Chinese Literature exam questions?"
"Goddammit!"
Those straight-A students who were typically honest and obedient model students couldn't help but swear when they saw this. They were all shocked by the news update!
[1. Comprises the Jiangsu and Shanghai Provinces]