Chapter 203 – Dong Mingming was itching to find out how the two did. (2)

Parted with Dong Mingming, Gu Xi found her own testing location.

What was surprising was that Gu Xi and Sheng Xiuyan both ended up in the same room, except that their spots were on both sides of the classroom.

The examinations began.

Scheduled for the morning of the first day was literature.

After receiving the examination, Gu Xi habitually looked through it from beginning to end. It was more or less the same difficulty as the one that she had done during her entrance examination, with the addition of some new knowledge.

The long essay was to write something from a picture. The type of writing was not limited.

The picture was one of a big family dining around a large round table. She could write about an incident of family gathering around over New Year or other festivals; she could write about the meaning of family or the meaning of festivals; or she could write about family and love in a family, etc. etc…….

That was not a difficult topic except that, in the past, Gu Xi might have to be very creative about it.

Now, when she saw a topic like this, she naturally thought about Gu Shao, her grandpa and the others.

She looked at the simple drawing for a few more seconds before she started the examination from the very beginning.

All the way until the very end, after Gu Xi had completed her essay, did she look at the extra credit question attached.

Normally speaking, only the mathematics examinations at HSAU would have extra credit question. This time, however, the literature paper have a 20 point extra credit question attached.

It was a translation of an ancient writing piece.*

Gu Xi looked over it in details. It was, obviously, a piece that she had never learned before but, applying her knowledge in ancient writing and combining them with the context, she should be able to give it an educated guess.

As this was Gu Xi’s first time taking a monthly examination at HSAU, she had no idea that this was not customary practice.

As such, when the others saw the question, they were distressed. “Extra credit” just translated into something that was above their current level. Not to mention that this one exceeded that by quite a bit.

Hearing the grumbling from the examination venue, the auditing teacher drummed on the desk and reminded them, “Silence! Focus on your examination!”

The extra credit problem wasn’t there for most of the students.

Even the teachers at school learned of the wager between the students on Gu Xi and Sheng Xiuyan taking first place. As such, a few of the teachers responsible for putting the examination together suggested to make it more fun by adding an extra difficult question at the end.

“Everybody already knows about Gu Xi and Sheng Xiuyan’s ability. The monthly examinations are of normal difficulty. If both of them score full marks, there won’t be a winner. As such, a more difficult problem at the very end will be perfect.”

Just that one line and they were able to convince the team lead responsible for putting together the questions and agreed to the suggestion of an extra credit question.

Not just literature. Even mathematics and English slotted for the same day as well as the minor subjects on the second day had a 20-point extra credit question attached.

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Translator’s notes:

Think Shakespearean English.