This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 85 Weekly Test
Before evening self-study began, the classroom was noisy.

After a day of rest, the students in the class were particularly energetic, and many boys were still chatting about the game they hadn't finished playing.

"Zihan, you're amazing! If that wave had come sooner, we would have turned the game around! I got five! Five!!"

"You guys wouldn't wait for me when I told you to, do you think I'm supposed to fly over and pick you up?"

"Watch the replay! I was watching you intently as you greedily pushed that wave of minions!"

"I've grown five years older! Five!"

"Alright, alright, let's record it and have it engraved on his epitaph..."

Chen Shi'an filled a new cup with water and stood aside, listening to their conversation with great interest.

At first, I thought they went to fight, but it turns out they went to raid. It's a pity he doesn't understand the game, but he found it quite amusing to see them red-faced and arguing about who should take the blame.

After getting water and returning to her seat, Lin Mengqiu was already sitting there. The pajamas she had worn in the afternoon had been replaced by her ever-present blue and white school uniform, and her expression had once again adopted that aloof and unapproachable demeanor.

The class monitor was very pleased to see Chen Shi'an using the new cup he had given him.

But when the class monitor saw the bag of physics, chemistry, and biology textbooks that Chen Shi'an had brought, he raised an eyebrow, clearly dissatisfied.

There was no need to ask him where the bag of books came from; Lin Mengqiu knew from the familiar handwriting on the pages that it was a gift from his incessantly chattering little cicada.

Why don't you just teach me English honestly? Why are you interfering with my science subjects?
The science section is so complex, how can you, a humanities student, possibly understand it?

There's no reason to take back what you've worked so hard to bring here.

With a thud, another heavy schoolbag landed on the desk in front of Chen Shi'an.

Chen Shi'an, who was drinking water, was stunned for a moment.

"Squad leader, what's this?"

"These are junior high school physics, biology, and chemistry textbooks that I brought for you."

"..."

Chen Shi'an put down his water glass, took out the books from his bag and opened them. Sure enough, they were the same textbooks that Wen Zhixia had just given him!

Apart from the two girls' handwriting and notes being different, the content on the textbook covers was exactly the same.

After all, Lin Mengqiu arrived at the classroom earlier than him, so this bag of textbooks must have been prepared in advance.

Although Xiaozhi had already given him the textbook, what reason did he have to refuse the textbook that the class monitor had also specially brought?
Should the squad leader take it home?
Should we let Xiaozhi take it home?

Chen Shi'an's mind raced, and just as Lin Mengqiu's expression was about to turn cold, he turned and smiled:
"Thank you, class monitor. I can take this set of textbooks home with me now."

"...Don't you never read at home? Why are you taking my books back to use as table legs?"

"No way, I'll just keep it in the classroom then."

"..."

You stinky Taoist priest! You really never intended to bring him home to see in the first place!

Under the girl's gaze, Chen Shi'an took out both sets of books and piled them on his desk.

Including the full set of high school textbooks he received at the beginning of the semester, plus the full set of junior high textbooks now, plus the huge pile of workbooks Lin Mengqiu brought him before, Chen Shi'an's desk is now quite overburdened. The desk is stuffed with books, and the tabletop is also piled with books. He can hardly see the back of the girl in front of him, Zheng Yining...

When Zheng Yining occasionally shook her head, her ponytail bumped into Chen Shi'an's books. She thought he was playing with her hair, but when she looked back, she saw the books behind her that were like a city wall.

"Chen Shi'an, you have so many books..."

"Fortunately."

"You could buy a book basket like we do, so you don't have to pile them up on the table."

"Okay, thank you for reminding me."

Just as Chen Shi'an was organizing the books and materials on his desk, Teacher Liang walked into the classroom and, with another thud, placed the bag she was carrying on his desk.

"Shi'an, I borrowed all the physics, chemistry and biology textbooks for you that I couldn't borrow last time. I'll borrow them all for you this week. You can use them for now."

"Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Liang. I've finally collected all the textbooks now, but I don't need them for the time being. Would you mind returning them to me?"

Seeing Chen Shi'an's hesitant refusal, and noticing the two sets of junior high school physics, chemistry, and biology textbooks on his desk, Teacher Liang chuckled:
"Alright, since you've borrowed it, Shi'an, I'll return it. Work hard!"

"Thank you, Teacher Liang."

It's all thanks to Teacher Liang's understanding nature.

The bell rang, and the weekly test began.

……

To assess students' recent learning progress, Yunqi No.1 Middle School holds weekly tests during evening self-study sessions.

The weekly tests are not as serious as the monthly tests. Students in each class take the tests at their own seats. In order to take into account the independent study time during evening self-study, only one subject is tested each night, and the six subjects are rotated every week.

The weekly tests are not ranked, but the answer sheets are submitted as usual for grading and scoring. They are then returned for classroom review as a way to identify and address any gaps in recent learning progress.

The first test was in Chinese.

Teacher Liang put the bag of textbooks that Chen Shi'an had refused back on the podium, took out a stack of Chinese language test papers from another bag, divided them into four sets, and put them in the first row of each group.

"Pass down the exam papers and answer sheets. If any are damaged or have printing problems, come to me for a replacement."

"The exam lasts two and a half hours. It's 6:30 now. We'll hand in our papers at 9:00 and then have a self-study session for the last period."

"Although it's just a weekly test, I hope everyone will take it seriously. It's okay to make mistakes. There's plenty of time for you to correct them and improve. Don't whisper to each other or cheat by looking up information in books. Let's begin."

The noisy atmosphere in the class gradually quieted down. After all, they were students in the top class, and most of them knew what to do at what time. After receiving the test paper, the classroom was soon filled only with the sound of scribbling.

As Chinese is our mother tongue, and Chinese language is a subject we've been exposed to since we started school, we've studied for so many years and done countless Chinese language tests, so it's really not new for most students. It's hard to get a high score, and it's hard to get a low score unless the essay is off-topic or you're sick and in a bad state.

Chen Shi'an and Lin Mengqiu also received their respective exam papers.

Lin Mengqiu was obviously much more efficient than Chen Shi'an. After getting the test paper, she flipped it over and glanced at the questions, then opened her pen and started writing quickly.

If we include the initial placement test when registering for school, this is Chen Shi'an's second time taking a Chinese language exam.

He still found it fascinating.

Unlike Lin Mengqiu, who was in a hurry to start writing, he first read through all the modern and classical Chinese reading passages on the Chinese language exam paper with great interest.

By the time he started preparing for the test, Lin Mengqiu had already done several questions.

Chen Shi'an glanced over.

The girl's handwriting was as beautiful as ever, delicate yet sharp, and she wrote very quickly. Unlike many students who chose to do the dictation questions first, she worked through the questions in order. The first section was reading comprehension, with questions including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and answer questions.

Because the article was quite long, she would often pause while writing, look back at the article content, and then write down her answer.

Perhaps noticing Chen Shi'an's gaze, Lin Mengqiu suddenly stopped writing, then spread her small hand to cover her answer, and turned her head to stare at him with a warning look.

Chen Shi'an: "..."

what do you mean.

You suspect I peeked at your answers?!
For the second question in the first reading passage, the answer was clearly C! Three points are deducted from your score!

Chen Shi'an stopped looking at her and finally picked up his pen to write.

He had already read the passages on the exam paper. With his memory, he didn't need to do what Lin Mengqiu or other students did—skim through the passages first and then go back to compare the key points while answering the questions—to balance reading speed and accuracy. Chen Shi'an only read the passages once, and then quickly started writing the questions without glancing at the passages again.

During the initial placement test, he answered using traditional Chinese characters and classical Chinese. Now, after attending a few days of Chinese classes and learning many test-taking techniques, he has begun to standardize his answers according to the established criteria.

It's just that I'm still not used to writing in this kind of framework.

Chen Shi'an could answer reading comprehension questions about literary texts with ease, but he struggled with informational texts, such as scientific and technological explanatory texts, social science academic papers, and news commentaries.

Chen Shi'an has read a lot of classical Chinese texts and has no problem with reading comprehension, but he has read too few modern texts and informational texts, which causes some obstacles when answering questions.

With the development of the times, Chinese language education is no longer just about testing students' literary cultivation, but also about their practical application of words.

Chen Shi'an felt that he did so-so on the information-based text reading comprehension questions, which he was still somewhat unfamiliar with, and he couldn't say he was satisfied. It seems that he needs to strengthen his Chinese language skills.

The most comfortable and easy thing for me is reading classical Chinese and poetry.

Perhaps it was the sound of Chen Shi'an's smooth pen strokes as he wrote his answer that attracted Lin Mengqiu's attention.

While she was working on classical Chinese reading comprehension questions, she quietly turned her head and glanced at Chen Shi'an's test paper.

Swah——

Chen Shi'an opened his palm and covered the answer.

Lin Mengqiu: "???"

Who cares about your answers! I just wanted to see how far you'd gotten!

Narcissist! One point deducted!
……

The exam time went by very quickly.

With more than seventy minutes left before the end of the exam, Chen Shi'an began writing his essay.

When he picked up the composition paper, Lin Mengqiu was startled. She looked up at the time and then breathed a sigh of relief.

You did that way way too fast!
Lin Mengqiu prides herself on being a fast test-taker. She usually sets aside an hour for writing essays, and after finishing, she still has at least ten minutes left to check them. Of course, she can be faster if she wants, but exams aren't about who's the fastest. Having an hour left for writing essays is a comfortable pace for her.

With half the exam time remaining, Chen Shi'an began writing her essay at a speed she hadn't expected.

However, Chen Shi'an was clearly stuck on his essay again. He spread out the paper but didn't start writing.

The topic is a writing assignment based on provided materials.

[…What associations and thoughts did the above material evoke in you? Please write an essay of no less than 800 words.]
However, Lin Mengqiu was wrong. Chen Shi'an was not stuck on the composition itself, but was hesitating whether to write in classical Chinese or in the most common modern style.

Since it was just an unimportant weekly test, Chen Shi'an thought for a while and decided to train his modern writing skills.

Argumentative, narrative, letter-style, prose, and speech formats are all common writing styles for high school essays.

Chen Shi'an had been learning about it these past few days, but hadn't had any specific training yet. After thinking about it, and considering the content of the material, he chose a suitable argumentative style and decided to write an argumentative essay!
Although he wrote an argumentative essay, he did not use the common framework and template format such as "understanding the topic and establishing the theme → structural logic → deepening the argument" or "general-specific-general" like most students.

Instead, he spoke freely, like a scholar reciting scriptures, and debated at length for over eight hundred words.

Chen Shi'an has good writing skills, but he hasn't read or written much modern Chinese literature, and he's not satisfied with his own work. He doesn't know how many points this argumentative essay, which doesn't quite fit the format, will get...

When he stopped writing, he was still faster than Lin Mengqiu in completing the entire answer process.

There are fifteen minutes left until the end of the weekly Chinese test.

As the test was nearing its end, Teacher Liang, whose bottom was numb from sitting on the podium, came down and walked around to check on everyone's answers.

Finally, standing next to Chen Shi'an's seat, I picked up his completed exam paper and examined it for a long time.

Teacher Liang didn't say anything, but his old face clearly showed satisfaction.

No one knew better than him how Chen Shi'an answered the questions on that Chinese language test during the preliminary assessment.

It's not that he answered poorly; it's just that his answer didn't meet the scoring criteria.

After just a few days of improvements, he was finally able to give marks on this test.

Excluding the 60-point essay, he glanced at it briefly and estimated it would get him around 75 points.

Not counting the essay, getting 75 points is a pretty good score.

Let's take another look at the essay...

Well.

It's not as impressive as his previous classical Chinese writings.

Although it is an argumentative essay in terms of style, the format is not quite right. However, the content is quite good and the writing is very smooth. I would give it 48 points.

By this calculation, Chen Shi'an's Chinese score is over 120, which is considered to be at the average level of the top class.

If it were any other student, Teacher Liang would think it was perfectly reasonable.

But you should know that Chen Shi'an had never been to school before!
With her self-taught literary skills and a few days of standardized test-taking practice, she was able to get a score of over 120. Teacher Liang really thinks that's amazing!
Hehe, thankfully Chen Shi'an didn't miss Chinese. Teacher Zhang and Teacher Ye, good luck to you...

Teacher Liang put down Chen Shi'an's test paper, suppressing her satisfaction, patted him on the shoulder, and whispered:

"Shi'an did a great job, you've made great progress, keep it up!"

"it is good."

Hearing the conversation between the two, Lin Mengqiu couldn't help but glance over at them a couple of times.

Chen Shi'an quickly folded the paper over to cover it up.

Lin Mengqiu was so angry she wanted to bite her teeth.

Who cares to watch this?!
(End of this chapter)