A perfect score on the college entrance exam? The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng has astonis

On the eve of the results being announced, the entire marking building was brightly lit.

This was no ordinary night.

The marking of the college entrance examination papers has been completed, and the scores for all subjects have been entered into the system.

It went through three rounds of cross-checking.

As is customary.

Before the results are officially made available to candidates, the provincial education examination authorities will first internally review the list of the top 200 candidates in the province.

Ensure there are no obvious anomalies—for example, a student's score in one subject is ridiculously high while their scores in others are pitifully low.

Or there may be a statistical bias in the distribution of scores in a certain region.

This is a routine procedure.

The person responsible for compiling the provincial rankings is Zhou Mingyuan, deputy section chief of the College Entrance Examination Section of the Provincial Education Examination Authority.

He's in his early forties and has been in this line of work for almost twenty years.

He had seen all sorts of data—there was a score of 697, the highest in the province, and another score of 680. Occasionally, someone would appear with a score of 701, and the whole office would be in an uproar for half a day.

But today, when he opened the final rankings table, he thought his computer was infected with a virus.

The Excel spreadsheet on the screen has the following data in the first row:

Rank: 1

Name: Chen Mo

School: XX City No. 1 Middle School

Chinese: 150

Mathematics: 150

Foreign Language: 150

Combined Science: 300

Total score: 750

Zhou Mingyuan stared at the number "750" for a full ten seconds.

Then he took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with a glasses cloth, and put them back on.

It's still 750.

He refreshed the page.

It's still 750.

He closed the spreadsheet and exported a new one from the system.

It's still 750.

Zhou Mingyuan's finger hovered above the mouse, motionless.

He felt as if something was stuck in his brain.

It wasn't shock, but a more primal reaction: rejection.

The total score for the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) is 750 points.

The exam is set nationwide, and in the past thirty years, no one has ever gotten a perfect score.

there has never been.

The highest score in history is 748 points—that was a top science student twelve years ago who lost 2 points in math.

Going further back, there were 744, 741, 739... the concept of a perfect score.

It has always existed only in theory, just like absolute zero in physics—it can be approached infinitely, but can never be reached.

To get a perfect score, you can't afford to lose a single point in any subject.

You need to get full marks on your Chinese composition.

There can be no controversy regarding reading comprehension.

Every step of the last big math problem must be perfect.

There should be no spelling errors in an English essay.

The experimental design questions in the science comprehensive exam must fully meet every scoring point of the standard answer key.

This is almost impossible.

It's not "difficult", it's "almost impossible".

Because the college entrance examination papers are graded by people, not by machines.

Human judgment is prone to error and subjectivity.

Especially the Chinese composition—out of 60 points.

Historically, scoring 58 points or higher is extremely rare, and 60 points is even rarer than a giant panda.

Now, the system tells him that there is a candidate who scored 150 points in Chinese.

This means that the essay received a perfect score.

I got full marks in reading comprehension.

He received full marks for his use of language and writing.

I got full marks on every subjective question.

Zhou Mingyuan stood up, pushing the chair back half a meter, the wheels making a screeching sound on the floor.

The other people in the office looked up at him.

"Old Zhou, what's wrong?" asked the colleague at the opposite workstation.

Zhou Mingyuan did not answer.

He picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"Hello, is this the Technology Department? This is Zhou Mingyuan from the College Entrance Examination Department. Could you check if there's a problem with the ranking system data? Yes, the final ranking table. I see the first place score is 750... Yes, 750. Could you verify the original database for me?"

He hung up the phone, stood in front of his desk, placed his hands on the table, and took a deep breath.

impossible.

There must be a bug in the system.

The technical department called back quickly—the phone rang three minutes later.

"Section Chief Zhou, we've checked. The data in the original database is completely consistent with the ranking table, with no anomalies. All six of the candidates' scores were full marks, and the raw scores for each subject have undergone at least two rounds of review. We found no data entry errors or calculation errors."

Zhou Mingyuan's hands trembled slightly.

Are you sure?

"Absolutely certain. We've reviewed the raw score sheets for every subject—Chinese: full marks on the objective questions of Paper I, full marks on the subjective questions of Paper II, and full marks on the composition. Mathematics: full marks on the entire paper. Foreign Language: full marks on the entire paper. Science: full marks on the entire paper."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and the technician's voice held a hint of disbelief.

"Section Chief Zhou, this result... is real."

Zhou Mingyuan put down the phone and sat down in the chair.

His brain finally started working—not rejecting, but accepting.

But acceptance brought not peace, but a tremendous shock.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number of the Dean of the Examination Yuan.

"Dean, something terrible has happened."

Half an hour later.

The small conference room of the examination hall was full of people.

The dean personally oversaw the event, and the vice dean, the head of the college entrance examination department, the head of the technology department, and the head of the marking team were all present.

Chen Mo's report card was projected onto the whiteboard in the conference room.

Those three numbers—"750"—looked particularly glaring when magnified by the projector.

"Let me confirm this again."

The dean was a woman in her fifties surnamed Fang. She was decisive and efficient in her work and spoke crisply and clearly.

"Have the raw scores for all subjects been verified?"

"It has been verified."

The head of the technical department stood up.

"We retrieved the original scanned copies, marking records, and score compilation logs for each subject. All the data matched, and there were no technical issues."

"What about the subjective questions?"

Dean Fang turned to the head of the marking team.

"Especially the Chinese composition, who grades it?"

The head of the marking team was a man in his early fifties.

His surname is Liu.

His expression was very subtle at that moment—a mixture of pride and fear.

"Chinese composition,"

General Manager Liu cleared his throat.

"It was Professor Xu Mingyuan who made the final decision. Full marks."

"Xu Mingyuan?"

Dean Fang raised an eyebrow slightly.

She certainly knew who Xu Mingyuan was—a professor at the School of Literature of the Provincial Normal University, an authority on classical literature, known for his rigor and even harshness.

His perfect score is more convincing than anyone else's.

"Where's the original essay? Let me take a look."

Mr. Liu, the person in charge, handed over a stack of printed A4 papers.

Dean Fang took it and looked down at it.

The meeting room was quiet for about two minutes.

After reading it, Dean Fang placed the paper on the table and remained silent for a long time.

"This article..."

She carefully considered her words, "It truly deserves full marks."

She handed the paper to the vice president next to her, and then turned to General Manager Liu.

"What about the other subjects? Perfect scores in math, foreign language, and combined science—have those been confirmed as well?"

"I've already asked the math grading team."

"That's what General Manager Liu said."

"The head of the math grading team said that this was the most perfect science paper he had ever seen. Only three people in the entire province had solved the third part of the last big question, and Chen Mo's solution was even more concise than the standard answer. After internal discussion, the grading team unanimously agreed that it should be given full marks."

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