The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"Is there too many errors in the mimeographed version? Can I take a look first?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shi'an immediately understood and suggested that he take a look first.

Mimeographed books are generally handwritten copies made by cutting wax by hand and then printing them using a roller. They are low-cost and inexpensive.

Letterpress printing, on the other hand, is a method used by formal publishing houses for typesetting with lead type and printing by machine. It is costly and expensive.

He originally wanted to just get a set of printed exam papers, since it concerned his future and he couldn't skimp on this little bit of money.

However, considering the original owner's extremely frugal nature, it felt inappropriate. Buying the mimeographed version was more in line with the character's personality. If the mimeographed exam papers had too many errors, there would be a reason to switch to letterpress printing.

"Okay, wait a moment!"

When the shop assistant Li Jun saw that the student in front of him was so young and wanted to buy college entrance exam papers, he figured that his grades must be pretty good, so he readily agreed.

He immediately took the wooden ladder, went to the bookshelf, opened the glass cabinet door, and climbed the ladder to take out two thin booklets from the top shelf and handed them to Zhao Shi'an.

"This was originally a college entrance exam question from the year before last; this is from last year!"

"Thank you! Let me take a look!"

Zhao Shi'an thanked him and took the two booklets to read.

The booklet was very thin, and there were no words on the spine. No wonder I couldn't find it even after searching several times.

"No rush, take your time looking at it. There aren't many people today! If you're going to copy the questions, try to find a place that won't be in the way!"

Li Jun lowered his voice and reminded him, judging from the student's clothes that he was in poor condition, and assumed he was just one of many students copying books.

"Thank you! I won't cause you any trouble!"

Zhao Shi'an thanked him and began to read.

The clerk's words reminded him of many students who, in order to save money, would come to the bookstore to read books under the guise of buying them, but would only buy them without reading them. Instead, they would take out their own paper and pens and copy down various test questions and review materials. After copying them down, they would exchange them with their classmates to piece together a complete set of review materials or test questions.

Clearly, the shop assistant was used to this behavior and assumed he was one of them, only reminding him not to bother others.

"No trouble at all, you do your thing! Just let me know if you need anything!"

Li Jun waved his hand and returned to his post.

Zhao Shi'an thanked him again, and then began to read carefully.

The booklets are small, typically in 32mo format, and each booklet contains a complete set of exam papers.

Zhao Shi'an first looked at the 52 college entrance examination paper, which was the first unified examination after the college entrance examination reform.

The entire country uses the same exam paper, and the exam time is unified. The country is divided into six major exam areas: North China, Northeast China, East China, Central and Southern China, Southwest China, and Northwest China.

Perhaps due to the recent reforms, the college entrance examination in 52 was very simple.

For example, the first question in the college entrance examination in mathematics is factorization: x^4 - y^4.

By directly applying the formula (a+b)(ab)=a^2-b^2, we can obtain (xy)(x+y)(x^2+y^2).

There was also a question about Zu Chongzhi's pi. When Zhao Shi'an saw this question, he thought it was a history test. When he was studying, he was required to memorize pi to nine decimal places.

History books teach that Zu Chongzhi was accurate to the seventh decimal place as early as the fifth century AD, more than a thousand years earlier than Europe.

However, this question requires expressing it as a fraction, which necessitates simplifying the decimal into fractions, making the calculations more complex. It's not difficult in itself, but it's easy to make mistakes.

Then there are some questions about formulas, such as: how many times is the area of ​​a sphere the area of ​​the largest circle?

In short, the test was very basic. For Zhao Shi'an, the more troublesome part was the calculation of third-order determinants. When he was in school, this kind of knowledge was not covered much, and it was not often tested in exams. He did not expect it to be tested in this era.

Overall, the 52 college entrance examination in mathematics did not include multiple-choice questions; it mainly consisted of fill-in-the-blank and problem-solving questions.

There were more calculation problems last year, and the problems were more difficult than those in 52.

Physics questions are mostly short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and true/false questions, testing the same basic concepts. For example, what is the speed of light in a vacuum? What is the voltage in a household?

Chemistry questions consisted of labeling valences, balancing chemical equations, short answer questions, and a few calculation questions. The questions were still simple, such as what is the most abundant element in the air?

Ironically, the most difficult subjects, organic chemistry and polymer materials, were not tested.

As for biology, it's even simpler; just memorize the content in the textbook and you won't get below 80 points.

It's worth mentioning that the current college entrance examination has a total score of 800 points, with each subject having a maximum score of 100 points. Unlike the modern college entrance examination, where the scores for each subject are different, and there is no distinction between arts and sciences, the same test is used for all subjects.

The biology question required drawing a diagram of the body's circulatory system, marking the major organs and the direction of blood flow.

A modern junior high school student could pass the college entrance exam by taking this kind of test.

No wonder the college entrance examination pass rate reached an astonishing 91% in 52; the questions were simply too easy.

Although the college admission rate last year was only 77%, this is the national average admission rate.

If the poor and the rich are averaged out, the poor are still rich. Can the college admission rate in Northwest China be the same as that in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou?

If we only consider major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the acceptance rate is at least 90%.

University graduates in this era sound impressive, but upon closer inspection, they are actually quite unremarkable, comparable to so-called "watered-down" master's degrees!

Of course, many well-known figures emerged during this period, most of whom were university students. For example, Yuan Longping, who had just graduated, and his classmate Wu Mingzhu, who cultivated the 8424 watermelon! In addition, there were Chen Jingrun and Tu Youyou, among others.

Considering the era in which this question was asked, it's understandable.

People who were able to take the college entrance examination in the early days of the People's Republic of China, or even before the college entrance examination reform, were already from well-off families!

With an illiteracy rate as high as 80%, the college entrance examination in this era was different from that in modern times. As long as the grades were not too bad, one could pass the exam with ease. The quality of grades did not affect going to university, but only the choice of university.

Modern students would have been envious and jealous long ago.

After a moment of reflection, Zhao Shi'an picked up the booklet and flipped through it again. He found that although the mimeographed version had blurry text and printing problems, the impact was not significant. He could still make out the gist of it by guessing from the context.

His purpose in buying the college entrance examination questions was to understand the college entrance examination of this era, and also to prove to his teachers that he had the ability to graduate early.

Since it works, there's no need to spend money on a printing plate. Thinking this through, he immediately approached the shop assistant who had just helped him and said:

"Hello comrade, I'll take both of them!"

"Really want to buy? You can look around a bit more. It's Friday today, not too crowded. It'll be much busier on weekends!"

Li Jun was somewhat surprised to hear this, and seemed to understand that he was a little embarrassed to be watching here, so he immediately reminded him.

"Thank you! I really want to buy it. A skilled craftsman must first have the right tools!"

Even the most difficult college entrance exam questions are a must-buy for review materials.

Zhao Shi'an sincerely thanked him. He said that state-owned enterprise employees of this era were the most responsible group of people. However, this changed after their children took over. The prohibition against beating customers only appeared on a large scale after their children took over.

The public-private partnership has not yet fully begun, and most people are still working like cattle and horses. Once the full partnership is completed and the people become the masters of their own country, without the oppression of capitalists, the workers' enthusiasm for work will be extremely high. They will be too busy working to think about anything else.

"Well said! By the way, can you do all the questions in here?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jun gave Zhao Shi'an a thumbs up.

"I looked at some of them; I could answer some and not others. The college entrance exam questions are very valuable for research. I plan to study them carefully when I get back and get used to them in advance!"

Zhao Shi'an replied casually.

"It seems you did very well. Congratulations in advance on getting into your dream university! Give me your exam paper, and I'll issue you a receipt!"