Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 140

Jiang Bai studied purely so that he could continue working in his sister’s shop.

Monthly exams were not included in the school ranking. The ranking list on the school bulletin board was still based on the last midterm exam. With the monthly exam over, the next major exam would be the final.

In Class 3, the teachers also handed out the results. Since Jiang Ning was not in class for self-study but was attending a competition class, the teachers kept her paper.

Everyone was curious about how Jiang Ning had done in the exam this time.

Would she make it into the top ten of the grade this time?

“Then she definitely didn’t make it. She barely ranked tenth last time. Now that she’s in the competition class, it will definitely affect her original results.”

“Jiang Ning entered the competition class and allocated part of her energy there, so her performance will definitely drop.”

That was a very honest observation.

It was a common occurrence—not for everyone, but for most students who were selected into the competitive class—to have their results affected to some extent after devoting energy to the competition class. They could all see the fluctuations in the ranking list and naturally knew that entering the competition class would impact their grades.

However, the impact was usually not too significant. Generally speaking, the teachers of the competition class would first select the top thirty students in the grade to study in the competition class. These students would then pass each test and undergo further screening. Only those with stable results would continue taking classes. By the second year of high school, they would be taken to participate in competitions. The rest would be taught as usual and sent back to their regular classes.

It was a pity that they couldn’t see the overall grade ranking for this monthly exam; otherwise, they would know how Jiang Ning performed. The teachers of Class 3 had some expectation that Jiang Ning’s academic performance might decline. What the teachers didn’t expect was that her grades not only didn’t drop but even improved slightly compared to the last monthly exam.

That was rare. They didn’t know how Jiang Ning was doing in the competition class. Her grades in her regular classes had not declined and had even steadily improved. This suggested that she might have been focusing more on her regular academic performance than on the competition class.

That was a choice many students made.

Some students who originally had good grades experienced a decline after being selected for competitive classes. This decline could be very detrimental to their college entrance exam scores, so some students prioritized their regular academic performance and didn’t invest much energy in the competition class.

When the results of the competition class tests weren’t satisfactory, those students would naturally be screened out.

The teachers thought Jiang Ning was probably in the same situation. While they couldn’t say whether her approach was right or wrong, they privately felt that Jiang Ning’s choice was the correct one. After all, it wasn’t worth sacrificing her regular academic performance for the sake of competition.

But as teachers, it wasn’t easy for them to express this to students. Schools needed students to participate in competitions and achieve results.

At that time, Jiang Ning had been in the competition class for a month. The school’s monthly exams were over, and the competition class teacher was ready to assess what the students had learned during that period.

During evening self-study, the competition class teacher didn’t teach but instead gave them a paper to work on.

Because time was limited, he said, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t finish it. Just give me the test paper after class.” 

The teacher, who was as cheerful as a sunny boy, smiled as he spoke. But the students in the competition class were nervous. When they got the test papers, some of them wailed on the spot.

It was too difficult.

Teacher Ji divided the test papers into several parts, handed them out one by one, and asked the students to pass them along. Soon, the quiet sounds of students working on their exams filled the entire competition class.

Teacher Ji checked the time, asked another teacher who wasn’t busy to invigilate their class, and then went to another high school chemistry competition class. Originally, this wasn’t the time for his class, but he was administering the exam after swapping times with another teacher.

When the class was over, the invigilator collected the papers. He was also a young teacher and an alumnus of the school who had been recruited to teach the competition class.

After the math competition, the students packed up their things and returned to their regular classrooms. Most of the students were involved in two or three classes. For example, Jiang Ning had done well in math, physics, and chemistry in the midterm exam, so the teachers of those subjects had all recommended her to their respective competition classes.

Generally speaking, students who excelled in mathematics also tended to do well in physics and chemistry.

The invigilator collected the test papers one by one, returned to the podium, and asked the students, “Does anyone need to go to the restroom?”

They didn’t say anything, just smiled and replied, “No, no, we will continue the exam.”

Immediately, a classmate stood up and said, “Yes, yes, teacher, I want to go to the restroom.”

The men’s and women’s restrooms in the teaching building were on opposite sides, so they were separate. However, in the office building, the men’s and women’s restrooms were together, but the lights weren’t turned on, making the corridor very dark.

These male and female classmates all went to the restroom together and hurried back.

The invigilator had already handed out all the test papers while they were gone. When everyone returned to their seats, they could start the test immediately. Some students who hadn’t left their seats had already begun writing.

Seeing this, the others felt a sense of urgency, realizing that the students who stayed had more time. They quickly lowered their heads and started the exam.

“How was this exam?” Teacher Ji asked the invigilator with a smile. The two young teachers were not married yet and lived in a single apartment prepared by the school.

The single apartment wasn’t big, with one bedroom and one living room—a bedroom inside, a small living room outside, a desk, a chair, and a row of bookshelves on the wall filled with books.

The invigilator lived next door to him and was holding the test papers in his hand.

While supervising their chemistry exam, he had already started correcting the test papers for the math competition. Because the questions were difficult and the time was only forty-five minutes, the students couldn’t finish them, and he corrected them very quickly.

The invigilator said, “With so many questions, how can they finish in such a short time?”