Chapter 711: A difficulty that brings the examinees to tears!
Translator: Legge Editor:
On Weibo.
A lot of celebrities also joined in the fun.
A C-list female singer commented: "Hai, why are the college entrance exam's Chinese Literature questions so difficult these days? If my college entrance exam was like the one they have now, I probably wouldn't have qualified for university at all!"
Chen Guang: "Director Zhang has once again angered the masses!"
Yao Jiancai: "Hur hur, Little Zhang is totally out for the kill. Let's see what will happen to him after he gets down from the hills. The Beijing examinees will probably come out in force to get him!"
Fan Wenli: "Pfft, these questions amuse me!"
Dong Shanshan: "Zhang Ye's thinking is forever different from others."
Chen Guang: "Actually, it is not Zhang Ye's fault at all. It was the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board who wanted to reform the exam, so they got him precisely because they wanted him to set the most difficult questions amid all the pressure. Otherwise, what was the point in getting him? Fortunately, the exams are all the same, so the difficulty applies to everyone. If you can't do it, then it's likely other people won't be able to do it either. That will average out the curve and it will be down to a fight over every examinees' standard themselves, so there isn't any unfairness since it's the same for everyone."
Though it was put in this way.
And it sounded very logical as well.
But the examinees did not think in such a way. Many of them already hated Zhang Ye to the core, kicking up a fuss on the Internet. Someone even called for a "crusade against Zhang Ye" team to be started.
"Good idea!"
"Count me in!"
"This is numbing, I'm going to join the crusade as well!"
"I swear to take it all the way to the end with Face-smacking Zhang!"
"Face-smacking Zhang is totally screwing with us all!"
"Wait till we finish our Math exam! When we finish our exam! Our 'knives' must surely be stained with Zhang Ye's blood! I won't be playing games or relaxing anymore tonight, I will constantly be criticizing him online!"
"Warriors, count me in!"
Many of these people's fighting spirits were soaring high!
However, an even greater number of people did not have the mind to think about such things. They were more concerned with the afternoon's Mathematics test.
"The Chinese Literature test was already incredibly bad. What will the Math test be like?"
"I can't even imagine!"
"Zhang Ye's the lead question setter for the Math test!"
"God, just let me die!"
"The college entrance exam is too horrible!"
At this moment, an online media outlet published an analysis report: "With the Chinese Literature test over, the Beijing examinees are left wailing. The Chinese Literature test's questions were too difficult and had far exceeded the difficulty in known history. However, if we see this from a different perspective, there might be a possibility that the Math test will be easier. Could there be such a possibility of this happening? It can't be that both the Chinese Literature and Mathematics test are the most difficult in the history of the national college entrance exam, right? Then what kind of scores are the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board even intending to let our Beijing examinees get? Would 400 points be counted as high? If everyone's score is low, then the admissions cutoff score would slide down greatly. Is it likely that one doesn't even need 400 points to get admitted into Tsinghua University? That's impossible!"
Following that, many teachers and education industry insiders also commented with their own analysis and judgments.
Many of them were also authoritative figures.
An industry insider posted: "The current estimate for the Beijing examinees' average score for the Chinese Literature test is not likely to exceed 75 points and could be lower. It has to be mentioned that last year's average score for the same paper was 103 points, so if the Mathematics test's difficulty is increased, then the tier 1 scores might really end up shrinking down to just around 400 points! That is not a very realistic outcome."
A national exam question setter posted: "The difficulty level of this year's Beijing Mathematics test is likely to be moderate or just slightly above average."
The experts gave their analysis from all kinds of perspectives and made good arguments to support their views.
The examinees were all excited by these comments that were posted.
"That's right!"
"The analysis seems very logical!"
"The Math test shouldn't be more difficult that the Chinese Literature test!"
"Well said!"
"That's great, I'm feeling relieved now!"
"Charge! There's only the last subject left now!"
……
Later that afternoon.
As the timing approached, it was also time for the last subject to be examined for this year's college entrance examination—mathematics.
Having experienced the wakeup call from this morning's Chinese Literature test, many of the examinees were dealt a severe blow, especially having gone through yesterday's level of the English, Arts, and Science tests, the level of difficulty for today's paper was made even more obvious. It was like the difference between the sky and earth. Some of the examinees had not even came back to their senses from the disaster of the morning's test and were already arriving back to the examination venue in the accompaniment of their parents.
They were still unsettled!
There was still anger over the level of difficulty!
It was like this for the examinees and their parents alike.
"Son, it's the last subject."
"I know, Mom."
"The Chinese Literature test is already over. It doesn't matter what we say about it anymore, so just focus and score well on your Math test to make up for your Chinese Literature test's score."
"I will!"
"Are you confident?"
"Yes!"
"That's my son, go get 'em!"
Beside them, another parent was also advising their child.
"Daughter, I just read on the Internet that many of the experts have already analyzed and concurred that the Math test is not going to be too difficult, so don't worry about it!"
"Ah? Really?"
"It's true. It's what the experts have claimed, how can it be wrong? They said that the difficulty level for the Math test is likely to be moderate or just slightly above average!"
"That's great to hear!"
Around them, quite a few parents and examinees who heard this came over to ask.
"Will it really not be difficult?"
"Yes, the media reports also analyzed it as such. You all can check the Internet if you don't believe."
"Hu, it nearly scared me to death!"
"It's good as long as it's not difficult! I was so scared that my legs were trembling!"
"Then I had better score higher on the Math test! I need to claw back the points I lost in the Chinese Literature exam!"
"Right!"
"Wow, the reports online really analyzed it that way! It's supported by so many experts too!"
"Let me see, let me see!"
"Haha, I'm not worried anymore now!"
"That's exactly what I was thinking. The Chinese Literature test was already super difficult, so the Math test can't possibly be as difficult too!"
It was almost time to start the last test. The examinees had all gone into the examination venues. Those who had seen the analysis presented by the media and experts had all regained quite a bit of their confidence. They held their pens firmly, in preparation to do well on all the questions!
However, as it turned out, after the Mathematics test was handed out, when the examinees saw the multiline questions on it, they were all left looking flabbergasted!
Some people gasped!
Some people covered their faces and let out a silent scream!
Some people turned pale!
There were even some who held the exam in their trembling hands!
……
Question 3:
If the complex number z satisfies the equation z(2 - 3i) = 6 + 4i (where i is the imaginary unit), then the modulus of z is _____.
……
Question 9:
There are 3 small balls of similar size in a box. One of them is a black ball. If two balls are randomly picked from the box, what is the probability of the two balls being different in color?
……
Question 13:
To better understand the quality of a batch of cotton, a cotton mill randomly extracted 100 lengths of cotton fiber (the length of a cotton fiber is an important indicator of the quality of cotton). The resulting data falls between [5, 40]. Its appearance frequency is indicated in the distribution histogram below. [image] In the sampling of 100 lengths of fiber, there are _____ lengths that are shorter than 20mm.
……
Question 15:
In the Chinese Literature and Mathematics subjects, the results are graded into 3 tiers of either "Excellent," "Pass," or "Fail." Assuming Student A's results are all not lower than Student B's, with at least one subject scoring better than Student B's, then the statement "Student A's results are better than Student B's" is valid. If among some students no one scored better than each other, and neither did any two students score the same points as another, with their Mathematics results also not the same. Then: What is the maximum number of students that fulfill the conditions?
……
What kind of questions were these?
Just what kind of damned questions were these?
Don't even mention solving these questions! Just looking at them alone was enough to make half of the examinees vomit blood!
Some of the more outstanding Mathematics students were already covered with sweat, trying their hardest to understand the questions. There were also some who were weaker in the subject who had already laid down their "weapon" and given up on answering!
F*ck your grandpa!
Who the hell said that the Mathematics exam questions would not be too difficult?
Who the heck said that the Mathematics exam questions were going to be moderate to slightly above average in difficulty?
Those who said so should come look at this for themselves! Is this f**king moderate to slightly above average in difficulty? Is this not too difficult? Only at this moment did the examinees realize that they had been scammed by those media reports and experts who had sounded so confident with their arguments! The Mathematics test was totally not like how they had predicted it to be! In fact, this was even more difficult than the Chinese Literature test by at least two times! At least they could still read and understand the questions in the Chinese Literature test. But for some of the questions in the Mathematics test, even after staring at it for forever, they could not begin to understand the question whatsoever!
The people of this world definitely did not know where these questions originated from. Only Zhang Ye knew that these multifaceted questions had all come from the past years of college entrance exams of every province in his previous world. There were questions from the 2014 Beijing college entrance exam, the 2009 national college entrance exam and also the 2010 Jiangsu college entrance exam, whose claim to fame was being the most difficult examination in the college entrance examination history! All of these questions were gathered and chosen by Zhang Ye to be used for this world's Beijing college entrance examination's Mathematics test this year. The difficulty of it was something that one could not even begin to imagine!
However, this was not Zhang Ye intentionally trying to find issue with the examinees. He was just doing as instructed by the Higher Education Entrance Examination Board who had requested for the most difficult questions he could come up with. They fully had the intention to reform the exam and Zhang Ye had no objections to this. Whatever the Higher Education Entrance Examination Board wanted, he would just give to them. His job was only to write the questions. Nothing else mattered to him.
The bell sounded to signal the end of the exam.
The Mathematics test had ended!
At that moment, the curtain was drawn on the annual national college entrance examination!
……
Jinshi.
At an examination venue.
"Granddaughter! Granddaughter!"
"Granny, I've finished my exam!"
"Did you do well?"
"I did OK. I just didn't manage to finish the last major question."
"Alright then, let's go home. Granny will cook a sumptuous meal for you!"
……
Beihe Province.
"We're finally free! Hahaha!"
"When I get home, I want to sleep soundly for three days and three nights!"
"I want to play video games! Play them for three days straight! It will definitely be very enjoyable!"
"Oh! We're free!"
……
Jiangnan Province.
"Today's examination wasn't too difficult!"
"Yeah, it was easier than last year's!"
"I counted. My points will definitely qualify me for tier 1! University, here I come!"
"Me too, the Math test was so easy!"
……
The entire country's examinees were finally set free at this moment. Many of them had left their examination venues laughing, even those who did not do well or performed as ideally as they wanted. Since the dust had settled, they were now totally relaxed and could finally make their way home to their families.
However, there was a place where it was different!
The reactions of the examinees in this municipality was different from all the other places!
Beijing!
After the college entrance examination was over, at the end of the last exam subject.
Outside many of the examination venues, other than the sight of many anxiously waiting parents, there were also many media reporters who had arrived. Some of the reporters even arrived in their press vehicles, probably preparing to do an episode covering the topic or getting the footage ready for tonight's news report.
"Ah, they're coming out!"
"Quickly, the cameras!"
"They’re coming out! The exam is over!"
The parents and reporters were all crowded outside the entrance.
However, their expected reactions of the examinees exiting the venues with excitement did not happen. Yes, not a single one of them did that. Everyone just walked out slowly and silently with a sense of heaviness. They all looked like they had been through a tough battle or seemed like they had just been beaten up.
The parents were getting anxious.
"What's wrong?"
"Little Ye, what's going on? What happened?"
"Zhouzhou, why aren't you talking?"
"How was the exam, baby? Say something at least!"
Suddenly, a thin and weak-looking boy walking right in the front started crying loudly after hearing his parents asking him about the exam. "…It was too damn difficult!"
With this cry, a few female examinees behind him also started shedding tears. A girl was crying while yelling out, "Zhang Ye! I can't live while you do! You're my sworn enemy! Sob sob sob!"
The parents were stunned!
The reporters were also shocked!
F**k! Just what kind of a Mathematics test was it for this year's Beijing college entrance examination? Why did some of the examinees even breaking down in tears over it?! Just how difficult was it!
Meanwhile.
At the other examination venues in Beijing, similar scenes were playing out as well!
Many of the examinees had exited from their examination venues in tears, crying while cursing all 18 generations of ancestors of this year's college entrance examination's question setting team!
If the Chinese Literature test had caused them to cry out loudly before, then this Mathematics test was the one that had extinguished all their remaining hope. Even a few examinees who usually did very well at Mathematics and scored highly in their classes came out of the venue in tears. They had never used swear words despite the many years at school, but when they walked out of the examination venue this time, they could be heard loudly swearing, "They better not let us find out which bastard wrote those questions!!"