I'm Really a Superstar

At the end of June.

It was the first day of the college entrance exam.

The sun was already blazing early in the morning, making the Beijing weather extremely hot and sunny. Under the soaring temperatures, the examinees and their parents were all densely packed at the entrance of every examination venue in the province. There were traffic cops stationed at each of the nearby junctions of the examination venues to maintain order and regulate the traffic flow, keeping traffic smooth to the fullest extent. Some of the exam venues even had an ambulance on standby to handle any emergencies. Everything was given careful consideration to the examinees.

Today was not only a big day for the examinees but also an important one the whole society was very concerned with. News related to the college entrance examination had been published all over the place by the media and newspapers since a few days ago.

"Drivers are advised to keep clear of the schools that are designated as examination venues."

"Cheering for the examinees to do well."

"Reforming the Beijing college entrance exam, difficulty likely to be greatly increased."

At a certain examination venue.

"Please produce your exam admission pass."

"Here."

"Alright, you may proceed inside."

"Mom, I'm going in."

"Little Ying, do your best, don't be nervous!"

"OK Mom, you should go home first."

"Mom's not leaving. I'll be waiting for you outside."

Similar scenes were happening at the entrance of every exam venue. The parents of the examinees all appeared to feel nervous and uneasy. Meanwhile, the students all had different expressions, some looked like they were not affected, some looked extremely worried, some were smiling brightly, and some were expressionless, as each person carried their books and did some last-minute revision.

Of course, there were also no lack of discussion by the examinees on the difficulty on the exam.

"I heard that the questions for this year's exam are extremely difficult!"

'Ai, I'm also quite worried."

"I really hope it isn't going to be difficult."

"It would be nice if they followed the previous standard of difficulty, why must they reform it no matter what?!"

"Let's see how it turns out with the English Language test first."

"Hocus pocus, can it be simpler for us?"

The first subject to be taken was the English Language test. The college entrance examination's subject sequence and timing of the sections of this world were somewhat different from Zhang Ye's previous world. Not only was the exam held at the end of June, the sequence for the first day's morning was the English Language test, followed by the Arts and the Science tests in the afternoon. The second day's schedule would be for the Chinese Literature and Mathematics tests. Moreover, like the Mathematics test of this world, be it the standardized national test or those independent, provincial-level tests, the Mathematics test was not separated into the Arts or Science subjects, but as a standalone subject.

8:40 AM: The examinees take their seats.

9 AM: The English Language exam officially commences.

"The first section is a listening test…"

With the broadcast of the listening test, it raised the curtains for yet another year of the national college entrance examination!

1 question.

5 questions.

10 questions.

The examinees began their battle with their heads lowered, wearing serious expressions on their faces.

Time passed bit by bit.

When the bells signaling the end of the examination rang, countless examinees heaved sighs of relief. After submitting their papers, they began discussing the questions as they walked out of the exam venue.

Immediately, their parents surrounded them.

"How was it?"

"Did you do well, Little Qi?"

"Is the English Language test difficult?"

"It's more difficult than last year's, but only slightly. The difficulty was more or less the same compared to our second mock exam. It's still fine and not as difficult as I had imagined."

"Right, I also feel that it's alright. They just increased the difficulty on the listening test."

"Mom, I did quite well. I can definitely get a high score this time."

"That's great, Mom will take you to a nice restaurant!"

"I want to eat grilled fish."

The majority of the Beijing examinees felt that the difficulty of the examination questions were still quite acceptable and many of them seemed like they had fared quite well. Everyone left with their parents with smiles on their faces.

……

Later that afternoon.

The second half of examination commenced.

The arts students were taking the Arts test while the science students took the Science test.

Because the papers for the Arts and Science subjects made up most of the points allocation and covered a greater scope, the examination questions were also more complicated. That was why the examinees did not dare take it too lightly and went into the examination venue with caution. But when the examinees completed the tests, it turned out that many of them had smiles on their faces instead. At some of the examination venues, quite a number of candidates even handed in their papers early. It seemed like they had completed the exam quite smoothly.

When they left the examination venue, those who bumped into their classmates immediately started discussing.

"What was your answer to the fifth question?"

"I chose A."

"Haha, looks like I got the question correct by chance!"

"The Science test was quite acceptable this time."

"That's right, I thought it would be very difficult."

"But the difficulty was still increased by a little, like the Physics section."

"Yes, the difficulty of the Physics section was increased. I didn't even understand the last major question on the test, but it's alright, I wasn't even planning to answer that question anyway. I had given up on it right from the beginning. I guess not too many people will be able to answer that."

"Eh, Wang Xue, you're also at this examination venue? I just saw you, how was your Arts test?"

"It was alright."

"It wasn't that difficult, right?"

"The Political Science test was quite difficult as the questions were worded quite trickily. The others were alright and many of the questions were modified to a different style of questioning. Actually, they were similar to those that we did in the mock exam previously and a majority of them were gimme questions. As long as we used a more flexible train of thought to analyze and answer the questions, there wasn't much of a difference from the past Beijing exams."

"That's right, this difficulty level is just right."

"Aren't the newspapers constantly reporting that the Beijing college entrance exam is undergoing a reform? Haha, I don't see much of a reform at all. To think that I was so worried about it previously!"

"That's right, they totally exaggerated it!"

"I also got a fright at that time, but it turned out to not be a big deal."

"Bye, I'll go home now to prepare for tomorrow's tests."

The first day of the exam was over. Many of the Beijing examinees went home joyfully with their parents and their faces beaming.

On the same night, the answers to the English Language, Science and Arts tests appeared on the internet. These answers were not released by the official authorities but were compiled by the teachers from the high schools who answered the questions one by one themselves and posted them online for the examinees to compare with their own answers.

An English teacher from the Beijing Normal University Affiliated High School posted on Weibo: "The difficulty of the listening test has clearly become more difficult, but the rest of the test was still within our expectations."

A teacher of No. 15 High School: "There were not too many difficult questions in the Science test."

A teacher of No. 14 High School: "The difficulty for the tests this time was average as there were some changes from past questions that were set, but were not obvious."

A teacher of No. 8 High School: "The exam reform is going slowly with a trial and error approach, so we cannot expect overnight results. Some of the questions for the Beijing exam this time were very eye-catching and original, but whether the questions were difficult or not was secondary."

There were many different opinions and views, as everyone discussed fervently about this topic.

In the end, even the Beijing media came forward to post: "Reforming the Beijing college entrance exams. The thunder was loud, but the rain was light?"

In contrast, the examinees from the other provinces did not have it as easy as the Beijing examinees.

"Hai, it isn't easy this year either."

"That's right, it's about the same compared with last year's exams."

"The English Language test was too difficult as there was too much new vocabulary I had never even heard of before!"

"Everyone, quickly take a look at the Beijing tests. It seems like it's still as easy as before."

"Weren't they intending to reform it?"

"I don't know. Anyway, I know how to do all those questions."

"F**k, it's true. If I were given the Beijing exam, I would be able to get more than 500 points on my college entrance exam! Your sister! Looks like the examinees living in the 'Imperial City' are having a more blissful life!"

"I envy them so much!"

"In my next life, I also want to be born in Beijing!"