Chapter 34 One Mistake Invalidates My Score
"What?"
As soon as Amelia spoke, everyone in the classroom turned to her, jaws practically hitting the floor.
Forty minutes to finish the whole exam and turn it in?
How was that even possible?
Even if you were copying answers, it wouldn't be that fast, let alone doing it yourself!
Not just the students, even Ms. Webb at the front of the room was wide-eyed in disbelief, almost dropping her teacup.
"Are you sure you didn't misread the questions?" Ms. Webb took a deep breath. "This test has eight pages. Are you telling me you finished it in forty minutes?"
"I didn't misread," Amelia pushed her completed test forward. "If you don't believe me, Ms. Webb, you can check it yourself."
Amelia, a girl from the countryside, finishing a Prestige High School science exam in forty minutes?
That was crazier than the world ending tomorrow.
Either Amelia was lying, or she scribbled nonsense on the paper. There was no other explanation.
Ms. Webb stood up abruptly.
She couldn't help but chuckle coldly, walking towards Amelia with an air of mockery.
She was going to see what Amelia meant by "finished." If it was incomplete or nonsense, she would report it to Mr. Gilbert immediately.
Prestige High School wouldn't accept anyone who didn't take exams seriously, even if they were from the Martinez family!
Amelia felt she had spent enough time on the test.
She thought she could finish in half an hour, but the questions were numerous. Even skipping the essay, it took her a full forty minutes to complete the rest.
Before entering the classroom, she had texted Michael to have someone pick her up at the school gate at eleven.
Now, she had already wasted another five minutes.
Her patience was wearing thin.
Ms. Webb stood next to Amelia's desk and picked up her test, skipping straight to the math section.
She was the math teacher and had created this test herself. She knew the answers by heart and could tell at a glance if Amelia had written nonsense.
But as she looked through the answers, Ms. Webb couldn't help but gasp. Her initial disdain turned into surprise, then shock, and finally disbelief.
This was insane.
Twelve multiple-choice questions, all correct. Five fill-in-the-blank questions, all correct. The remaining problems, though only a few lines each, had all the key steps and correct final answers.
A perfect score in math.
A perfect score!
Ms. Webb had never seen a student from the countryside ace a Prestige High School math test. Even their own students rarely achieved a perfect score.
Moreover, she had made this test particularly difficult, and even the top students in Class A rarely scored above 135.
Ms. Webb's hands trembled as she reviewed Amelia's test again.
Except for the blank essay, Amelia had completed all other sections, and her answers were as concise as the standard solutions.
This made Ms. Webb suspect that the test answers had been leaked to Amelia beforehand.
"Can I submit my test and leave now, Ms. Webb?" Amelia asked, looking up.
"No!" Ms. Webb, angered by the thought of leaked test answers, snapped at Amelia, "Come with me to the office!"
Amelia frowned. "Why?"
"Why? You know exactly why!" Ms. Webb's eyes flashed with contempt.
If Amelia had gone as far as buying the test answers, Ms. Webb would make sure she never set foot in Prestige High School!
Ms. Webb instructed another teacher to keep an eye on the class and practically dragged Amelia to the office.
Leroy, sitting in the back row, only turned his attention back to his test once Amelia was out of sight.
It was already past eleven.
Amelia stood at the office door, her brow furrowing.
Several teachers had been called into the office, and after a while, Amelia was called in too.
Mr. Gilbert looked at her sternly. "Amelia, sit there and wait while the teachers grade your test on the spot."
These must be the teachers who created the test questions.
Ten minutes later, all the teachers had finished grading Amelia's test and were left gasping in shock, exchanging incredulous looks.
Math, 150 out of 150.
English, 150 out of 150.
Science, 300 out of 300.
The only section not perfect was the essay, which she had left blank. But all other questions were correct, giving her a score of 100.
In total, 700 points, just enough to pass the threshold for Class A.
If she had written the essay, even scoring just 30 points, her total would be 730.
Higher than Rachel, who was second in the entire grade.
"This is impossible. She must have cheated!" Ms. Webb still couldn't believe it and said so directly to Mr. Gilbert in front of Amelia.
Unexpectedly, Amelia's eyes turned cold, and she looked over sharply.
"Ms. Webb, you can't just throw around accusations. I did the questions myself. What proof do you have that I cheated?"
"How else could you have gotten all the answers right?" Ms. Webb retorted. "You're from a rural high school. Even at Prestige High School, only Zander could do that."
Amelia's gaze grew even colder. "You need evidence for such claims, Ms. Webb. Where's your proof?"
"Proof is—" Ms. Webb started but suddenly choked.
This entrance exam was different from previous ones for selecting top students.
In the past, multiple-choice questions were randomly drawn from a question bank to ensure students could at least score on those.
But this year, even the multiple-choice questions were newly created by the teachers. The complete test was finished only yesterday, printed in the office immediately.
The answers were with the teachers.
If the answers were leaked, Amelia would have had to bribe six teachers, get all the answers, and memorize them all overnight to get everything right.
Cheating in the classroom was impossible.
There were signal jammers and four corner cameras in the room. If Amelia had cheated, an alarm would have gone off.
Seeing Ms. Webb at a loss for words, Amelia's patience finally ran out.
"How about this," Amelia suggested. "If you don't believe I did the test myself, the teachers can give me new questions right now, any difficult ones you choose."
Her face was expressionless. "If I get even one question wrong, my score will be invalid. How about that?"