Classroom of the Elite, Kusuo Saiki

[Thank goodness I bought the practice questions beforehand, otherwise I would have failed the exam!]

[Quick, hand out the test papers! Otherwise I'll forget all the questions I memorized yesterday!]

The students in the class showed no surprise; in fact, many of them felt a sense of smug satisfaction.

Soon the test papers were distributed to everyone. Kusuo Saiki glanced at the test paper and found that the questions were exactly the same as the previous year's test.

As the best high schools funded by the government, they would never deliberately use the same set of test questions to save resources. Their purpose is probably to test students' observation skills outside of academics, and whether they can discover the existence of identical test questions.

At the same time, it also helps students further understand that 'anything can be bought with points' in this school.

For Kusuo Saiki, it didn't matter.

'Wow, I hadn't really looked at these questions before, but now it seems the difference in difficulty between the different ones is quite significant.'

Saiki Kusuo thought to himself, but for him, even without looking at the questions beforehand, these questions were not difficult, and he could determine the answers after just a glance.

For Kusuo Saiki, the most difficult thing is how to keep his score at a mid-range level.

'The fact that my exam scores have remained consistently in the middle has made my teachers a little suspicious. It seems I need to let my scores fluctuate slightly in each subject, but not too much, otherwise it will still seem suspicious.'

Kusuo Saiki thought to himself,

"After all, because of the test questions, everyone else's scores should have improved, so my score shouldn't be too low either."

The most important thing is not how many points he can get, but how many points others can get.

[The questions and exam questions are exactly the same this time, that's fantastic!]

Luckily, I prepared in advance!

I think I'll be able to get a pretty high score on this exam!

Kusuo Saiki could clearly hear the other people's thoughts, and the next step was to determine how many points they should be able to score given the test questions.

He turned his head, his gaze casually falling on someone, then gradually passing through that person's body and landing on their exam paper, to see how their answers were.

'It seems that with the test questions, everyone will be able to get high scores.'

Kusuo Saiki glanced at a few people; their answers to the first few questions were very accurate, suggesting they should all be able to achieve relatively high scores.

His gaze continued to move, landing on Ken Sudo.

The answer to the first question is A, the answer to the second question is C, the answer to the third question is D...

At this very moment, in Takeru Sudo's mind, he was constantly reciting and memorizing the answers to the test questions.

While others studied the solutions to each question after receiving the test questions, Takeru Sudo simply memorized the order of their answers and the steps to solve the problems.

Fortunately, the exam questions were basically the same as last year; otherwise, with just a few numbers changed, Sudo Ken's 'hard work' would have been in vain.

[Oh no, what was the answer again? Was it D or C? Quick, remember!]

'This guy is beyond saving.'

Kusuo Saiki made this judgment in his mind.

Even when there were test questions, it seems that Takeru Sudo didn't memorize the answers very seriously. After just a few multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, he forgot what the correct answers were.

'But in some ways you did a good job, Sudo. You should be able to slightly raise the average score for this exam.'

Kusuo Saiki's lips curled up slightly.

Chapter 21: Sorry, I'm the real master of score control.

Kusuo Saiki's gaze continued to move, landing on Suzune Horikita.

At this moment, Horikita Suzune is very focused on solving the problem.

Although Kikyo Kushida had previously copied a test paper for her, Suzune Horikita did not accept it. However, she still transferred her own points to Kikyo Kushida.

Even without the test questions, Horikita Suzune possessed the best academic ability in the class. Saiki Kusuo glanced at her for a moment and found that she got almost all the questions right, with a higher accuracy rate than most people who had seen the test questions in advance.

Just then, Kusuo Saiki heard another sound.

What should the normal academic level be for a typical high school student?

After reviewing the test questions, what were their approximate scores? I'm not entirely sure.

[Forget it, let's just stick to the same approach as the entrance exam: maintain a score of 50 for each course. This question is correct, this question is wrong...]

Kusuo Saiki heard that somewhat languid voice and knew who it belonged to: Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

'He really is a strange guy.'

Kusuo Saiki was able to determine that Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was different from ordinary students. He was indeed more special than ordinary students. Kusuo Saiki knew through telepathy that Kiyotaka Ayanokouji could solve every problem with ease, but he would deliberately choose to get a few problems wrong in order to precisely control his score.

'Are you, like me, trying to avoid drawing too much attention to yourself?'

Kusuo Saiki's lips curled slightly upwards, but his gaze ultimately settled on the exam paper in front of him.

'However, when it comes to how to conceal yourself, Ayanokouji, you're still far from adequate.'

"The real way to avoid drawing too much attention isn't to get a perfect score, but rather to achieve a ranking closer to the middle. Keeping each subject's score around 50 will actually make you stand out more."

"And it's not just about rankings; the core of this exam is determining which questions should be answered correctly and which should be answered incorrectly."

For Kusuo Saiki, these questions were not difficult at all, and he himself did not know how difficult they were for ordinary high school students.

However, he possesses telepathy.

Using this ability, Kusuo Saiki can know which questions other students find difficult, or even relatively easy, and thus determine which questions he should deliberately answer incorrectly.

Only in this way can one appear as ordinary as possible.

"Because of the test questions, the accuracy rate for the first few questions was very high, with almost no mistakes, so you can't intentionally make mistakes."

'However, even if there were questions, the later ones were quite difficult, with complicated steps, and the accuracy rate wasn't very high... I'll just deliberately get this question wrong.'

'Based on a rough estimate, the average score this time shouldn't be too low, so I can only hope to score slightly higher.'

With that thought in mind, Kusuo Saiki casually picked up a pen and quickly filled in the answers on the answer sheet.

.....

After several hours of exams, as the bell rang, Chabashira Sae immediately began collecting the papers.

It's strange, these flawed individuals don't seem flustered at all, they don't even seem surprised.

Chabashira Sae looked at her with a hint of doubt. Based on the experience of the previous classes she had taught, most students were very surprised when they heard about the surprise exam.

Class D remained remarkably calm throughout, as if they had known about the exam beforehand.

After collecting all the test papers, Chabashira Sae glanced at them and found that the accuracy rate of her students' answers was much higher than she had expected.

"Oh?"

Chabashira Sae raised her eyebrows slightly, then quickly looked at several other people's exam papers. As before, the accuracy rate was very high, and several of them even managed to answer the extremely difficult questions.

[Interesting. This is a class full of flawed students. I know their academic abilities very well. Considering their attitude in class recently, it's impossible for them to get such scores.]

[Does that mean they bought the previous year's exam questions, realizing that anything in this school can be bought with points?]

[It seems they're not stupid after all; at least some of them possess exceptional comprehension or observation skills. This class isn't as bad as I initially thought.]

Chashu Sae's lips curled up slightly as her gaze swept over all the students in the class.

......

Before we knew it, a month had passed since the start of the school year.

For nearly two weeks, Chabashira Sae did not reveal the class's initial results, and everyone returned to their normal lives, seemingly having put the exam behind them.

May 1st, early morning, classroom.

Have you received the points transferred from the school?

"I received it, but it's only around 50,000? Wasn't it supposed to be 100,000?"

"Was it because of the exam results that the points were affected? That shouldn't be the case. We all bought the practice questions in advance and studied. It's impossible for us to lose so many points. Could it be that other classes also bought the practice questions and did better than us?"

During the self-study period before class, the students were all talking at once about the number of points.

Looking at his nearly 100,000 points, Kusuo Saiki's expression remained unchanged.

Although exam scores affect class points, they are not the only factor. Clearly, their class lost a significant number of points in other areas.

For Kusuo Saiki, this is not a bad thing.

Chabashira Sae slowly entered the classroom just seconds before the school bell rang.

"Teacher, is there a problem with this month's points?"

As the teacher walked in, a student raised his hand and asked a question.

Upon hearing the student's question, a meaningful smile appeared on Chabashira Sae's face:

"I originally thought you had a certain understanding of the school's S system, but it turns out I was overthinking it?"

"S system? What does that mean?"

The students below looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Perhaps some of you realized that the points you earn each month are related to your exam scores, which is why you prepared for this exam in advance, but—"

Chashu Sae narrowed her eyes slightly.

"The S system reviews students in real time and calculates scores. The evaluation factors are not limited to exam scores alone. There were 98 instances of being late or absent, and 391 instances of talking in class or stealing a phone. These behaviors are all reflected in your points."

Chapter Twenty-Two: Results Announced, Promotion to Class C

As Chabashira Sae spoke, the atmosphere in the entire class gradually became heavy.

[Seriously? Every time I'm late for class, or even when I'm using my phone, it's all recorded?]

When exactly was this recorded... by the security camera? Do they really record even such a tiny thing?

Wait, wait, wait, I thought that in this school, as long as you could get high scores, you could do whatever you wanted...

Everyone present was having a flurry of thoughts, and even Kusuo Saiki found it a bit noisy.

'Well, being on time for class is a must for students, isn't it?'

With that thought in mind, Kusuo Saiki then turned his gaze to Sae Chabashira.