Above the mage

Chapter 166 Final Assessment

In addition to the thirty-six classic composite rune diagrams, He west also prepared a stack of materials for Gao De that was half a person tall.

All of this information combined constitutes all the knowledge points for the third and fourth stages of the "Symbolic Literature" course.

The first two stages of the course, which originally required two years, were mastered by Gaode in just two and a half months.

He west was secretly looking forward to seeing how much time Gaode would need to master the knowledge in the third and fourth stages of the course.

In particular, the teaching method he chose was quite unreliable: he only provided materials, leaving everything else to Gaode to learn on their own.

But this does not mean that Jose is irresponsible.

The fundamental reason is that "education" is inherently a very contradictory thing.

Take the field of rune literature as an example.

Anyone who wants to develop in the field of rune literature may take many detours or even go astray without systematic education.

Even if the former gets back on track afterward, it will have wasted precious time. In the end, there may not be enough life to explore the more profound knowledge of rune literature.

The latter is even more of a waste; it's simply a complete waste.

However, if one's education is too systematic and one relies too much on the theories and experiences of mentors or predecessors, one will often become a "craftsman" without independent thinking ability in the later stages.

All the "craftsmen" can do is simply draw the magic circle according to the blueprints.

The balance in this process needs to be struck not only by the instructors but also by the students themselves.

Fortunately, Gaode has enough talent, so He Xi, as the mentor, can be lazy but confident in letting Gaode learn everything on its own, while he is only responsible for providing knowledge and answering questions.

This educational method would be misleading to others, but it is perfectly suited to Gao De.

Gaode Maps had no objection to this.

He is a self-taught person, which allows him to adjust his learning pace according to his own circumstances without wasting time.

Time passed day by day.

Time always flies when you're in college, especially when your life is full of things to do.

This is especially true for Gaode Maps.

After taking sixteen courses, he had to attend at least two classes every day.

As for Fu Wenxue, he dedicates time every day to studying.

The time allotted for cultivation is fixed and cannot be reduced.

To outsiders, this kind of life is no longer fit for humans; it's for machines.

But for Gaode, the feeling of gaining knowledge every day brings him immense psychological satisfaction.

This sense of satisfaction can largely mask the fatigue.

After the turmoil at the beginning of the month, the frozen moon gradually returned to calm.

The waves seemed to have subsided, but the undercurrents were still brewing beneath the surface.

At least half of the people are waiting to see what this year's freshmen will do, and to see how many courses the "madman" Gaode will pass and how many credits he will earn.

And amidst this attention that went beyond the surface, Frozen Moon quietly came to an end.

The end of the Frozen Moon is somewhat special.

At Cyrus Academy, large courses like "Rune Literature" can span an entire academic year in a single phase.

However, the sub-courses generally don't have such a long duration.

Most of the courses are taught for three months, and at most six months.

Of the eight courses Gaode initially selected, three were compulsory, and there was also a major course called "Symbolic Literature".

The remaining four courses are all specialized courses.

Apart from "Cultivation of Magical Plants," which gives students time to cultivate magical plants and spans four months, the other three branch courses—"Geography of Nolan Continent and Geography of War," "Understanding of General Spells (0-3 Rings)," and "General Knowledge of Herbs"—all have a standard three-month course duration.

Furthermore, the final assessments are all scheduled for the end of the month.

In other words, Gaode will be experiencing his first "exam week" at Cyrus Academy.

The first test came from "Understanding General Spells (0-3 Rings)".

This is a purely theoretical, easy course.

The course assessment format is not complicated. The college provides a test paper, and students who have chosen the course have one hour to answer it.

The 30th of the Frozen Moon, in the morning.

The examination room arranged by the academy was packed with students.

This easy course consistently ranks among the top in attendance within the college.

"All participants in the assessment, please place your identification badges in the upper left corner of the table for inspection."

"The entire exam is closed-book. If anyone is found to be cheating, we will not tolerate it and will hand them over to the committee for handling. We hope you will not make such a fundamental mistake."

An unfamiliar old monk entered the classroom with a stack of "exam papers," gave a lecture on exam rules, and then nodded to the staff member he had brought with him.

The staff member understood immediately, took out a small alchemy machine, and started checking the identity information of the first student who entered through the main gate.

Gaode sat in his seat, lost in thought, while also waiting for his hair to curl.

All courses at the college are graded on a 100-point scale, regardless of the assessment format.

A score of 60 is the minimum passing grade. Achieving this score is considered passing the exam and earns you the credits for the course.

However, in addition to academic credits, there is another indicator to help evaluate students' performance, called "Grade Point Average" (GPA).

This is also one of the important supporting measures for the implementation of the credit system at Cyrus College.

The grade point average is calculated as 10% of the score for that course, minus 5%.

For example, if you get a score of 60 in the final exam of "Understanding General Spells (0-3 Rings)", then your grade point is 1/60.

The biggest function of GPA is to remove inflated figures.

The college explicitly requires that, in most of the college's ranking and weighting calculations that use credits as the evaluation standard, an average grade point average of three or higher is required to be included in the calculation.

In the case of equal credits, those with higher GPAs will be given priority.

This can prevent students from taking a bunch of courses and barely passing the exams to get credits.

After checking the identity information, the staff started curling the hair.

The title was neatly transcribed on fine parchment, and the ink smelled wonderful.

Gao De narrowed his eyes, his gaze falling on the test questions.

There weren't many questions; they were all variations of knowledge points from the course.

"As a first-ring mage, is it possible to venture deep into the snowy plains of the river, and if so, through what methods?"

The first question is a classic easy question, designed to boost students' confidence.

The answer is quite simple.

"Yes, it can be mitigated by the first-level protective spell, [Environmental Tolerance]."

"In the Dark Forest, as a 2nd-circle mage specializing in illusion magic, you encounter a group of leyline creatures inhabiting the area. How can you safely traverse this region without direct combat?"

This question is a little more difficult. First, you need to pay attention to the question: "A 2nd-circle mage specializing in illusion magic".

Therefore, the scope of the spells is limited to the Illusion school and to spells within the second level.

"In an encounter with bandits, you are surrounded by enemies. To break out quickly and ensure your safety, please describe the spell you would choose and why."

Gaode continued working on it without stopping.

These questions may seem complicated to Gaode, who has thoroughly mastered all the teaching materials for this course through "Divine Guidance +", but in fact, none of them are difficult.

Once you see the question, the answer will naturally appear.

These are all free points!

After typing away rapidly, Gaode quickly arrived at the last question.

It was indeed the last question, as an entire page was dedicated to it, clearly indicating that it was a challenging question.

This was also the question with the highest score on the entire test paper, accounting for a whopping forty points.

However, when Gaode saw the question, it had a strange sense of familiarity.

It wasn't that anyone leaked the exam questions to him in advance, but rather because...

"Imagine you are a 3rd-circle mage proficient in various spells, sent to investigate an area overrun by newly formed leyline creatures. Investigate the level of these leylines. Design a comprehensive spell strategy to safely enter the area, obtain the necessary information, and leave safely."

Gao De looked at the question stem, but the more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.

"Is this a question adapted from the Hogan Leyland ley lines?"

"Forehead"

And is this all there is to the so-called last question?

No wonder it's an easy course!

Having thought this through, Gao De no longer hesitated and began to write.

After another flurry of typing, I solved the last problem in just a few minutes.

After picking up the "exam paper" and checking it to make sure nothing was missing, Gaode packed up his things, got up, and handed in the paper.

The old master, who was sitting above supervising the students, raised an eyebrow at Gao De, who came up to hand in his paper.

The course "Understanding General Spells" is not difficult, especially the last question, which is always an open-ended question. As long as the student's answer is reasonable, they can usually get more than half the marks.

If you get half of the first 60 points, you'll pass the assessment.

Therefore, the pass rate for this course is almost 100%.

However, it is still rare to see students submitting their papers so quickly.

Thinking this, the old monk glanced at Gaode's "exam paper" out of the corner of his eye.

The next moment, his already small eyes narrowed into slits.

Huh?

It's very well written.

He reached out and took the test paper, staring at the numerous answers provided by Gaode on the back of the questions, and began to review them line by line.

The first question was correct; it was an easy question, so it was normal.

The second question was also correct; I was quite attentive.

Question 3.

After reviewing the entire process, the old master discovered that he couldn't find a single error in Gaode Maps.

The pass rate for "General Spells Knowledge" is high, but this is only because spells are a basic ability for mages and are closely related to their lives. They already have a certain foundation of course knowledge before even starting class.

Furthermore, many questions in the assessment only require a reasonable answer, and there is no fixed answer, so it is easy to score points.

However, this does not mean that it is a subject where it is easy to get a high score.

This is a subject that is very similar to "Chinese Language and Literature".

It's hard for you to fail;

But it's also very difficult to get a high score.

Getting a perfect score is even harder than getting a perfect score in math.

The old monk's expression grew increasingly solemn, and when he finally reached the last line of the last question, he couldn't help but nod slightly.

If he were to grade this test paper from Gaode, he would give it a score of over 95.

All the previous answers are correct, so you get a full 60 points.

The only point deduction was for the last big question.

But it wasn't because he discovered any oversights in Gaode's answer to that question.

Instead, with open-ended questions like these, no matter how you answer, even if you're casual, you'll still get some points.

Similarly, even the most perfect item will still lose some points.

Because there is no perfect spell strategy.

(End of this chapter)