I was a top student in America.

Just as the American national team was preparing to head to the IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad).

Freshmen participating in summer programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) are also facing their own challenges.

University-level calculus.

In American universities, with the exception of a very few niche majors, most students cannot avoid this basic course.

With the fall semester just around the corner, many students have already started preparing for the new semester in order to avoid failing their first test.

at this time.

In the common study room on the first floor of the dormitory building, Emily and her three roommates were sitting around a long table.

Several thick calculus textbooks were laid out on the table, and the girls stared at each other, wide-eyed at the dense mathematical symbols on the pages.

"Why do education majors have to learn calculus? Is that even something for humans to learn?"

Lily Chen, usually the most lively one, was lying on the edge of the table, her chin resting on the edge of her textbook as she mumbled something.

She hadn't taken AP Calculus in high school, and this was her first time encountering the difficulty of college-level mathematics; it felt like reading gibberish.

"I can already foresee how awful my final report card will be," sighed the tall girl next to me, who was wearing thin-rimmed glasses.

Her blonde roommate Megan chimed in, "Alright, you two should be grateful. At least we have Emily to help us with tutoring."

"That's right. Among us, Emily is probably the only one who's not afraid of math. After all, her dad is a high school math teacher. And most importantly..." The tall girl looked at Emily, a mischievous smile playing on her lips, and couldn't help but tease her, "She has a 'good friend' who participates in the National Mathematical Olympiad giving her extra lessons."

Ever since Lily bumped into Emily and Li Ao having dinner at a restaurant, and then embellished her story afterward, the news has spread throughout the dormitory.

Hearing this, Lily looked up at Emily and said, "Emily, could you ask your genius friend to help us out too? He could explain a few example problems to us, if he could."

Emily put down her pen and shook her head: "Leo is no longer at UIUC. His national team training camp is over, and he should be in Annam for the IMO right now. I heard he has a good chance of winning a gold medal this time."

"If he does well on the exam, his dad's school might even give him a scholarship."

"Therefore, we still have to learn calculus on our own."

She learned all this information a few days ago while chatting with Li Ao on MSN.

She even sent him a message to cheer him on.

Upon hearing Emily's words, both Lily and the tall girl with glasses widened their eyes.

No one expected that the high school boy who usually seemed quiet and unassuming was actually so amazing.

"International Olympic Games? His IQ must be terrifying. I heard that only a handful of people from all over the country can go abroad to compete each year."

"Emily, your friend is amazing!" the tall girl exclaimed, her gossip-loving nature reigniting. "So you can go around telling everyone that your best friend is a world champion?"

Megan, who hadn't said much until now, looked at Emily and said half-jokingly, "But he sounds like the kind of super genius whose brain is only for math. People like that probably aren't very interested in dating, right?"

Before Emily could answer, Lily interrupted, "That's why I told you! You should have listened to me and taken him down while he was still around!"

The tall girl laughed along, "I never would have guessed that Emily likes this type of high-IQ academic genius."

Faced with the combined onslaught from her three roommates, Emily didn't seem shy at all. Instead, she smiled sweetly, closed her calculus textbook, stood up, and tidied up the draft paper on her desk.

"If none of you need me to explain the problems anymore, then I'll go have dinner first."

……

IMO Day 1.

Early in the morning, the team members got up early, had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then prepared to head to the examination venue.

"I heard from the bottom of the corner that this year's exam is ridiculously difficult. The first day alone had some super hard questions, giving us no chance to catch our breath. To be honest, I'm a little nervous."

Michael muttered to himself as he walked, trying to ease his tension.

Kevin nodded in agreement.

Daniel glanced at them: "What's there to be nervous about? Coach Miller said yesterday that the difficulty of the questions is the same for everyone. We just need to perform normally."

"I believe that with our abilities, everyone can win a gold medal. Even if we don't, a silver medal is still pretty good."

Last night, the deputy team leader, Mr. Miller, held a brief meeting with everyone to emphasize the important points about the exam, as well as the subsequent procedures for answering questions, translating, and appealing.

Such briefings have become a daily routine during the competition.

"That's true," Michael chimed in. "Anyway, if the questions are too difficult, I'm definitely not the only one who can't solve them."

Li Ao walked at the back of the group, not joining their discussion.

He wasn't worried at all about the first day of the IMO exam.

In fact, he was very confident that he could get a perfect score.

Since his intelligence attribute broke through the 120 mark, his abilities in the categories of "learning by analogy" and "abstract thinking" have both seen a significant increase.

Now, he has also gained a new term, "model analysis," which allows him to easily break down complex problems into simple models.

Over the past two days, he reviewed the challenging past exam questions he had practiced before and gained many new insights from them.

It's more than enough to handle the IMO exam papers.

After all, since taking the AMC 12, he has never lost a single point in any math exam, big or small.

Facing the IMO, he only needs to maintain his consistent performance.

And now that he's come this far, he has to bring out his best.

Before long, everyone entered the examination room and took their assigned seats.

When the bell rang, the invigilators and organizers took the sealed test papers to the front of the stage, read out the examination rules, and then opened and distributed the test papers.

When the staff distributed the same test papers to each candidate's desk, they also included a few words of encouragement.

Good luck to everyone.

Li Ao received the test paper and quickly glanced at it.

There are only three proof questions.

At first glance, the question format is not much different from previous years.

The next second, he was already immersed in the exam paper, officially switching to problem-solving mode.

The first question was a plane geometry problem. The conditions were a bit convoluted, and the relationships hidden in the diagram were somewhat complex, but for him, it was just a simple appetizer.

The second question was an algebraic inequality, which involved a lot of calculations and took him a little time to break down the structure.

Fortunately, none of them seemed too difficult.

"Coach Miller said this year's test was on the harder side, right? How come the first two questions seemed so easy? The second question was just a bit more calculation-intensive."

Just as Li Ao was wondering to himself, he saw the last question of the day, which was the third question.

The grand finale.

……