From child prodigy to chief scientist

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, such a student will definitely get a perfect score on the first day's test.

A score of 123 would place him among the top few in previous years. Generally, each year's CMO awards only have one or two perfect scores, and it's quite common for no one to achieve a perfect score.

The difficulty of this year's exam was unprecedented, making it hard for the graders to believe that students would achieve higher scores.

Just then, another teacher suddenly exclaimed in a low voice.

"This... there are actually students who managed to get all three questions on the second day's test right!"

The difficulty of doing this is obvious. Normally, it would be considered very good if a student could solve a challenging problem correctly within two hours.

Even if these experts were to take the test, there's no guarantee they could answer all three challenging questions correctly within four and a half hours.

He only managed to suppress his surprise because teachers cannot communicate directly with each other during the grading process.

CMO uses a cross-marking method, meaning that a candidate's final score is only determined if two teachers give the same score for a question.

If there are discrepancies in the scores, the question will be reviewed by a panel of experts, who will jointly determine the final score.

Of course, generally speaking, as long as the grading standards are strictly followed, disagreements are relatively rare.

The next few exam papers returned to a relatively normal state.

Test takers usually only get some scattered points and find it difficult to answer the questions completely correctly.

But not long after, the examiner came across another unusual exam paper.

"This...another perfect score?"

Even in years when the questions were relatively simple, it was quite rare to have two perfect scores.

In years when the questions are exceptionally difficult, it is extremely difficult to get a high score, let alone a perfect score.

"Wait a minute... these two exam papers are from the same exam room."

This inevitably made him a little suspicious, but after comparing the solution processes of the two test papers, his doubts quickly dissipated.

Because the two students' problem-solving processes are clearly different; apart from the more common methods, there is not much similarity in many aspects.

This only proves that they answered the questions completely independently, and there was no possibility of cheating such as peeking at each other's papers.

The CMO exam maintains strict confidentiality and invigilation procedures. In some ways, cheating on the CMO is even more difficult than cheating on the college entrance exam.

This forced him to admit that this year's contestants were exceptionally strong, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were the strongest in history.

By evening, the grading work was basically finished.

For most questions, the teachers gave the same score, with only a very few questions having different scores.

After discussing the controversial parts, the teachers officially determined the scores and rankings of all students.

At this point, the winners of the gold, silver, and bronze medals in this CMO competition, as well as the list of those selected for the national training team, have been basically finalized.

Of course, there is still a very small chance that these rankings will change.

Because students have the right to request a review of their scores after they know them.

However, such applications generally do not change the scores, since the graders have already checked them very carefully.

Unless there is a serious error in the scoring process, or the candidate provides a sufficiently valid reason, there is no possibility of changing the score.

"Now let's announce the students' scores to the provincial teams. If a score review is needed, the application must be submitted before 10:00 AM tomorrow."

Since the awards ceremony and closing ceremony are tomorrow afternoon, the final awards definitely need to be determined before then.

Subsequently, the event organizers notified the team leaders of each province that they could come and collect their results sheets.

It's already quite late today, and everyone thought the results probably wouldn't be out until tomorrow morning.

Upon receiving the notification, everyone felt a little lost, but they couldn't wait to go and collect their results.

Upon seeing the report card, Ma Junfeng's expression was one of utter astonishment, and he even seemed to doubt whether he had misread it.

"Xu Xiao...126 points?"

He could imagine that Xu Xiao's score would be quite high, but he never expected that Xu Xiao would actually get a perfect score.

It's worth noting that this year's exam was notoriously difficult, making it even harder to get a high score.

Under such circumstances, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is for Xu Xiao to not lose a single point.

Recalling Xu Xiao's unusual performance during the training camp, Ma Junfeng couldn't help but feel somewhat fortunate.

Fortunately, he had given Xu Xiao enough space beforehand, and even though some of Xu Xiao's requests were unreasonable, he did not refuse them.

As it turns out, Ma Junfeng's choice was indeed correct.

For these very special children, a personalized education approach is necessary.

Compared to Xu Xiao's outstanding performance, the performances of the other team members were much worse.

However, given the overall difficulty of the questions, such a score is quite normal.

Back at his residence with the results report, Ma Junfeng, disregarding the fact that some team members might already be resting, immediately gathered everyone together for a meeting.

The team members could all guess that the meeting at this time was basically to announce the results, and they all eagerly ran towards Ma Junfeng's room.

"Teacher Ma, have the results come out yet?"

"Did any of our team members make it to the national team?"

"What was my score, Teacher Ma?"

Seeing the team members chattering away, Ma Junfeng put on his usual serious expression.

"Right now, I only have the scores of our team members; there's no specific ranking yet. I'll read out the scores when you all quiet down."

Upon hearing this, no one dared to say anything more, and they quietly watched Ma Junfeng, waiting anxiously.

Ma Junfeng didn't keep anyone in suspense and immediately began reading out the scores in descending order.

"Xu Xiao, 126 points!"

Upon hearing Xu Xiao's score, everyone in the room gaped in astonishment.

"What? 126 points...isn't that a perfect score?"

"Holy crap... how could he get full marks on such a difficult question!"

"Wow, that's awesome! Number one in the whole country, and it's Liaoning Province!"

The news was so shocking that even in front of Ma Junfeng, they could hardly control their emotions, and some team members even swore.