Everything was clear after reading through the paper, all of the questions I had.
Like why Anya has to give this exam, and what Mr. Halls meant by "why are you giving this exam".
This is what was written in the paper.
This school has four classes for each grade; they are divided into class A, class B, class C, and class D.
And this is where the entrance exam comes in. According to how the student performs in this exam, they will be assigned to these classes.
If you perform well then you will be given class A, if you perform mediocrely then you will get class B or C, and if you mess up in this exam and perform worst then it's a given that you'll end up in class D.
At the moment, I don't know what's the difference between being in class A or class D but I think it's something related to your social standing inside the academy. But I can't fully believe it because the chances of the academy conducting an exam for the social standing of the students, were pretty low I think.
There will be four exams we'll have to give.
The first one will be a written exam where our academic abilities will be tested; I think this won't pose a problem for me because the level of education they have in this world is a bit low.
From what I've concluded, if you're a high-school graduate then you can be the smartest person in this world. That's how it is.
The second exam will be the one that'll test our magic skills; when I first read this then I thought it was weird because people are coming to this academy to learn magic and that means they don't know how to use magic yet.
So I asked a few students around me and it will be wrong to say that I wasn't surprised. Apparently, things were not like that. The heirs of nobles already learned magic from their parents and they were coming to this academy to improve their skills; just like me.
And how do their parents know how to use magic? Well, the same cycles repeat for this; they also learned a little from their parents and then from the academy. Learning magic was a must if you are a higher-class noble so this cycle repeats in every generation.
This magic exam was to determine how much magic the student knows and their current skill level.
This left me in confusion, since I was not a son of a higher-class noble there was no way my father knew magic so, at this point, I don't know how I will take this exam.
So for now, I focused on the next exam.
The third one was to test our sword skills; sword arts basically. As Anya has told me before, this academy not only focused on magic but sword arts also. This exam also was not a problem because thanks to Anya, I knew the basics of sword arts.
I know that I just knew the basics but I think I will get passed at least.
Now, the thing I was worried about the most was the fourth exam; nothing was mentioned regarding that. The text "special exam" was written in the place where the details were supposed to be.
This left me wondering what type of exam it will be...…better to stay on my guard for this.
"I think all you have read the paper we just handed you over and have understood what type of exams there will be. But just in case, let me ask this: do you have any questions?"
Waking me up was Mr. Halls's voice. It looks like he was confirming if any of us has a doubt regarding the exam.
There was dead silence for a while but then someone raised his hands; it was a boy who stood on the left side of the third row.
"Yes?" halls asked.
"The question I have is rather simple, what is this fourth exam about? We are given the details about the rest of the three exams but why not this one? What does this 'special exam' means?" the boy asked.
From his looks, it was clear that he was from a good, or I should say rich family; his clothing and his manner of speaking indicated that.
Also, he has asked the same question I was wondering about. I didn't raise my hand and I asked it myself because I already knew what answer I'll get.
Mr. Halls then turned toward the boy and pinned his gaze on him.
"It means just that; the fourth exam is a special exam. We can't tell you the details at this moment, but it will be revealed to you before you take on the special exam," said Mr. Halls.
Just like I expected!
If they are not telling you about it in the official paper then it would be pretty idiotic to think that they'll you if you ask directly.
"And so it is. Any more questions?"
No one raised their hands this time; maybe everyone had the same question I had and now that it was cleared that they won't be getting anywhere with this. There was no point in asking again.
Mr. Halls looked over the whole area and confirmed that no one has any doubts, after that he spoke.
"I see. Now, form a line and follow the staff members. They will take to where the first exam will be held."
A few people came forward; they were the same who handed us the papers. Then we just did what we were told; following a line and following them.
Leaving the big hall we walked through the hallway and were led to a specific classroom. The line was very long so I had to wait a bit before I entered the room; it was the same for Anya as she was just in front of me.
Entering the room I saw an entirely different type of classroom; nothing like the one I was used to in my previous life.
Before the large blackboard was a podium and after that was the place for students to sit. The chairs and tables were built in a staircase-type style; like the ones you see in universities.
The rows of long, round, wooden tables were all aligned in a semi-circular fashion, and directly faced the podium and the large blackboard behind it.
Near the podium was a small wooden table there were a bunch of paper sheets on it. Behind the table stood a woman; most likely in her end- twenties.
She was handing that sheet of paper to every student who entered the classroom and that sheet was probably the question paper.
Since Anya was in front of me, she already has taken the paper and was going to sit by the time it was my turn.
The woman gave me the paper and I quickly glanced through it; just as I suspected, it is the question paper.
Then I walked toward the seats with the paper in my hand; the front rows were all full so I went and sat on the left side of the fifth row.
Maybe the exam was already on because the ones who got here before were already writing. And so, I also started reading the question paper.
'Ah! Just like I thought," I sighed internally.
The question paper can't be considered difficult from any angle, in fact, it was easy. It was divided into two parts, maths, and literature.
The maths questions were mainly based on intermediate-level fractions and basic-level algebra with some quadric equation questions mixed in. All were easy for me and can be easily solved.
But it was not the easiness of the questions that surprised me, it was that the concepts of algebra and quadric equations existed in this world; though it was in early stages.
The literature part well...you can say a middle-school student can solve it easily, and so was true for me as a high-school student.
The paper consisted of hundred questions in total and I can confidently say that I knew them all. There are a few questions on which I will need to think a bit before writing but in the end, I can solve them.
If this was the level of this entrance exam then I was worried over nothing.
Even so, I didn't start bombing the question paper with answers. It was because I was a bit confused now. The reason was the class system that was introduced; our results in this exam will clearly determine in which class we will be assigned.
So, I was confused about how should I perform in this exam. Let's just say that the students in class A are treated as some respected people and are the center of attention, many students may admire them also.
Just to be clear, this is not a random guess I am making. Let's take this written exam, for example, it is easy for me but I doubt that's the case for other students as well.
I gazed upon the students who were sitting near me and saw that they were having trouble solving the questions; even Anya has stopped writing now.
There will be only a handful of students who can solve this easily, just like the girl who's sitting beside me right now. I have not seen her stop writing even once ever since I sat here.
Students like her will be selected for class A and play the role of those chosen elites. Of course, just by thinking about it, I can say that's not a role fit for someone like me who wants a peaceful life.
'I came to this academy to learn magic after all, not to be a big shot or something.'
After a long period of thinking over it, I decided what I had to do. Then, I took out a pen from my pocket and started writing.
Yeah, they haven't provided us with pens. It was thoughtful of me to bring a pen from home, Any was resisting saying that I'm acting like Ainge but even then I forcefully gave her a pen.
'Now she must be thanking me in her mind. It's not like I want that though.'
I removed the pen's cap and started writing, answering the questions one by one.
It was after ten or fifteen minutes that I was done writing.
In the end, I decided to answer sixty questions and leave the remaining forty of them blank. This way, I will be a part of *The Average Students*.
I stood up from my seat and walked toward the podium, and then I submitted my paper to the woman there.
She glanced at the paper and then looked at me, she must be thinking that I'm an idiot because the questions I left blank were the starting ones.
"Now what?" I asked.
"Go straight in the hallway and after five classrooms you will find a hall-like room, that's where the second exam is being taken," she replied.
"Okay, thank you."
Following her advice, I left the room. Before that I took a peak at Anya; she was still writing.
'I hope she doesn't mess this up.'