Chapter 23: Must You Spread Your Efforts Evenly?

The second-highest scorer, Hu Shucheng, also achieved a high score of 192.

The cutoff score for advancing to the semifinals this year was higher than in previous years, reaching 116 points.

With scores like those of Xu You and Hu Shucheng, if they perform normally in the semifinals, they really have a good chance of making it into the provincial team.

In his excitement, Gao Shang decided to quickly gather these candidates who had made it to the semifinals and start a new round of intensive training.

After calling the students from classes one, two, and three, Gao Shang arrived at the door of class six.

At that moment, class six was in the middle of a physics lesson.

Gao Shang knocked on the door, and Zhao Shuang invited him in with a "please enter."

"Teacher Zhao, I'm looking for Xu You."

Seeing the joy on Gao Shang's face, Zhao Shuang guessed what it might be about.

"Teacher Gao, have the preliminary results been released?"

"Yes, Xu You scored 198 points, the highest in the school. There's really a chance of making it to the provincial team this time, maybe even going further."

Although Zhao Shuang was initially against Xu You participating in the competition, he genuinely felt happy for Xu You upon hearing of his excellent results.

Despite Zhao Shuang and Gao Shang speaking softly, many students in the class heard their conversation clearly.

"What's the full score for the physics competition preliminary round?"

"It seems to be 200 points. Xu You lost only two points!"

"Wow, losing only two points on competition questions, what does that tell you!"

"Even the specialized Olympiad classes don't have scores higher than Xu You's. Xu You is really awesome!"

Xu You's achievement in the competition made his classmates view him in a new light once again.

As for Xu You himself, he was not surprised by his score, as he had already known it wouldn't be too low after checking answers with Hu Shucheng.

"Xu You, go to Teacher Gao."

"Okay, teacher."

As Xu You stood up to leave, Dong Chao felt a mix of happiness for Xu You and a pang of jealousy.

His desk mate, who once had similar grades, was now on a completely different level.

"Xu You, you won't forget about me, your desk mate, will you?"

Looking at Dong Chao, Xu You said with a smile:

"Don't worry, with your face full of acne, I definitely won't forget you."

Soon, the twelve candidates for the physics competition semifinals were all gathered by Gao Shang.

Gao Shang first announced each student's preliminary results and the cutoff score, giving everyone a rough idea of their level.

"Ah, still six points less than Xu You."

Although a score of 192 was not low, it only ranked second in the school.

However, losing to Xu You was not something Hu Shucheng regretted.

Moreover, the preliminary round was just a warm-up for Hu Shucheng; the real challenge for him would be the semifinals.

"The preliminaries are over, and since their results won't count towards the semifinals, everyone is theoretically on the same level now. Please forget your preliminary scores; the semifinals are a completely different kind of exam."

When the physics competition sprint class started, Gao Shang had briefly introduced the semifinals to everyone and had practiced some semifinal questions with them.

"Now, let me explain the format of the semifinals again. The semifinals consist of theoretical and experimental parts, with the theoretical part worth 320 points, including eight calculation questions, each worth 40 points, and a total of three hours to complete. The experimental part is worth 80 points, and only those ranked high in the theoretical part will qualify for the experimental exam."

"It can be said that the semifinals still primarily assess theoretical knowledge. Of course, the experimental part should not be overlooked. Although it's worth fewer points, it can significantly affect the final rankings."

"So, in the next two weeks, we not only need to practice theory but also spend some time on experiments. Every student should be prepared to participate in the experimental exam."

After outlining the plans, Gao Shang led the team into intensive training for the semifinals.

The new round of training was significantly more intense than before, focusing on solving complex problems, including many real questions from the CPhO finals.

This put a lot of pressure on the competitors.

But for candidates like Xu You and Hu Shucheng, this level of difficulty was entirely manageable.

After all, they had already begun preparing for the semifinals well in advance.

As he continued to grow, Xu You was finally able to keep up with Gao Shang's pace in a normal state.

Xu You meticulously planned his daily energy use to ensure he had enough

 energy left in the evening for self-study.

In addition to preparing for the physics competition semifinals, Xu You was also preparing for the math competition league.

Preparing for two competitions simultaneously did not distract Xu You.

Over these days, Xu You gradually discovered the various wonderful applications of mathematical knowledge in physics.

In some cases, understanding some mathematical techniques could make solving problems much simpler than using physics knowledge alone.

It can be said that a solid foundation in mathematics is of great help for the physics competition.

As the math competition league approached, Xu You informed Gao Shang of his participation.

"You didn't mention it, and I almost forgot. Are you really not focusing solely on physics and insisting on spreading your efforts?"

Seeing Gao Shang's half-joking, half-serious expression, Xu You couldn't tell if Gao Shang was seriously against him participating or just joking.

"Hehe, go ahead, if I don't let you go, you won't be able to concentrate on physics anyway."

In the end, Gao Shang couldn't really stop Xu You from participating in the math competition.

Even if Xu You's heart wasn't entirely in physics, at least he was still there with him.

All these days, Xu You had never reported to the math competition sprint class, nor did he know the math teachers.

Gao Shang naturally didn't think Xu You would achieve any notable results in math.

It would be better to end this aspiration sooner rather than later.

On September 13th, the math competition league officially began.

Since Shengcheng was the provincial capital of Ningjiang Province and the exam venue was not far from Xu You's home, he didn't need to stay in a hotel.

After getting up in the morning, Xu You took a taxi to the exam venue.

Following the information on his admission ticket, Xu You found his examination room and took his seat on time.

The math competition league consisted of two tests.

The first test ran from 8:00 to 9:20, lasting 80 minutes, and included both fill-in-the-blank and problem-solving questions, totaling 120 points.

There was a 20-minute break after the first test.

During this period, if students felt dissatisfied with their performance in the first test, they could choose not to take the second test.

The second test ran from 9:40 to 12:10, lasting 150 minutes, with four problem-solving questions and a total of 180 points.

The second test was the key to determining the students' scores.

At 8:00, the first test officially began.

"The first question: Let the real number a satisfy a < 9a - 11a < |a|, what is the range of values for a?"

This first question stumped many students.

A cubic inequality involving an absolute value?

Such problems are rare in regular high school mathematics.

Some students couldn't find a clear approach within a few minutes and hesitated whether to skip it.

But skipping the first question could severely impact their performance on subsequent questions.

However, for Xu You, this kind of question was very simple.

(End of Chapter)