Chapter 41: The Results Are In

"Remember, no discussing the questions when we get back today. Let's all focus on preparing for tomorrow's lab exam."

Hu Shucheng, who had always been keen on discussing questions after exams, surprisingly showed restraint this time.

It was clear that Hu Shucheng took this national selection very seriously.

This felt like the closest Hu Shucheng had ever been to being directly admitted to the Jingbei elite group.

If he couldn't make it into the national training team, Hu Shucheng might never have another chance with Jingbei.

After dinner in the cafeteria of Xingcheng Experimental Middle School, the team members returned to their hotel under the guidance of their team leaders to rest.

Back in their room, Xu You and Hu Shucheng both took out their lab books, reviewing the experiments listed in the exam syllabus.

But for them, these experiments were too familiar.

"Xu You, should we... go over the questions?"

After a while, Hu Shucheng couldn't hold back any longer.

Xu You smirked in response.

"Who was the first to insist on not discussing the questions?"

"Ah, there's not much to review for a lab exam. I could do these experiments with my eyes closed."

Hu Shucheng wasn't exaggerating; these experiments were indeed child's play for him.

And Xu You felt the same; revisiting these lab concepts now seemed pointless.

Xu You had already mastered the theoretical aspects of the labs on his own.

As for the practical parts, under Hu Shucheng's guidance, Xu You had become very proficient.

With no labs or equipment to practice with in the hotel, they pondered.

"So... shall we discuss?"

Though discussing the questions immediately after the exam wasn't a good habit and could affect subsequent exams, with only one lab exam left, it seemed unlikely to impact them.

Unable to resist, they began to reconstruct the questions.

To avoid affecting the other team members, they didn't discuss this with anyone else.

Confident in their abilities, they were sure they could reconstruct all the questions.

"Hmm, no problem with the first question. It's too familiar, just like the one you did on the blackboard the other day."

"The second question should be full marks for both of us."

When they reached the third question, their answers diverged.

"I think I made a mistake!"

After recalculating, Hu Shucheng realized he had made a mistake in one of the calculations, leading to incorrect results throughout.

Though a calculation error wouldn't result in a significant loss of marks, every point was crucial in the competitive national selection.

After reconstructing all five questions, they estimated their scores.

"Xu You, you should be secure for the national team. My score is uncertain."

Hu Shucheng found no fault with Xu You's solutions.

But Hu Shucheng had likely lost seventy to eighty points.

Even if Hu Shucheng performed exceptionally well in the lab, his admission to the national team remained uncertain.

"Alright, Hu, don't worry too much. The exam's over, and we can't change the scores. Labs are your strength; just perform normally."

"Don't worry; it won't affect me. This is my usual level; I still have a lot to learn from you in theory."

Despite being dissatisfied with the results, Hu Shucheng didn't let it affect his morale.

He was aiming for a perfect score in the next day's lab exam.

On the 25th, team members from each province set off in groups to the lab exam venue at the College of Science building, Xiangnan Normal University.

Xu You was confident about the lab exam.

Compared to the theory exam, the lab exam was more strictly aligned with the syllabus and didn't have the unpredictable variety of the theory questions.

Of course, the difficulty was slightly higher than the semi-finals' lab section.

Though there were only two questions, they included many parts.

After quickly reading through the questions, Xu You immediately planned the experimental steps and began his work.

Compared to chemistry labs, physics labs had a higher tolerance for minor errors, not significantly affecting the final results.

Still, to ensure a smooth experiment, it was crucial to minimize mistakes.

During previous training, Hu Zheng shared some shortcuts for when time was short.

Ultimately, the lab report was what mattered most, and only the experimenter knew the exact process.

However, Xu You believed in taking the lab exam seriously, aiming to obtain data and conclusions through proper experimentation.

Each question was divided into many parts, covering various topics.

The first question included four electrical experiments, measurements using a Michelson interferometer for white light equal-thickness interference, and measurements of the moment of inertia of a rigid body using rotation.

Even though each part wasn't overly difficult, familiarity with the experiments was essential.

The second question involved more challenging experiments, like measuring capacitance and inductance with low-frequency AC signals and measuring characteristic

 impedance with square wave signals.

Students were expected to design and connect circuit diagrams and derive some theoretical formulas.

But for Xu You, these were not overly difficult tasks.

Eventually, Xu You finished all the experiments ahead of time and submitted his lab report.

Leaving the exam room, Xu You finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After days of preparation, the physics competition was over.

However, they couldn't leave Xingcheng immediately after the exam, as there were still activities organized by the competition authorities and the results announcement and award ceremony to attend.

Finally, on the 27th, the national selection results were announced.

The team leaders and coaches from each province traveled to Xingcheng Experimental Middle School to meet with the grading team and review each student's scores.

To ensure accurate scoring, team leaders could collect photocopies of their students' answer sheets.

If there were disputes over the scores, they could appeal before the final results were confirmed.

But with each paper carefully reviewed by the grading team, finding extra points was unlikely.

After receiving the photocopies of the answer sheets and scores, Hu Zheng gathered the fifteen team members.

"The preliminary results and rankings are out. While it's possible some students might regain a point or two, the rankings are essentially set."

Everyone anxiously awaited the final results and rankings from Hu Zheng.

"Based on the preliminary rankings, this year, Ningjiang province will have team members joining the final national physics training team."

(End of Chapter)