Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 162 Exam
Chen Fan held a handful of soybeans in his hand, eating as he walked. He finished eating just as he arrived at Captain Yang's house.

By this time, a lot of people had gathered at his house. As soon as Chen Fan arrived, someone shouted, "Master Chen is here!"

Then a large number of people poured out.

Chen Fan was a little stunned. Were there more onlookers than people taking the exam? Or were they all parents?
Relying on his acquaintance with Chen Fan, Huang Laosi came over and offered him a cigarette, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, Master Chen."

Chen Fan took the cigarette and looked at him in surprise, "Your family also has a child enrolled?"

Huang Laosi chuckled, "A few nephews and nieces."

several?

Chen Fan was a little confused. He thought there would be at most 5 or 6 people taking the exam, but the Huang family had several. Was they going to use a human wave tactic?
If one doesn't work, then use a whole bunch?
At this moment, Accountant Liu also hurried over, "Come, come, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

As Chen Fan walked, he said, "Company Commander Zhang asked me to come over because of something, so I was delayed for a bit."

After hearing this, Accountant Liu swallowed back what he was about to say.

Upon entering Captain Yang's home, custodian Huang immediately came out of the room and handed him three file folders.

Chen Fan took it in his hand and looked at it. The cover said it was a third-grade elementary school graduation exam paper.

It seems this is still a five-year primary school. If it were a six-year system, students would graduate from primary school in the fourth grade.

There are three subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, and General Knowledge.

In his general knowledge class, he learned about everything, including weather proverbs such as "When swallows fly low and snakes cross the road, when chickens roost late and frogs croak, when salt pans are flooded and tobacco leaves are damp, heavy rain is coming soon," as well as crops, pests, and beneficial insects. He also learned about heroes, how to identify special agents, counter-revolutionaries, and bad elements, and so on.

Yes, he learned all of this from textbooks he bought from the Xinhua Bookstore in the commune; he had never studied it in his previous life.

Or perhaps you learned it but forgot it.

He didn't look much, but simply asked, "Is everyone here?"

The custodian, Huang, immediately nodded. "They've all arrived long ago. There are 13 in total. The youngest is 11 years old and graduated from primary school a year ago. The oldest is 17 years old and dropped out after finishing the second grade of the village primary school. However, she is quite smart and often studies on her own. Many of those who graduated from higher primary school are not as good as her."

Chen Fan casually replied, "Is that so?"

Well, they know how to choose people. They were exactly one year above and below his age limit, respectively. Chen Fan didn't believe they weren't doing it on purpose.

The custodian, Huang, thought he didn't believe that someone who had only completed two years of primary school could be better than a graduate of higher primary school, so he immediately beckoned, "Huang Ying, come here."

Huang Ying quickly squeezed through the crowd and ran over, "Fourth Uncle."

Then she smiled sweetly at Chen Fan and said, "Hello, Teacher Chen."

Chen Fan blinked at her. Why was she here too?
At the same time, he almost swallowed back the question, "Why is it a woman?"

It doesn't matter what the villagers say; they're related, and you can't do anything about their preference for sons over daughters. But if he dares to say something like that, Comrade Yang Xingxiu might have a talk with him.

He nodded stiffly and smiled, "Hello."

But is studying veterinary medicine really suitable for girls?

To be fair, he's quite quick-witted, knowing that he should call him Teacher Chen instead of Master Chen.

Captain Yang, with a pipe in his mouth, said, "This set of test papers is a spare set I got from the commune primary school. When I got it, the principal sealed it with glue and stamped it with the official seal, so that no one has ever seen it."

Chen Fan looked around. "Where is the exam held?"

Captain Yang pointed to the open space in front of the building, "This will do." Chen Fan looked outside and blinked, "It's so cold outside, aren't you afraid of catching a cold?"

Accountant Liu raised his old face and said, "Hey, what's this? Everyone goes through this. Taking final exams in the summer is what you call 'baking'."

Captain Yang also said, "Wear thick clothes and a hat, so there's nothing to worry about."

Chen Fan didn't understand why the final exams in the summer were called "exams," so he followed Captain Yang out the door to prepare to proctor the exams.

Captain Yang waved his hands, "The exam is coming up, let's go, let's all move away."

Everyone immediately started laughing and walking towards the road, standing there watching from a distance.

Accountant Liu then directed the candidates to come and collect their benches.

Yes, we have both long benches and small benches. The long benches are used as tables, and the small benches are for sitting.

With no one to help, all the candidates carried the benches themselves. Chen Fan even suspected that they had brought them themselves, since Captain Yang's family didn't have that many benches.

Soon the candidates were seated in four rows, each person was two benches apart to the left and right and one bench apart to the front and back. With them sitting so far apart, the pilots' eyesight would not be good.

After they were seated, they each took out their stationery.

It's just a pencil and an eraser, nothing else.

Some people's erasers are clearly cut from a single piece, so it goes without saying that they must all share the same surname.

Without saying much, Chen Fan tore open the seal on the file bag and said, "Let's test Chinese first."

The exam paper was pulled out; it was a mimeographed paper with handwritten questions, but each stroke was neat and clearer than printed text, demonstrating the author's skill.

(Handwritten mimeographed exam paper)
The test papers were handed out one by one, and in the end there were two left, plus an answer key.

That's good, that saves Chen Fan from the embarrassment of not being able to answer the questions.

It's not that he can't do it, but some things might be inappropriate, and writing them down would inevitably be a bit awkward.

Having a reference answer would be much better, and with a scoring standard, it would be clear who is right and who is wrong just by looking at the reference answer, and no one would be able to say anything.

Thirteen candidates sat in the cold wind answering questions. The village road next to them was crowded with people, but no one spoke loudly. Even when they did, it was just a few words in a low voice.

Chen Fan naturally sat at the door with Captain Yang, Accountant Liu, and Warehouse Keeper Huang to supervise the exam.

The custodian, Mr. Huang, scanned everyone with his eyes, a pipe dangling from his mouth, and said with a smile, “Back when we were in school, math was still called arithmetic, and there were no general knowledge classes. The main subjects were only Chinese and arithmetic. In primary school, the minor subjects were drawing, music, and physical education. In upper primary school, we added natural science, history, and geography. But you had to practice calligraphy and abacus calculation. If you didn’t pass the abacus calculation test, you couldn’t graduate.”

Accountant Liu habitually contradicted him, saying, "You're talking about back then. Back then, we only got 5 points on a test. You only needed 3 points to pass. Now, a test is out of 100. Times have changed."

Seeing that the custodian Huang's eyes were wide open, as if he was about to confront the accountant Liu head-on, Captain Yang habitually changed the subject, "Back then we had a saying: 'Exams, exams, exams, the teacher's magic weapon; grades, grades, grades, the student's lifeline.'"

Chen Fan's eyes widened instantly. Was this sentence really that historical?
Captain Yang continued, "We have unit tests and qualifying tests on weekdays, and formal exams include midterms and finals. Midterm and final exams are divided into county-wide unified exams and town-wide unified exams. Town-wide unified exams are set by the township education group, while county-wide unified exams are set by the county education commission."

Back then, exams for lower grades involved dictation, which took half an hour, and that was it. Now, even first graders have written tests.

The older students, however, always had exam papers. During the exams, all the students were taken to the playground, and each student was spaced about half a meter apart. Forget about copying, you couldn't even hear someone talking.

Taking exams in the snow in winter is alright, you just need to wear more layers. The worst is summer. The sun beats down on you, making you dizzy and lightheaded, and you still have to take the exam. Your exam paper is soaked with sweat. I don't know if it's the students taking the exam or the sun baking you.

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan suddenly realized that what Accountant Liu meant when he said, "Taking the final exam in the summer is called 'baking'," was actually the same as the word for barbecue.

(End of this chapter)