With the recommendation exam slot secured by his father, John was actually taking the entrance exam earlier than Pony.
Two weeks earlier, to be precise.
The recommendation exams were set in mid-February, unlike the American schools that started the school year in August.
It was due to this that John had to finish middle school half a semester in advance in order to make it on time for this exam.
...
"Good luck, John!"
Pony cheered as John entered the UA campus.
John waved back at her and walked through the front gate.
The number of participants for the recommendation exam was surprisingly high. From what he could see, there were maybe 1000 total students, which was just a fraction of the over 10,000 students for general exam.
The exam itself was split into 4 sections: the standard written exam, the UA hero exam, the preliminary rounds, and lastly, the final selection.
According to rumors, the final selection was going to be an obstacle race this year, which John had taken with a grain of salt.
For the standardized entrance exam, only a calculator, pencil, and eraser were allowed. It was primarily essay and short response questions, with very few multiple-choice questions.
It covered all the subjects taught in Japanese schools, including math, English, Japanese, social studies, math, science, and quirk studies.
This was essentially a condensed form of the standard high school entrance exam taken during the final year of junior high, but much more difficult.
The test was 90 questions, with 3 hours total to complete. For John, who was both conveniently a top student at an elite American private school and fluent in Japanese, this was not too difficult for him.
The only challenging area was social studies, which was a memorization heavy subject. Even for John, this was not something that could be crammed in a short period.
After 3 hours were up, examinees were given a 30 minute break. By this point, John's hand had nearly developed carpel tunnel from the writing.
The next exam, thankfully, was mostly multiple choice and short answer.
However, it was by no means easy. As a test specially prepared for recommendation students, it was carefully crafted to test the participants' readiness to be a hero.
This was UA's written heroics assessment exam, covering the legality of heroics, philosophy, quirk use, and situational analysis.
It was a 60 question MCQ, followed by 5 short answer response questions.
This was another 2 hour exam, totaling 5 and a half hours. Already almost comparable to a school day, this was only half the exam.
...
"John, how'd you do?" Pony tugged on John's jacket. "Was it a hard exam?"
John sighed. "The standard exam was not too bad, but that second exam was pretty hard."
Pony's eyes widened. "Really? Even for you?"
John nodded. This test was among the most difficult tests he had taken in his life. 5 hours of testing in a single day was not something common in America.
"And I still have to take the practical test tomorrow." John transformed his hand into Lego bricks and shuffled them. Now, facing the exam for real, even he couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Oh yeah! I almost forget it's split into 2 days." Pony nodded.
Aside from banning quirk equipment, the practical was fairly lax in what participants could wear.
However, John didn't have anything medical quirk assistance device needs or cool costume. After all, his quirk was Lego themed.
John took a rest and reprieve, sleeping early that night.
There was no amount of training that would help him pass that could fit into 1 night, so it was better for him to rest.
The next day.
John woke up naturally, without the need for any alarm.
With a full 12 hours of sleep, he felt quite refreshed.
As expected, the tension was high.
Unlike yesterday, everyone was a direct competitor today. There was no room for mercy.
The qualifier rounds, as usual, would reduce the number of qualified participants down to just 40, while the final selection would score those 40 participants and pass the 4 highest scoring ones.
"Hoo..." John felt trepidation as Present Mic, the announcer and preliminary judge took stage.
"Welcome, examinees! Are you ready to rumble!?"
In response, he received a wave of half hearted claps and cheers.
Clearly, no one was in a joking mood.
"Today is the first day of the rest of your hero career! Now, I don't want to bore you too much, so let's get started with the preliminary rounds! You should all know already, but this is where the 40 qualifiers are be chosen for the final exam!"
Present Mic switched the screen to show the rules of the preliminary round.
"In this round, everyone will be split up into 12 arenas, each one a massive maze complex built by UA."
"You each start with 3 badges, each worth 1 point, and in order to pass, you need to reach at least 6 points. For this challenge, you may either place down a badge at a goal to claim it, take badges, or reach a hidden objective."
"Each badge you carry is worth 1 point, standing at an unclaimed goal is worth 1 point, keeping your badge at a claimed goal is worth 2 points, and hidden objectives are 2 points each. If the goal is claimed by anyone, including yourself, you cannot gain a point from standing by it."
"You will be informed of 4 goal positions, and the first person to claim the goal will keep it. However, if the badge is removed from the goal, you lose the point from both the badge and the goal. Others cannot claim that goal anymore, and to reclaim it, you must place another badge there."
"And as a reminder, there are also 60 other badges unowned that can be claimed scattered throughout each arena!"
"Remember! No violence is allowed! You may not fight each other or take badges directly off a person's body!"
John reread the rules several times as Present Mic emphasized each point. This was a surprisingly difficult exam, with lots of variables and considerations.
If he was understanding it correctly, this meant that there were only 4000-5000 goals, and about 4000 points in badges.
Divided into 12 arenas, that was about 350 points and 400 goals.
If 40 people were allowed to pass, then each one, on average should have between 6 and... 20 points?
If all possible unowned badges were claimed, then on average, 20, but the minimum was 6. However, that was just a minimum. 6 was obviously not enough.
More likely, it was to mislead people into a false sense of security. Just a couple points above 6 would be what many would aim for.
But John estimated that 13 points would be the average passing score.
However...
John's eyes flashed as he read the rules once more.
_____________
(Writing this and realizing that it was slowly becoming the Hunter Exam lol. Coming up with exams is hard, this one is probably a bit too complex, should've saved it for the future)