Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1140. Just because of this reason?
Dong Qiangqiang couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the deducted points on the test paper. He held the test paper in surprise for more than ten minutes. It was not until the teacher collected the test papers that he remembered that he did not use the limited time to copy down the wrong questions. But then he thought again, there was no need to copy them down at all, as he hardly lost any points on the previous questions. The reason for failing was extraordinarily simple: he did not get any points on the last big question.

He got no points for a big question, so he definitely failed. However, he clearly wrote down the reference answer word for word and adjusted the new result of the numerical calculation. Could it be that what he wrote was irrelevant? He read the answer and the question again and again, but he didn't see anything wrong with the answer. Because Zheng Chunhua had given him a heads-up in advance, Dong Qiangqiang knew that if he had any doubts about the grading, he should go to the professor of the subject instead of having any verbal conflict with the teacher at the examination center. The teacher at the examination center also told him: The professor will answer questions for this week, and there will be a make-up exam next week. He should go to the professor to ask in person as soon as possible.

He thanked the teacher, walked out of the examination center in great confusion and daze, looked at the blue sky and white clouds above his head, sorted out his messy thoughts, took a deep breath, and dived into the Economics Department building.

The number of people queuing in front of the finance professor's office was obviously smaller than that in front of the other professors' offices. He remembered that there were quite a few students taking the exam for this subject. Did everyone else pass? This made him feel even worse. He took the number from the teaching assistant as if he knew where to go. There were two girls in line in front of him. He quietly walked to a less crowded area in the corridor, looking at the content on the bulletin board on the wall next to him, but in his mind he was thinking about how to express his doubts to the professor when he met him later.

As time passed, the number of people and noise in the corridor gradually increased. The teaching assistant walked out of the office to maintain order, and the noise of the crowd subsided a little. Dong Qiangqiang saw the same confusion and bewilderment on these people's faces, as well as a sense of anger that he did not have. This made him feel a little better.

More than twenty minutes later, he finally waited until the girl in front of him walked out of the office with a pale face. Her face was full of dissatisfaction. She muttered something incoherently as she walked towards the end of the corridor. Dong Qiangqiang looked at her back thoughtfully. The teaching assistant whispered behind him that the professor was still waiting for him inside.

Just as he was about to step into the office door, the door of the office diagonally opposite suddenly opened, and Li Lei walked out with a few pieces of paper in his hand and a sad face.

When their eyes met, Li Lei's eyes flashed with reluctance and confusion, but there was also a glimmer of hope. He just opened his mouth and shouted, "Hey, Dong Qiangqiang, you..."

Dong Qiangqiang didn't bother to listen to what he said and walked into the office. The teaching assistant followed closely behind him and closed the door.

Professor Jörg, who teaches finance, is in his fifties, with a big belly and severe baldness, but he didn't shave all his hair off. He still stubbornly kept the few strands of hair he had. In sharp contrast to his sparse hair was his thick beard. He gestured to Dong Qiangqiang to "sit down", and Dong Qiangqiang sat down on the chair opposite his desk.

Dong Qiangqiang had dealt with him a lot during the semester and was no stranger to the professor and his teaching assistants.

"Please sit down, Chinese? I'm sorry I can't recognize Chinese faces and can't pronounce your name. What do you want to talk to me about?" Professor Jörg asked in a kind tone.

"Hello, professor. I am Dong Qiangqiang, a Chinese student. I have chosen your course "Public Finance" this semester and have taken the final exam. I studied very hard and often came to you or the teaching assistant to ask questions. I prepared for this exam for a long time and very thoroughly, but to my surprise, the test result was very different from what I expected. I have gone to the center to look at the test paper, and I did not get a single point on the last essay question. As far as I know, this question has been tested before, and there was a reference answer at that time. My answer this time is exactly the same as that one except for the numbers. I don't understand why I did not get a single point. Can you tell me the reason?" After careful consideration, Dong Qiangqiang decided to get straight to the point and ask the other party directly why he did not pass. Any detour would be a waste of his time.

"Oh, that's the story. So you are the Chinese student." Professor Jörg smiled and put his glasses back on his nose. "I have been waiting for you."

"Are you waiting for me? What are you waiting for?" Dong Qiangqiang was confused.

"In recent years, I have always met Chinese students like you. They are diligent, hardworking and serious, but they always make the same mistakes in exams."

"What... is wrong?" Dong Qiangqiang's heart tightened. "The last question of this exam and its reference answer have indeed been given before. You are right. Your answer is exactly the same as the reference answer except for the numbers, punctuation marks and prepositions. This brings up a question: I don't know if you really understand this question, or just memorized the answer and changed the numbers. The reference answer is only to provide students with ideas. We hope that students can answer each question in their own words instead of writing it down. Do you understand what it means?"

Dong Qiangqiang, who had taken countless exams since childhood, was a little slow to react when he heard about such a rule in college. He knew it was hopeless but still insisted, "Professor, of course I really understand. I can answer this question again in my own words right now, and I guarantee that what I say is completely different from the reference answer."

Although he said this, Dong Qiangqiang knew full well that the communication was over. The professor had reasons and evidence to make it impossible for him to change his grade. The fact that he failed was set in stone, and he could only prepare for a make-up exam.

As expected, Professor Jörg waved his hand and refused, "Young man, the concepts and formulas involved in this question have appeared in the previous questions, and you answered the previous questions very well, so I believe you understand it. But one of the rules of answering questions on the test paper is that you cannot answer exactly the same as the reference answer. Didn't you know about this rule before the test?"

"Professor, I really don't know." Dong Qiangqiang replied dejectedly.

"Generally, freshmen will learn the rules of answering questions before taking the exam in the first semester. Have you never heard of the pre-exam explanation?"

Dong Qiangqiang shook his head awkwardly.

"So you were exempted from class?"

"Yes, yes, how did you know?"

"Every year, there are Chinese students in your situation. Every student who comes to us has been exempted from classes to some extent. These things that you should have known in the first semester were passively delayed because of the exemptions. And no one mentioned it to you during the subsequent exams. You are good at memorizing, so this kind of thing happens again and again. It seems that I have to report this to the examination center again. You are not the first case, and you will not be the last. However, this invalid result is actually a huge waste of resources for the school, me, and you."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Dong Qiangqiang thought carefully as the professor taught him. Whether it was the last semester's exam or this semester, no one, whether it was the professor or the teaching assistant, had ever told him that he could not write down the reference answers when answering the questions. It seemed that this was a well-known fact for Germans, but not for him. Perhaps a more open-minded professor would not be so serious about asking a foreign student to write down the reference answers, but who made him meet such a serious professor? He didn't know whether to blame himself or praise his good fortune. He was irritable for a few seconds and comforted himself in an Ah Q way that he should still be lucky. After all, he only had to retake a one-hour small test. If he really failed the four-hour big test in the future because of this reason, it would be really heartbreaking. This may be what Zheng Chunhua said before, the advantage of falling into a small pit is to avoid falling into a bigger pit.

Professor Jorg naturally couldn't guess Dong Qiangqiang's tangled thoughts. Seeing that he looked uncertain and didn't leave, he asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Make-up exam, when is the make-up exam for this course?"

"Next Wednesday morning at 9:30, remember to bring your student ID and don't be late."