Chapter 14 

Each year, the difficulty of the college entrance exams changed, which meant the cutoff scores varied as well. Simply using scores to determine which schools to apply to wasn’t always accurate or scientific. 

What truly mattered was the ranking. 

At Linkon First High School, about four or five students reached the cutoff for Northsdale University each year, but only two or three actually got in. 

Nathan’s rank, seventh among the entire senior year, left him about ten points short of Northsdale University’s acceptance line. 

To Oscar, those ten points seemed impossible to make up. 

But Nathan was confident. Everything hinged on the essay of the college entrance exam. 

Writing had always been his weak point. His essay rarely scored higher than the 30s. 

Now that he knew the essay topic of the college entrance exams in advance, he could easily gain an extra 20 points. 

Getting into Northsdale University wasn’t out of the question. 

However, Nathan wasn’t sure if those elite academic institutions fit into his future plans. He preferred the idea of being the big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big ocean. 

If he got into Northsdale University, it would be just barely, and he’d have to accept whatever. major they assigned him. He’d be considered an underachiever there. 

At Riverfield College, though, he’d be a hot commodity. It would be much easier to build strong relationships with the school leaders and leverage the resources of Trafalgar’s first elite higher education institution to start his business. 

He already had in mind what he wanted to do and was just waiting to execute his plans once he got into university. 

Shortly after Layla handed out the test papers, the bell rang. 

“Nathan, please come to my office. Class dismissed,” Layla said as she left the classroom. 

Nathan stood up and followed her, feeling the glances of his classmates. He had anticipated that Layla would want to talk to him. 

In this semester’s exams, Nathan scored about 80 points higher than usual. From barely reaching the top–tier university admission cutoff, he showed a dramatic leap and soared to at level where he could apply to almost any elite universities–except for Northsdale University. 

His performance must have stunned all the teachers. 

If it had been the regular monthly exams, people might have suspected Nathan of cheating. 

Fortunately, this was the third round of semester exams. They were monitored strictly like the actual college entrance exams, so there was no chance of cheating. 

Layla probably wanted to ask if he had some kind of extraordinary study method. 

After a bit of small talk, Layla got straight to the point. 

“Mrs. Finn, there’s really nothing special,” Nathan replied with a smile and a shake of his head. 

His improvement had come from the advantages of being reborn–something no one else could replicate. 

“Well, I suppose there’s no study method that can boost scores that much in such a short time, “Layla mused, wondering if she was overthinking it. 

The only explanation for Nathan’s huge improvement was that he suddenly had a breakthrough. 

These situations were rare, but in her 20 years of teaching, Layla had seen students make sudden, significant progress. However, none had shown as dramatic an improvement as 

Nathan. 

After chatting a bit more, Layla brought up the second reason she wanted to talk to Nathan. 

“Nathan, in a couple of days, we’ll have the motivational assembly for the final 30–day- countdown to the college entrance exams. The school has decided to use you as an example and have you give a speech to inspire the other students.” 

Nathan was a little surprised. They wanted him to give a motivational speech? That was usually something reserved for the top students in the advanced class. 

But then thinking it over, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. 

With his latest ranking, seventh among the entire senior year, he was one of the top students. 

now. 

To be honest, he wasn’t interested in that kind of attention. Getting up on stage, talking grandly about success and motivation, wasn’t going to bring him any real benefit. So, what was the point? 

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