Olympic Mathematics competitions generally start with class recommendations, followed by group training, and finally, outstanding students are selected to participate in the competition.
Those who perform exceptionally well in the preliminary contest in December go on to compete in the re-contest in March of the following year.
Students who excel in the re-contest have the opportunity to attend the Olympic Mathematics summer training camp.
After Shen Zhaozhao and others registered, they first took part in a round of school-level selection exams.
She and Xu Siyan both made the cut, forming a twenty-person competition group.
After more than two months of training, they finally faced the first round of preliminary contests.
The exam was held in the neighboring city as usual, and since it was the weekend, Shen Zhaozhao forgot to set an alarm.
She woke up to find that there was less than ten minutes left before the school's departure time.
