He closed his eyes, saw the clean, white page of the study material in his mind, and wrote the solution. Step by step. Neatly.

Week 3: Integrals. The material had a two-page table titled “The Hunter’s Guide to Integration.” It taught him to recognize “disguised forms”—how a terrifying fraction was actually a simple log in a mask, or a trigonometric mess was just a sin² waiting to be simplified.

Arjun followed the instructions like a mantra.

“Dear Student, By now, you have crossed the bridge. Tomorrow, the examiner will not ask you to run faster than anyone else. They will simply ask you to walk steadily. Stay calm. Read the question twice. Show your steps. And remember: a mistake is just a data point, not a verdict. With respect, S. Rajan”

— S. Rajan

That night, he opened it.

Arjun turned to Chapter 1: Relations and Functions .