Once again the people in the comments forget how high level the class Manabu is in even is. I get it, the series is pretty long and not terribly focussed on the details like that vs giving him massive blood loss through his nose, but he's in an elite course for academic students while she's in the course for sports scholarship types. He got into that class on sheer effort compared to most of his peers seeming like the natural talent types, and he's aiming for the college in Tokyo that has some of the highest standards for their entrance exam. The mock exams he's taking are geared towards telling him if he can even stand a chance in hell of entering the colleges he wants to apply for. Cut the man some slack, he's doing really well actually.