Elective Classes

[Aleks]

No: HPFGUIDX 25798

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., vheggie at y... wrote:
> [snip]
> > 
> > Hmm, well, judging from his exam schedule, Harry and Ron took:
> > 
> > 1. Transfiguration
> > 2. Charms 
> > 3. Care of Magical Creatures 
> > 4. Potions
> > 5. History of Magic
> > 6. Astronomy
> > 7. Herbology
> > 8. DADA 
> > 9. Divination
> > 
> > Since it's rather unlikely for them to have an odd number of 
> classes, 
> > they might have taken a 10th class that they apparently don't 
have 
> an 
> > exam for.
> 
> 
> The RL equivalent to OWLs in the UK are GCSEs [two year course with 
> big exams at 16].  It's not unusual to take an odd number of these; 
> in the UK, your qualifications are subject specific, rather than a 
> general ability 'score', like a GPA.
> 9 GCSEs was the standard number for pupils at the school I attended 
> at 16, and 9 qualifications definitely seemed to be the 'mode' 
number of GCSEs amongst my peers at university.
> AFAIK most children get between 5 and 14 GCSEs - dependent on 
> ability/interests.  If the figures in canon add up to 9, there's no 
> real reason to 'round this up' to 10; any free time in their 
schedule could easily be filled with Prep lessons/'Free' periods [ie 
free time set aside for homework/smoking behind the bikesheds ;)] 
which is not unusual for 14 - 16 y.o in UK schools.


I just wanted to add my personal experience to this which is probably 
closer to Hermione's schedule than Harry and Ron's. I attended a 
selective school where it was standard to take 11 GCSE's, tho' as 
vheggie pointed out, students could take up to 14. Also, going back 
to the original question I thought that Care of Magical Creatures was 
their other elective as when they were making their choices  in CoS 
(UK paperback p187) Percy says that, "My brother Charlie...went for 
Care of Magical Creatures."


Aleks
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"We kinda ignored the sign out front about being a school and hung 
around waiting to go beat people up." She said as she searched for a 
clean spoon. "Didn't study any when I was tagging around X-Factor 
either." 
 - Tabitha Smith, AKA Meltdown, 'Shockwave' by Sabia
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