OOP: More Flints

[ewdotson]

No: HPFGUIDX 63037

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Marie Jadewalker" 
<marie_mouse at h...> wrote:

[snip]
> 
> Secondly, there's the matter of the OWLS.  From my count, Hermione 
> took OWLS in ten subjects: Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, 
DADA, 
> Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Arithmancy, 
> Potions, and History of Magic.  Harry and Ron each took 9, 
substitute 
> Divination for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.  So far so good, 
right?  
> But if you go back to Chamber of Secrets, we get these lines: 
> 
> "Wish I knew what he was up to," said Fred, frowning.  "He's not 
> himself.  His exam results came the day before you did; twelve OWLs 
> and he hardly gloated at all."  
> "Ordinary Wizarding Levels," George explained, seeing Harry's 
puzzled 
> look.  "Bill got twelve, too.  If we're not careful, we'll have 
> another Head Boy in the family.  I don't think I could stand the 
> shame."  (COS Chapter 4, p 40 in the British Paperback edition)
> 
> I find this really odd.  How could Bill and Percy both have taken 
and 
> passed twelve OWLs when Hermione only even took 10?  She was taking 
> more than is normal.  At the height of her crazy time-turner 
schedule 
> in third year she had 12 subjects, but that was portrayed as highly 
> unusual.  I suppose Hermione *could* have taken an OWL test in 
Muggle 
> Studies, even though she hadn't studied it for the last 2 years.  
> Being a Muggle Born, she probably could have still passed.  But 
that 
> still only 11.  We know she didn't take the Divinaiton OWL because 
it 
> was the same time as Arithmancy and Harry would have noticed if she 
> were there when she hadn't been in class.  So are we supposed to 
> assume that both Bill and Percy used a time turner for three years 
to 
> get to twelve different classes?  Or is the scoring not strictly 
one 
> OWL per subject?  (Is it, perhaps, that if you get enough OWLs 
at "O" 
> level, you get an extra OWL just for being so smart?)  Can anyone 
see 
> something I may have missed?  


I was working on the assumption that a student was awarded one OWL 
for an "A", two for an "E", and three for an "O".  Of course, I seem 
to be the only one who made that assumption, so there you go.  ;)  
For my theory to work, one would of course have to assume that the 
OWLs are really, really *hard* tests and that even the best students 
only get a handful of "O"s and a "D" or two in their weakest 
classes.  (Which seems fairly well supported by Hermione's "E" on her 
first potions essay.  (I mean, when has Hermione ever gotten less 
than perfect on *anything* other than Lupins DADA final?))  (See post 
61762 for my predictions for Harry's results using this grading scale)

Of course, this is pure speculation at this point.  I admit that I 
kind of like mtwelovett's theory of OWLs for different subsections of 
each subject.

"Ewdotson"