[HPforGrownups] Re: OWLs

[Muridae]

No: HPFGUIDX 63222

shannling wrote:

>Sounds about right--the level of trauma is the same, anyway--though
>I'll just add that OWLs and NEWTs are arranged by subjects, so it's
>not just one lump thing like the LSAT.  Hermione would probably take
>about 8 or 10 OWLs while Ron might only less.  And if it's like
>the 'O's and 'A's in UK, you'd have to pass a subject in OWL before
>you're allowed to take it for your NEWTs, which was what all the
>professors were beating into the students' heads at the beginning of
>the term.

Actually, that's not strictly true. Two of the three A levels I took 
were in subjects that I didn't take at O level, simply because I had 
different notions about what I wanted to do at 16 than I did at 13 when 
I made my O Level choices.

Getting back to the OWLS... it's been commented upon that the students 
don't really sit enough exams for it to be possible to come up with an 
OWL total such as the one that Percy had, and certainly you'd expect at 
least Hermione to equal or surpass him. It may be that, in much the way 
you might take different specialised exams for fields in Mathematics, 
but only have that subject down on your timetable as "Maths" and study 
all the different disciplines in the one class, Hermione has actually 
sat two or three different exams in different specialised areas of 
Arithmancy. So as well as the general one, she might get an OWL in Runes 
and another in Statistical Divination.

Alas, I fear that we saw pretty much every exam that Harry did and there 
weren't any second theory papers for his subjects that could be pressed 
into service for that purpose, but certainly they might separate out 
some of the theory and practical exams and give separate OWLs for each 
to bump up the numbers.

I also expect to see a dramatic dip in the grading curve when it comes 
to marking the Astronomy practical, because pretty much every pupil got 
distracted and didn't complete that one. Including Hermione. I wonder 
whether allowances for special circumstances might be made by the 
examiners when marking that exam. Professor McGonagall's injuries are a 
matter of record, since she was admitted to St Mungo's with them.

I fully expect to see Harry fail History of Magic though.

It also occurs to me that he's a dead cert for an Exceeds Expectations 
in Potions, since he's only got to scrape a passing grade to exceed 
*Snape*'s expectations. *g* I don't think, even though he clearly 
performed better under the eye of the examiners than he ever has under 
Snape's scrutiny, that he's worked hard enough at the subject to get an 
Outstanding though, so if he does get into the NEWT Potions class it'll 
be by the skin of his teeth.

It's entirely possible that he might only get accepted on the condition 
that he did more remedial Potions classes after hours in order to get 
him up to the required level. Hmm. And some of them might even have to 
be *real* Potions lessons instead of a more serious stab at learning 
Occlumency. *g*

Incidentally, having re-read that bit, it sounds to me like the subjects 
McGonagall lists aren't the only ones that would satisfy the Auror 
admission requirements. Certainly there's a mandatory requirement for a 
minimum of 5 NEWTs with a passing grade of Exceeds Expectations or 
above, and she agrees with Harry that DADA is one of the required 
subjects of study. Other than that it sounds like she's advising him on 
the *best* combination of complimentary subjects to apply with, in order 
to offer a more varied and useful Auror arsenal, not the only one. She 
"advises" Transfiguration, and says he "ought" to do Charms. True, she 
does say that Potions are "essential study", but I think that at that 
point she's trying to impress upon him the magnitude of the task that he 
wants to take on, and that may have coloured her wording.

So, my guess is that Harry could continue to aim at Auror as a career 
even if his Potions result isn't quite good enough. But I'll be very 
disappointed if he isn't in that NEWT Potions class in September. One of 
my biggest disappointments during the Snape/Harry interaction while the 
Occlumency lessons were going on is that while Harry was skimping on his 
exercises Snape never *once* took him to task for having a good brain 
that he was wasting by cruising through his lessons instead of really 
working at them. This year in particular I felt that a lot of his 
sniping at Harry in class wasn't so much about the old grudge with James 
but more about a potentially talented student who either couldn't or 
wouldn't grasp his own subject and do better at it.

-- 
Muridae