O.W.L. exams

erinellii erinellii at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 7 02:14:06 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 84268

 "Kim"  wrote:
> In OotP, Chapter 28 ("Snape's Worse Memory"), US edition page 643,
> Harry sees in the pensieve that James and Snape have both kept their
> examination papers after Professor Flitwick collected their exams
> themselves:

> In my experience here in the U.S., after an examination of such 
great importance, we students would have to turn in the questions as 
well as our answers.  Why wasn't this the case with the above O.W.L.
 examination?   Wouldn't anyone be concerned that students such as 
Fred and George Weasley, for example, would sell their exam questions 
to students of the following years?   Or are the questions asked each
> year so wildly different from each other that there is no 
possibility that last year's questions would help?



Erin:  
Think of them as S.A.T.s.  Every year in RL they actually publish 
study aid books which are made up of previous S.A.T. tests.  The 
questions on the next year's tests don't have to be wildly different, 
either.  Knowing in advance the basic material that is going to be on 
a test isn't cheating.  Now if a student actually brought on of these 
sheets with answers on it into the testing room, that would be 
cheating.  But just using them to study by is not.

I suspect you're thinking of "regular" tests in high school or 
college.  For these, teachers often will use the same test papers 
year after year, and so it is forbidden to take the question paper 
out with you.  

Erin





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