[HPforGrownups] Re: Potions O.W.L - Pass vs High-Pass

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 104555

On 6 Jul 2004 at 15:07, Jocelyn Grunow wrote:

> on 6/7/2004 1:14 PM, justcarol67 at justcarol67 at yahoo.com wrote:
> 
> >> In my humble opinion, to give Harry an 'Outstanding' is the same as
> >> assuming Ron, Dean, and Seamus will all get 'Outstanding' grades.
> >> Which in turn somewhat negates those student who truly do outstanding
> >> work like Hermione and perhaps Draco. Hermione must surely get a
> >> better grade than Harry.
> 
> I agree with your inerpretation of high-pass as meaning Exceeds Expectations
> 
> Regarding Hermione's grades, it may be that she is simply so far off the
> scale that she can't really be judged under the standard system.  To use an
> analogy sometimes used in another context: It's like trying to measure the
> height of a pro basketball player with a 5-foot rule!  All we can tell is
> that they are over 5 feet tall - not whether they are 5'4 or 7'6.
> 
> If everyone over standard X gets an Outstanding, the the fact that
> Hermione's O is so far above the others is just one of those facts of life.
> Everyone knows she is working at a higher standard, but she doesn't fit the
> normal scale which is used for these marks.

This really does seem fairly likely to me. I work with gifted kids 
- most particularly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted children, 
and this is a recurring issue for some of these kids in their teens 
when having to work under standardised testing conditions. 
Sometimes the marking scale just doesn't go high enough to work out 
how well they really did - and letter grade systems are especially 
problematic in this regard.

Numerically we know Hermione has gone beyond normal marks before. 
In Philosopher's Stone:

"'Not if I can help it,' said Hermione grimly. 'Flitwick
told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his
exam. They're not throwing me out after that.'"

In Prisoner of Azkaban:

"As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station the next
mornIng, Hermione gave Harry and Ron some surprising news.

'I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before
breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies.'

'But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty
percent!' said Ron."

If an 'O' is awarded for marks of over, say, 90%, and Harry gets 
90% and Hermione gets 180%, they'd still end up with the same mark 
(-8

And we have indications that in the Wizarding World, marks like 
this can exist.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
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need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
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