OWL EXAM CACULATIONS

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 97709

Well, given my own posts on the value of numbers in JKR's books, I 
probably shouldn't ask this.  Does anyone have a statistical view of 
how the OWL marks should fall?  There are O, E, A for the passing 
grade, correct?  P and D would both be failures?  So how many 
students would reasonably be able to take Transfigurations or 
Potions?  How many would be expected to pass?  I know Snape said his 
classes had a high pass rate.

Perhaps this doesn't apply to canon, but I was wondering how large 
the classes might be and who we might see placed together.  I would 
think if nothing else, it will be one class of all 4 houses. Of 
course, a student could pass an OWL, but not need the NEWT level for 
their chosen career.

IIRC, JKR was a teacher.  Would she be familiar with the bell 
curve?  Or does that theory even hold water any more?

Potioncat (who knows the math vocabulary, but not the process)