O.W.L.s

[mooseming]

No: HPFGUIDX 132517

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "John Kearns" <jmkearns at g...> 
wrote:
<snip>

> I thought perhaps the practical examinations might be separate 
OWLs, 
> but this would create so many OWLs (something like 16 for Harry, 
> though I haven't counted precisely) that 12 would be fairly 
> attainable, and indeed hardly a reason for Percy or Crouch Sr. to 
> gloat.
> 
> Any insights?

Possibly way more information than you want but hope this helps!

I'm of an age with JKR and went through the same state English 
school system so I'm guessing her Hogwart's model is based on her/my 
schooling in the 1970/80's.

In the fourth and fifth years of secondary education (about 13 -15 
yrs old) academically able students usually studied 9 subjects at 
the end of which they sat their first public exams known as `O' (for 
ordinary) levels. The system was organised so that each student 
could opt for a different 9 subjects out of a total of around 20, 
although not all schools offered the same extent or range, better 
schools would provide tuition in Latin for instance. Each school day 
was broken into `periods' around which the school timetable was 
arranged. Two periods back to back on the same subject were known as 
double `X' eg double maths, double chemistry etc. The exams 
consisted of two papers per subject. So for maths, for example, one 
paper would be on pure maths e.g. arithmetic and one on applied e.g. 
trigonometry. The two English papers were Language e.g. precis, 
comprehension and grammar, and Literature e.g. short essays on set 
books/poems. Both papers had to be passed to gain the `O' level pass 
itself. A good student was expected to pass a minimum of 7 subjects 
and 5 was considered essential because it was the minimum for later 
university acceptance.

Talented students could study more subjects but this involved extra 
tuition around the school timetable and could be difficult to 
organise. Most frequently it would be in a `core' group, all the 
sciences or all the languages were common, where learning could be 
more easily generalised. Students gifted in certain subjects could 
sit the exams a year early, most likely in maths, sciences and 
languages. I never heard of someone attempting this in any other 
subject area. Gifted maths students could then go on to study for 
an `S' (for special I think) level exam, more sophisticated than 
an `O' level but not equal to the next big exam the `A' (for 
advanced) level sat at around 17.

In my year of around 350 students only two or three would be likely 
to take more than 9 subjects and generally that would be 10 or 11 at 
most.

After passing `O' levels students would then usually opt for 3 `A' 
levels, although again more could be taken as with `O' levels.

JKR has clearly diverged from this model in two ways. Firstly some 
students gain 12 OWLs, secondly 5 NEWTs and not 3 is the norm.

In private schools in England it was far more common for students to 
study more than 9 subjects. These institutions had better resources 
and more flexibility to meet individual children's needs, plus if 
they were boarding schools, more time. Although the minimum 
requirement for university acceptance was 5 `O' level passes, more 
was always considered better and likely to improve your chances of 
getting into the really good universities. The number of subjects 
you studied was far less limited by the timetable the school could 
offer, private one to one tuition, extra classes, additional 
teaching hours for marking etc were made available as necessary. I 
don't believe time turners were accessible but with the English 
aristocracy you never know! Sitting exams early in these 
institutions was far more common. I knew some private school kids, 
and for the really talented, 12 was the *expected* number of `O' 
level passes.

At Hogwarts JKR has, it would appear, decided to model her school on 
the `best' rather than the usual.

For NEWTS JKR appears to have shifted to the Scottish educational 
model. Here I have to claim very limited knowledge but I can tell 
you what I think is right and you'll have to hope a good Scot 
corrects any errors! In Scotland, after 'O' levels, children studied 
for a School Certificate the `Higher' I believe. This was far more 
like the US high school certificate. The Higher consisted of a core 
of 5 subjects of which you had to pass all five to get the 
certificate. 

I suspect JKR has chosen the Scottish approach because it allows 
Harry to continue more subject classes, and thus expand his (our) 
exposure to magic in his last two years at school. And of course, 
Hogwarts is in Scotland!

Regards
Jo