[HPforGrownups] Harry and Advanced Potions

[Gregory Lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 131050

On 6/19/05, lupinlore <bob.oliver at cox.net> wrote:
> There are quite a few issues involved here.  First, will Harry make an
> "O" on his potions OWL?  Many people, including me, think that would
> amount to rank cheating on JKR's part.  People just don't come up with
> superior test grades in classes they despise and in which they do not
> perform well, even IF the teacher isn't hovering over their shoulder
> and even IF they get a lucky break on the essay question.


Sure you do, it happens all the time, and I speak from personal
experience.  In high school, many of my teachers adopted higher
standards than the people scoring the tests.  Snape is very much like
this.  The idea is that if you set the bar high early, and keep it
high, it will be all that much easier to get over the lower hurdle
later.  The idea is to make the student more afraid of the teacher
than the test so that when the students get into the test environment
they a) don't have the fear of the exam, and b) are reassured by the
fact that the answers to the test are coming easier than the answers
to previous tests.

I don't know exactly how many of my fellow students told me afterwards
that an AP test was easier than the tests in class, but it was a lot.

And note, that the "fear the teacher more than the test" is not
necessarily to be taken as outright fear of the teacher a la Professor
Snape.

-- 
Gregory Lynn