Discrepancy of skills

[exodusts]

No: HPFGUIDX 148058

> Carol:
> But aren't O, E, A, P, D, and T(!!) specifically OWL grades (marks),
> perhaps also used for NEWTs? They seem to be unfamiliar to HRH when
> George explains them in OoP. Do we have any indication of grades 
> other than Pass, Fail, and perhaps High Pass in other years? And 
> note that Hermione herself points out to Harry that he received a 
> higher mark than she did in the only year when they were both 
> tested by a competent DADA teacher (third year, with Lupin). So 
> Hermione, who regards Harry as her superior in DADA skills (it was 
> she who asked him to teach them DADA in their fifth year when 
> Umbridge was their DADA "teacher"), is not surprised that he scored 
> higher than she did on the DADA OWL. Why, then, should we doubt 
> that he deserved to do so?

Exodusts:
You are quite right that the letter grades don't seem to be used in 
non-Owl years, but I never said that we SHOULD doubt Harry's 
superiority - I am sure, like you, that Harry should have done better 
than Hermione, and that this should have been demonstrated in some 
way by JKR. I just don't think it should have been done in the way it 
was - by Hermione not reaching the highest level. I'd have preferred 
a special award for Harry.
In OotP, Harry tells Hermione she has beaten him in every test except 
the third year one. OK, these tests may not have been set by "a 
teacher who actually knew the subject" (Hermione's words), but that 
still doesn't sound like a girl who will have trouble 
achieving "Outstanding" results in the subject.


> Carol:
> If he had scored higher on the *Potions* OWL, I'd be surprised and
> displeased. But DADA is Harry's forte, as Transfiguration was his
> father's. (Hermione's I'm guessing, is Ancient Runes, and we haven't
> seen the results of her expertise yet.)

Exodusts:
Yes, but her score relative to Harry's isn't the issue. The issue is 
whether she should have received an O, given what we know about her 
character and circumstances.


> Carol:
> AFAIK, there are *no* non-OWL subjects. There are twelve subjects
> total, not counting Flying in the first year, or Apparation lessons 
> in the sixth. Evidently all the fifth-year students take OWLs in 
> each subject they're taking, and everyone takes them in the core 
> subjects (Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, and DADA), 
> which are required up till their fifth year, as well as in their 
> own chosen electives (which for Harry and Ron are Divination, CoMC,
> and Astronomy). Hermione, who has to study for eleven OWLs, as 
> opposed to Ron's and Harry's eight, is at a great disadvantage 
> despite her intelligence and book knowledge. She has more exams to 
> study for and less time to devote to each subject, not to mention 
> less time for sleep.

Exodusts:
These are reasons that would count against her success in any 
subject, not DADA specifically. She deals with them successfully in 
every other area. I never meant to invent the idea of non-OWL 
subjects (I think the hyphenated/slashed sentence might have 
confused, I meant YEARS other than the OWL year, when I said "non-
OWL").


> Carol:
> And as I keep pointing out, *she never had an opportunity to learn 
> how to deal with a Boggart* (Lupin skips her in the Boggart lesson, 
> just as he skips Harry) and consequently fails that part of her 
> third-year DADA exam. Since the Boggart is also a component of the 
> DADA OWL practical (Harry vanishes his perfectly), it stands to 
> reason that she will yet again fail to vanish hers. She's had no 
> practice--no special lessons from Lupin, no Boggart-banishing 
> lessons from Harry in the DA. How is she supposed to learn to do a 
> spell she has never had the opportunity to practice?
>
> If Hermione can't vanish a Boggart and a Boggart is a component of 
> the practical DADA OWL, it stands to reason that she can't receive 
> an Outstanding, which is reserved for students who perform every 
> spell perfectly. That's what Outstanding means.

Exodusts:
That is a good theoretical explanation, but there are problems with 
it. After the Ancient Runes OWL, Hermione complains about a tiny 
mistake she has made. IIRC, she has a habit of over-analysing and 
worrying about her exam performances. If she had done with her OWL 
Boggart as she did with her third year Boggart, or even just not 
Riddikulus-ed it very well, why didn't we hear about it at the time?
(Btw, a Boggart-banishing spell is required in Harry's OWL, but 
whether an actual Boggart is used is not made entirely clear). 
Thinking about her third year performance, if there was a problem, 
wouldn't a girl with Hermione's attitude toward exams, having 
realised it two years before, take every preparatory measure to 
improve areas where she knows she has a weakness? Finally, my reading 
of her cock-up in the third year (I admit that it could be read 
differently) is that she thought the Boggart really WAS Professor 
McGonagall, and that is the only reason she failed to defeat it. She 
couldn't possibly make that mistake again.