(Untitled)

[capcatalina]

Last chance to begin revising reasonably.

Comments

[snakehalf]

When do exams start again?

[capcatalina]

The first week of June.

[snakehalf]

I suppose you guys do have seven whole years of stuff to revise.

[capcatalina]

Yes, seven years' worth of practical and theoretical magic spread over two weeks of exams with two exams per subject. One needs four weeks of preparation just to acclimate to the mental load.

[snakehalf]

If all our year didn't do their exams at the same time, I could do all the practical and Auggie could do all the theory, and we'd get nothing but Outstanding.

[capcatalina]

In theory, you could take half of the offered courses while he takes the other half, ensuring that while you wouldn't share class times you could, between the two of you, achieve N.E.W.Ts in every given Hogwarts subject.

That would be a ridiculous and needlessly complicated thing to do but it is, technically, entirely possible.

[snakehalf]

That does sound fun. But I think I'd miss the class time in the subjects Auggie was taking and vice versa, though. Sometimes people in class ask questions I'd never think to ask if I was just reading the books myself. Anyway, Auggie would never let me take his tests for him.

[capcatalina]

No, he seems very principled. *One of the worst things about being a seventh year is having favorite first years who's academic careers you won't be able to follow* You'll have to make due with planning your N.E.W.Ts according to your aspirations, like most do.

[snakehalf]

I'm going to worry about that at the end of my second year, when I have to pick electives. This year's about foundation and exploration. When do you get your results?

[capcatalina]

At the exam authority's leisure, I believe they begin grading as soon as the exams are collectively done and send out scores when they're finished grading them. Some years they'll finish before the feast and others it takes weeks.

[snakehalf]

What? That's silly, there should be a fixed day so you know when it's going to happen and you can plan around it.

[capcatalina]

I agree. The wixen world is astoundingly poorly planned and regulated.

[snakehalf]

Or they should hold the NEWTs and OWLs earlier than the in-school exams, so all the results are out by the end of the school year. I guess that would mean NEWT students sitting around for a month with nothing to do, but they could help as teaching assistants of something. Which would you have prefered? It's too late to change now, but if the entire school complained to the DoME en-masse, they might change it.

[capcatalina]

I assume it's a balancing act as it is to have enough time to teach all the NEWT level material before we're to be tested on it, much less to have enough time for us to master the material. I also do have to point out that students on the Quidditch teams that play later in the season would be disadvantaged purely due to the finite nature of time, although it wouldn't be unfair to regard that as a casualty of personal responsibility. Regardless, all things being equal, of course I would prefer exams to occur earlier allowing for earlier results. The time between the end of exams and my being able to send Gringotts confirmation that they ought to hire me is going to feel interminable regardless of how long it actually takes.

[snakehalf]

It sounds like a fixed results date would benefit potential employers.

[capcatalina]

I'm sure it would, the only people who don't benefit are those in charge of grading.