The Wizarding Council's Official Examiners
October 07, 2011 10:20 AM
Critical Assessment of Talents and Skills by The Wizarding Council's Official Examiners
The day that every student in Sonora's fifth year had been dreading had arrived: the first day of their examinations. Not just any examinations; the Critical Assessments of Talents and Skills. The results students obtained on these examinations would determine which subjects they would be eligible to study in their sixth and seventh years of school. Therefore they were not to be considered lightly.Four figures stood waiting at the front of the room, waiting. The only witch amongst them was Nanette Langdon. She was older than two of the others, and looked far sterner than all three other examiners. Her back was ramrod straight and her face stretched and pulled tight by the rigid neat bun that held her iron grey hair. It emphasised her sharp, pointy features and made the sharp, intimidating gaze that greeted the students entering the hall even less comforting. It was rumoured that she could tell if a student was even thinking about cheating, and she had a reputation for ruthlessness that had been validated by generations of students.
Bernard Starsky was the oldest of the examiners. Nearly bald and bent with age, it was hard to believe that in his prime he had been a straight backed, handsome man with a full head of thick, glossy dark hair. His general examining style included his head being slightly cocked to the left - Starsky was quite deaf, but had convinced himself that by effecting this pose his hearing worked better - staring at the students with suspicious beady grey eyes and communicating several decibels louder than necessary. While his tendency to yell might, at least in part, have been explained away by his deafness, the whole package was more than enough to make him a figure to be treated warily.
The most popular of the examiners was David Weatherby. A stocky, middle-aged wizard, with the grey in his hair starting to outnumber the brown and a twinkle that appeared in his intense green eyes when a student did particularly well in their practicals. Weatherby was tough but fair, and it earned him respect.
In contrast, Roland Ashburn might as well have been a joke. He was the youngest of the examiners - in his mid thirties at most - and easily the tallest. He carried his height awkwardly, being oddly gawky for a man of his years, looking like he simply had never grown into his body. He was by nature cheerful, prone to smiling at the students and a complete pushover. Being regarded with respect was just one of those things that remained completely foreign to him.
Quickly the students were encouraged to find their seats where they were handed the latest anti-cheating quills. Examination books and papers were handed out. The hall had been prepared earlier, with spells and hexes to prevent cheating liberally cast. Ashburn, after being on the receiving end of one of Langdon's patented 'are you an idiot?' stares, beamed at the seated students. "Your first examination will start in a few minutes," he told them, checking his watch to be sure. "I just want everyone to do their very best and remember that cheating is not a good idea. Anyone cheating will be caught and will get an instant fail," he managed to look apologetic as he said this, while still smiling at them all. "If you finish early, please just sit quietly and don't disturb your fellows. Er... I think that's about it! Are you all ready? Good luck! You can open your examination booklets..." he paused while the second hand on his watch ticked, ticked, ticked, "now."
OOC: Theoretical exams in the mornings, practical exams in the afternoons. Mandatory classes are covered over the first two days, any electives your character takes are examined on the third day. You may write for your examiner in the practicals. Have fun!
Subthreads: Oh Merlin <i>no</i> by Demelza Eagle
Talents? Skills? What? by Rachel Bauer
Taking a go at this. by Veronica Kerrigan
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The Wizarding Council's Official Examiners
Critical Assessment of Talents and Skills
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The Wizarding Council's Official Examiners
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Demelza Eagle
October 11, 2011 9:25 AM
Oh Merlin <i>no</i> by Demelza Eagle
Demelza was going to fail.There was no doubting it. The year seemed to have gone by in a flash, and then suddenly she was studying night and day for her CATS. Apparently they actually, like, mattered. A lot. And if Mel failed them all, that meant that she would have to drop out of Sonora, and there was no way she was going to let that happen before she became Pecari's Quidditch Captain and the best beater Sonora has ever seen! If she dropped out this year, there would be no chances of her getting into college and playing for a college team before trying out for a national team. So in conclusion, she was freaking out!!
The morning before the first exam day felt like the morning before a game, but about ten times worse. She never got this worked up over testing, but then again she had never taken a test so important. Mel didn't like all this pressure. The worst part was that there was no way she could cheat, or then she would really have to drop out (if she got caught). The merciless warnings about cheating unnerved Mel. She had to actually do this all herself. Great.
She was going to fail transfiguration and potions, but that was okay. She didn't want to continue those classes anyway. Charms could go either way, but she was pretty sure that she could pass COMC. She had a big barn next to her house with tons of magical creatures that she cared for every day when she was at home, and her mom used to hunt and research magical creatures. She knew enough about that topic. DADA was her best and favorite subject, so she really really hoped that she passed that test. And Divinations... well, everyone knew she was awful at that. She thought the subject was bogus anyway and couldn't wait to drop it.
So, basically, she'd only be taking three classes next year, tops. Maybe her life would be peaceful after this year.
Butterflies in her stomach, the exceptionally tall sixteen-year-old shoveled in eggs and bacon into her mouth, going through her head the properties of Wolfsbane potion. She went back to her dorm to stress out some more, but soon the time came to get tested, and so she got up and made her way back to the Cascade Hall. She wore her comfiest sweat pants and tee-shirt, and her long chocolate brown hair was tied back into a loose ponytail. She took deep breaths as she grabbed a seat near the back. It was okay. Maybe they would let her take fourth and fifth year classes if she were too dumb to take sixth and seventh year ones next year.
She was handed her exam and instructed to start. She opened the book to the first page of the Defense Against the Dark Arts examine, a smile creeping up on her face at the first question: List the three Unforgivable Curses and describe their effects and American punishments for using them. Demelza quickly wrote down the answer in her messy left-handed writing, which often smudged the ink. Being left handed and writing with ink sucked.
She wasn't going to fail! She was going to do slightly less than average, but that was enough for her! And if she did fail any of her exams, she probably wouldn't want to continue that class anyway.
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Demelza Eagle
Oh Merlin <i>no</i>
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Demelza Eagle
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Rachel Bauer
October 13, 2011 2:31 PM
Talents? Skills? What? by Rachel Bauer
It wasn’t the most logical thing to do. It wasn’t even the most reassuring or soothing thing to do, considering how she couldn’t help but slightly associate certain things with her mother and her mother’s expectations. But it was the only thing she could think of to do, so for most of the three hours between when she woke and when she went down for breakfast, Rachel sat in front of her mirror and played with her hair.It was the first day of CATS. In three days, a whole chapter of her life would be over. She wouldn’t really know the particulars until the summer, but she would, for all intents and purposes, be an Advanced student. None of her classes would be mandatory anymore, and the ones she did take, she would have to select with an eye to the future. Whatever that was. That uncertainty made her want to just take everything and hope for the best, but she was undecided, not suicidal, and knew she probably could not handle that more than a week. Some people could, but Rachel Bauer was not one of them. So she was going to have to think about her CATS as much over the summer as she had during the year, if not more….
She realized, as she almost ran back through the school from the Cascade Hall to the Crotalus section because she had changed her mind about not wearing her prefect badge to the exams, that she had just talked herself out of the mindset where this phase was over in three days and she could move on with it. Somehow, she did not think that boded well.
When the exam group gathered, though, she was back in her seat, tugging on the end of one piece of hair and smiling nervously at anyone who looked at her, trying hard to ignore the people at the front of the room. It wasn’t like they would even be doing anything until the second half, and before she got to the second half, she had to get through the first half.
Which, soon enough, came to her. She considered trying to jump around, concentrating on the things she knew best and leaving others, but realized she’d forget what she had and hadn’t done and decided to just take the questions in order, give each her best, and hope she had time to look some over later.
Question One: List the ingredients of the Acclamazioni draft….
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Rachel Bauer
Talents? Skills? What?
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Veronica Kerrigan
October 13, 2011 10:48 PM
Taking a go at this. by Veronica Kerrigan
The day of reckoning had finally come. Veronica starred at the four figures that stood at the front of the room. They were rather uninteresting individually, but as a whole, she knew that they would be the ones to determine what classes she would be able to take for the next two years. Though, she never played up how intelligent she actually was, because she wanted to be the proper girl and find a suitable wizard to marry her, however, being able to only take classes that were deemed for mindless airheads like Divinations wouldn’t do either. Any wizard with half a brain would never marry her if it was thought she couldn’t hold a proper conversation or run the house elves. So, now, she had to do well on these exams regardless of anything else.Green eyes rolled at the mentions of cheating. Anyone that cheated had to be an absolute idiot. First off, Veronica doubted that the examiners were dumb enough not to have spells in place for such things. Second, they probably knew to look for telltale signs. Third, the person would end up failing, which would be humiliating and who knows what they would have to deal with once their parents found out. Finally, even if somehow, someone did manage to cheat, they could end up in classes they wouldn’t be able to handle later, which would open up a whole new world of problems. No, cheating was definitely a bad idea and whoever did so deserved whatever they got. She would not be among those, but she suspected that anyone that was looking for an easy practical had better hope they got the one that looked to be a bit of a pushover.
Retying her hair into the ponytail that she had pulled it into, she looked over to Rachel, best friend and fellow prefect, who smiled nervously. She made a silly face back, hoping to make her smile. She didn’t think Rachel really had that much to worry about. Veronica had every confidence that her friend would find a suitable wizard to marry when the time came and that these tests were a mere matter of formality. After that, she looked over to Raines and mouthed a ‘good luck’ before finally making eye contact with Delilah. It was weird that they would soon be approaching full adulthood. Her sister had once been the closest person to her and already they lived completely separate lives. What would happen when they actually graduated in two years?
Catching Delilah’s eye, she gave a small smile and a nod of encouragement. She knew Delilah would have a hard time with the tests, more the first part than the latter. She hoped her sister would get through it. If not, she feared that Delilah would forever be doomed to be something like a Quidditch coach. She shuddered at the mere thought. She knew that Amelia Pierce preached about things like equality and the like, but really, was there such a thing? No. It was a hard truth of life. Some people were just better than other people, either because they were from a better family, or they were more talented, more intelligent, prettier, or whatever else one could think to compare. She had been fortunate in the gene pool, but while her sister was pretty, she also knew it didn’t give her a leg up when so many other things were lacking.
Shaking her blonde head, she turned her attention to the book that sat in front of her, the one that they were now to begin. After carefully reading the first question, she began to write. From the moment, the quill had touched the page; it never left until the last question had been completed. Even then, she wasn’t sure if she had done very well at all. Each question seemed to contain a novella for an answer and yet, it still didn’t seem enough. Should she add in the effects of adding other ingredients or maybe on this question she should put down other ways to achieve the same results? She chewed on her thumbnail, causing the pink polish to chip. She had never really cared about academics before, but this was important. She had to do well. She simply had to. There was no other option.
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Veronica Kerrigan
Taking a go at this.
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Veronica Kerrigan
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