Examiner Raúl Barba
April 12, 2024 6:53 PM
CATS/RATS by Examiner Raúl Barba
It was the day of CATS and RATS at Raúl ‘s alma mater and as usual, he did not feel very well. Though that was pretty much the entire exam season as it corresponded with spring. Actually, that was how he knew that it was spring, he was sneezing up gross things and thought death might be merciful in comparison. Unfortunately for him, Raúl had reached that point quite a while ago, this year, and it was probably only going to get worse since even the slightest trace of pollen seemed to send him into sneezing fits.Of course, the fact that he hadn’t slept very well the night before didn’t help. He’d woken up at 4 in the morning due to his asthma-as bad as his hay fever was, there was no way that Raúl didn’t have the comorbid conditions as well, he did and they were dreadful- and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. Which was a shame since sleep was the only relief he was going to get this time of year and when you didn’t feel good, that was all you wanted.
Also when facing a crowd of teenagers, you needed to be at your best. Unfortunately, he had not been starting from a good place to begin with. And Raúl had this like serious paranoia, born from his own days as a teenager with really bad seasonal allergies. They noticed . Just because now he was an examiner and not the kid who disrupted exams because he couldn’t stop sneezing did not mean that he wasn’t super anxious that they were secretly snickering at him. Nor did the fact that they were most likely focused on their own exams make a difference. Childhood traumas did not respond to adult logic.
Which, to be fair, probably did make him overall more empathetic when a student was freaking out about their exams more than necessary. Raúl might have been rather academically inclined back in school, but he obviously knew what an irrational fear was like. Just because someone had no reason to worry about their exams did not mean that they wouldn’t anyway, just like he worried about the students laughing at his allergies, despite the fact that they were probably focused on their exams, and also, the students that he already knew-Cory’s niece Liesl and Adam Brockert’s daughter Gwendolyn-had told him that pretty much all the students who’d be taking exams today were pretty nice.
That did not matter. That did not stop Raúl from worrying, from flashing back to his own school days, of worrying about being laughed at, of worrying about dirty looks from the Aladrens in particular because he was disrupting their exams. So, yes, it did not matter how many times one told an anxious pureblood girl who was a good student with no career plans that she would be just fine. Raúl still did it, in particular if the student in question was on the verge of crying or panicking but he understood why this was not especially effective.
And the lack of sleep wasn’t exactly making him less anxious like he’d hoped for. He’d been hoping to be so out of it that he didn’t care, but that wasn’t the case. For one thing, it was almost time for the students to arrive and he could feel a huge sneezing fit coming on.
Unfortunately, he didn’t quite make it through before the students started arriving. Raúl looked at them sheepishly and began to talk. “Welcome students. Today, you will begin taking your exams. Fifth years, you will be in the classroom to the right taking your CATS and seventh years, you will be in the classroom on the left, taking your RATS. You will be given anti-cheating ink, paper and quills. You may scratch out and rewrite answers if necessary as well as ask for extra paper if you run out of space. Anyone caught trying to cheat will be immediately escorted from the premises and their tests will be submitted as is, which means they will receive zeros on the tests they haven't taken."
He continued, wiping his nose. "There will be breaks between the exams for each subject and between the written and practical exams. At those times, you may use the bathrooms and snacks and drinks will be provided. All us examiners are here to answer your questions but we cannot explain test questions to you.” Raúl paused to sneeze once more before going on again. “If you need testing accommodations, you should have a slip that explains them and you will be accommodated in that way.”
Subthreads:CATS
It's not that bad by Gwendolyn Brockert
Ready as I'll ever be! by Piper Wilson
RATS
*disagrees wholeheartedly with Gwendolyn* by Lydia Priory
It'll all be over soon by Amethyst Brockert
11
Examiner Raúl Barba
CATS/RATS
0
Examiner Raúl Barba
1
5
System
April 12, 2024 6:53 PM
System
April 12, 2024 6:53 PM
Gwendolyn Brockert
April 13, 2024 2:50 PM
It's not that bad by Gwendolyn Brockert
Unlike Lydia, Gwendolyn was not all worried about her exams, mostly for all the reasons that she’d told her cousin that she shouldn’t be either. And that was even considering the differences between them, like that they were taking different exams and that the Aladren actually did need certain grades to continue to take the classes that she needed so that she could go into the field of criminal psychology.And to be honest, Gwendolyn had never truly understood why people got so worried about tests specifically. Yes, they were important, but honestly, you studied, you went, you did it, and it was over. Doing projects or papers were much more involved and took much more time, as she had learned from her Fair project. And that was on a subject that she found fascinating.
Though, to be fair-pun so not intended-Gwendolyn, as was stereotypical for those in her house, tended to find most academic topics interesting. Still, for those who were less inclined in that direction, while a test might carry more weight-like CATS, for example, could determine what subjects you could take, which fed into college and careers but also, according to Raúl, was a check on how well the teachers were doing on covering the basics - a research paper or essay or project, in particular on a subject someone wasn’t that interested in, took up an awful lot of time.
And was probably excruciating too. She couldn’t imagine, for example, having to suffer through doing a project on Quidditch. Sometimes she went to the games when she had nothing better to do but to have to like do all sorts of research into the subject sounded dreary and painful. Although, Gwendolyn supposed there were people who’d do that as an alternative to flying lessons. Both Dad and Lydia would likely have done so, had they been given the option. Granted, a lot of people would also see flying lessons as the quicker, easier option, since the bar for passing wasn’t that high, but some people that wasn’t the case.
Generally speaking though,the Aladren-someone who liked all things academic- taking an exam went faster than doing other sorts of assignments. Of course,it also probably was necessary to point out that Gwendolyn could go through multiple choice, true/false and short answer questions at a pretty fast rate which was not necessarily the case with everyone. Essay questions took a little longer but she still figured that she would be done with the written portion for each subject before the allotted amount of time was up
And it wasn’t as if Gwendolyn would go so far as to say she was looking forward to taking the exams exactly-only the most hardcore of Aladrens actually enjoyed tests-it was just that she wasn’t dreading them.
She made her way to the Elective Hall, where the exams would be taking place. She could already hear Raúl sneezing loudly. Not that Gwendolyn hadn’t heard it before, he was sort of friends with her dad and had been at her house and in the wand shop, but wow, there was something about Sonora that just made it really echo. She gave him a look of sympathy as she walked in and wished Lydia good luck before the exams started.
11
Gwendolyn Brockert
It's not that bad
1555
0
5
Lydia Priory
April 17, 2024 1:00 PM
*disagrees wholeheartedly with Gwendolyn* by Lydia Priory
This was it, it was the day of Lydia’s RATS exams. She could not say that she was ready, at least not psychologically. She had studied, she knew the material, though she would probably argue that she didn’t. Or she would have if she had been at all inclined towards arguing with anyone to begin with as Lydia had never been much of a fighter. Honestly, the idea of arguing with anyone made her queasy, because she knew she’d never win anyway, and she found the idea of anyone being mad at her or disliking her as a result terrifying, even more so than RATS.And RATS were as terrifying as the animal they were named for. Only when it came to the creature, Lydia was unsure precisely why she was afraid of them, beyond the fact that she was worried about getting diseases from them if they bit her or something. Which was honestly why she was afraid of any wild animal so she guessed that she did know why she was afraid of rats.
However, when it came to the exams , she was worried, obviously, about failure and humiliation. Plus, last time, Lydia had freaked out in front of her examiner, which was also mortifying. Fortunately, Mr. Barba had been super nice about it and super patient with her. Though the fact that he was friends with her uncle had been a rather unpleasant surprise, because when you made a fool of yourself in front of someone, you never wanted to see them again, whether or not you actually liked them because you had likely made a bad impression. Plus, you associated the person with something negative, even though they hadn’t done anything wrong and it was your fault, not theirs.
Although, to be fair, in this case, the person in question was a test examiner and was probably used to people associating him with something negative and not being very happy to see him. However, Lydia had to admit that she sort of did hope Mr. Barba was her examiner again, because he was nice . Plus, he’d already seen her freak out once and therefore, if she did it again, instead of doing so in front of an all new examiner-who might not be nice, and would fail her or not let her finish so she had to make up the exams over the summer and keep worrying about them instead of moving on with her life and worrying about all new things-it would be him again and there would be one less person in the world who saw Lydia make a fool of herself.
She arrived in the Elective Hall, and, after exchanging wishes of good luck with Gwendolyn, who probably didn’t need them, the Teppenpaw got, well, not settled exactly but some semblance of being so and the exams began. Just like last time, the questions on the written section seemed a lot easier than she expected, though Lydia was still not one hundred percent sure of her replies.
Then it was time for the practical section. Lydia heard a clear voice call out her name and her stomach dropped.
11
Lydia Priory
*disagrees wholeheartedly with Gwendolyn*
1533
0
5
Piper Wilson
April 20, 2024 3:48 PM
Ready as I'll ever be! by Piper Wilson
After three whole years of studying for them-at least occasionally, in that third and fourth years also did CATS review along with fifth years not because Piper actively had done so at any other time prior to this year-it was time for her CATS exams. She felt more or less ready for them. She wasn’t cocky about it but nor was she really that anxious. Honestly, she thought maybe having had the class reviews even prior to this year was helpful though Piper could certainly understand why Charlotte would have been annoyed about having to go out in the cold to review for an exam that she wouldn’t have for two more years.Speaking more generally, though any review could only be helpful, considering how important CATS were. Especially since with third through fifth years in the same class, there was some variation in when each year group might get a particular topic. So, Piper, while sympathetic to other perspectives, particularly those motivated by discomfort, thought it made perfect sense to have the third and fourth years reviewing for exams too. Though of course, it was also unfair to expect someone to have to remember something that they learned as a third year by the time they actually took their CATS. Not everyone was like Gabriel who could remember tons of trivia about something that they were not otherwise invested in.
Though, to be honest, Piper actually was jealous of her brother. He had an actual passion, the sort one could do a project on for the Fair. She wanted to care about something that deeply, to have something that was special and uniquely them. When Piper thought about what she cared about, she usually thought about other people. Which would have been great for the charity fair that they’d had when Gabriel had been at Sonora since while maybe she didn’t have a specific pet cause, she could certainly channel caring about other people into something for that sort of Fair. This one, not so much.
And she wondered what that said about her. Piper worried that it meant that she was a boring person, someone others wouldn’t want to talk to! Though, to be honest, sometimes it seemed like some people didn’t really want to talk to Gabriel but that might be because he seemed unable to gauge a person’s disinterest in whatever topic he happened to be stuck on, but was it any better not to have anything to talk about at all? Not to be shy, but to actually have nothing to say? Was she boring because she didn’t have this one thing that she was passionate about?
Fortunately, her attention was diverted as she walked into the Elective Hall by the sneezing fit that the head examiner was having. Now, having older relatives, Piper was prepared for this but looking at the man, she felt absolute pity. He looked terrible. Like, he wanted to be there much less than anyone did let alone like he wanted to be there less than the Teppenpaw, who wasn’t even that anxious about her CATS.
Piper wished all her friends good luck as the exams began.
11
Piper Wilson
Ready as I'll ever be!
1556
0
5
Amethyst Brockert
April 22, 2024 2:33 PM
It'll all be over soon by Amethyst Brockert
It was over, finally over, more or less. Today was RATS and all Amethyst had to get through this and the Fair and she would be free. Yes, unfortunately, she’d have to go home and deal with Topaz, but still. She could lock her sister out, prevent her from booby trapping the seventh year’s items,and even have a house-elf stand guard while she slept if need be. Topaz was dangerous, but Amethyst felt like she could handle her, she’d been doing so her entire lifeAnd Topaz being evil and nasty didn’t hurt . Well, it could, but it was different than being hurt by what happened with Iris. Topaz had always been a monster, it wasn’t as if she’d ever been kind to Amethyst-or anyone else-and then the Crotalus got Head Student and her sister turned against her. She had always known that was a risk, that if she got it, Topaz would be homicidal. However, since the Aladren alumna tended to be homicidal in general and would just mess with people because she was bored, Amethyst went for it.
Besides, then maybe Topaz would harass her rather than Sapphire or Allegra and while the seventh year didn’t deserve that, arguably-and most definitely in Topaz’s head-she deserved it more than their sister or cousin. Amethyst had not done anything wrong by getting Head Student when Topaz hadn’t but while that was a terrible reason to torture someone, it was a better one than doing it to someone who had really literally done nothing because you were bored. Plus, Amethyst could take it better than Sapphire or Allegra.
And the fact that Sapphire had a boyfriend while Topaz was still single didn’t make a difference either, because the former Aladren had wanted to be Head Student, whereas she didn’t seem to want to get married and was only resentful of Sapphire and Allegra finding romance because Mother pressured her to get married as well. Amethyst was still mostly actually on Topaz’s side with regards to this one, but mostly because nobody should have to marry Topaz.
After all, that was a scenario that would play out in one of two ways. Either Topaz would marry someone and they’d become her victim, which was obviously not something that the seventh year wanted to see happen or they’d be exactly like Topaz and Merlin knew, they didn’t need
Anyway, the difference between her sister and her former best friend was not just the fact that Topaz was plain evil but because it actually hurt Amethyst deeply not to be friends with Iris anymore. She missed the other Crotalus and felt terrible about what had happened. She had never wanted to hurt her though she really hadn’t chosen Liesl over her, Hans had and Amethyst was sorry about that but it still wasn’t really her fault.
But maybe she should have done something different. Maybe she should have apologized.She’d almost caved in a few times, but honestly hadn’t been sure that Iris would have even heard her. It would still have somehow been wrong and Amethyst’s fault and only make the situation worse instead of better.
So now it was done and Amethyst was glad. She was ready to move on with her life. She listened as Mr. Barba gave them the instructions for their exams and got started on the written portion.
11
Amethyst Brockert
It'll all be over soon
1532
0
5