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Chapter 61: I Regret It, Too
Fifteen minutes, or perhaps even less.
The rustling sound of writing in the classroom began to grow intermittent. William looked up from his lesson plan, his interest piqued as he began to observe the students.
Unlike their cheerful mood when he had first entered the classroom, most of them now had looks of clear anxiety. This was especially true for the few who had looked most confident when the exam papers were handed out; beads of cold sweat dotted their foreheads, and mind you, it was only September.
William began to walk slowly through the classroom, his gaze sweeping over the students' exam papers. When he came across a student who had managed to answer a few more questions, he would silently commit their name and face to memory.
By the time he had spent ten minutes looking over everyone's exam papers, the atmosphere in the classroom had become incredibly oppressive.
The sound of quills scratching on exam papers had vanished completely. Occasionally, someone would flip over their paper to start studying a new page, but the quills they picked up were set down again without ever touching the parchment.
The better the student, the greater their frustration with this exam paper—after studying for so long, to be faced with actual past questions from the Ordinary Wizarding Levels exam and feel as if they had learned nothing at all.
By the time thirty minutes of the exam had passed, the entire classroom had descended into garbage time.
All the students had given up on answering. Some of the more short-tempered ones had started to abuse the fine downy feathers on their quills. Like authors approaching a deadline, they desperately plucked at the feathers, as if doing so would grant them some kind of inspiration, allowing them to complete the damnable exam paper before them as if by some wondrous magic.
*Clap! Clap!*
William stood at the lectern and clapped his hands.
"Half an hour has passed, and I've noticed that everyone seems to have given up—should I collect the papers early and go over them, or would you like another half hour to continue the exam?"
Nearly everyone let out a long sigh of relief. A few troublemakers seemed about to voice a different opinion, but under the strange gazes of those sitting near them, they thought better of it and raised no objections.
"Alright then. Everyone, pass your papers to the front. The students in the first row, please hand them to me. Then, everyone take out your textbooks and read the first twenty pages."
A command that would have certainly caused a commotion on any other day was carried out with exceptional obedience. The students passed up their exam papers as if they were getting rid of a hot potato.
A thick stack of exam papers was placed back on his desk, but the students below remained as silent as if they had been hit by a frost.
Only when William began to grade the exam papers did the students below start whispering amongst themselves.
"How'd you do?"
"An utter disaster. I did a little at the beginning, but I couldn't understand anything after that. You?"
"Same. I managed to solve one question near the end, though. It felt like there was a lot of stuff I'd never even seen before. Were those really past exam questions?"
"I don't know. The Professor wouldn't lie to us, would he?"
...
"Hey, Nancy's crying. Did you see?"
"I see her. Keep your voice down, do you want to be ostracized?"
...
At the lectern, William was grading the papers with incredible speed. In the thick stack of exam papers, very little had been written. Even for the few bold enough to try, their answers could be marked wrong right from the start. Since he only had to grade a few questions per paper, the thick stack was sorted into three piles at a speed not much slower than stamping documents.
By the time the last exam paper was tossed onto the thickest pile, the entire grading process had taken only five minutes.
After spending another five minutes transcribing the grades, William stood up and scanned the entire class.
"The papers are graded. I'm guessing no one wants me to read the results out loud, right?"
No one answered. They were Fifth Year students, after all; everyone had a good idea of what kind of grade they would get based on how little they had written.
"Now, I will call out your names to return your papers."
In front of everyone, William mixed the three piles of exam papers together and shuffled them again before he began calling out names.
After he had wandered around the room and handed back the last exam paper, he returned to the lectern and said in a forced, pained tone:
"Poor. Very poor. Extremely poor—that is my only assessment of your performance on this exam."
"The best grade was a P, for Poor. And even so, only three students managed to achieve that."
"Nancy Warren and Guy Walker of Ravenclaw, and Lenna Eddy of Hufflepuff. Each of you has earned five House Points for your respective House as a reward for achieving the highest grades—but everyone, no applause."
"This is hardly an ideal result, and I certainly don't want anyone to be proud of such a grade. According to the regulations of previous years, a grade like this wouldn't even qualify you for an Advanced Class, let alone allow you to dream of obtaining a N.E.W.T Certificate."
"I know some of you may not be convinced. Next, we'll do a simple review of the exam paper."
William picked up his lesson plan, flipping to the pages with the exam questions.
"Question one: from the 1990 OWLs exam, question five. The original question."
"Question two: from the 1979 OWLs exam, question eleven. The original question."
...
"The last question: from the 1975 exam, question eight. The original question, minus one restriction."
William put down his lesson plan and looked around at all the students.
"All of the questions, with the exception of three where I slightly altered a restriction, were original questions from the last twenty years of exams."
"And to prevent any of you from questioning my choice of exam questions—which are older than you are—I'll tell you something in advance."
"The Wizarding Examinations Authority—the organization in charge of the O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts exams—its Director is Professor Griselda Marchbanks. She once served as Headmaster Dumbledore's Examiner. And in my opinion, Professor Marchbanks will be heading the Authority for at least another thirty years. Therefore, this long history of past exam questions will be our most precious reference material."
"That can't be real, Professor?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore's Examiner! Is that really true, Professor?"
"It's true. As true as the fact that you all turned in what were essentially blank papers."
William snorted, his single sentence plunging the slightly energized students back into their dejected state.
It was no wonder the students were surprised—even he had been shocked by the information when he was researching the Wizarding Examinations Authority. Dumbledore's proctor!
It was like finding an awkward photo of some great figure from their youth, sparking a desire to investigate further. But unfortunately for them, exploration was not the theme of this class.
"I don't think I can accept a class of students turning in papers like this for their O.W.Ls a year from now. I imagine you all feel the same."
William turned to the blackboard and began writing furiously, unable to suppress a small measure of his smug satisfaction.
"Tutoring, Improvement, Intensive Study!"
Three words appeared on the blackboard.
"I originally wanted to make this class more enjoyable for everyone, but regrettably, your foundation is just a bit too weak," William said, a look of pity appearing on his face. "For the next year, we're going to have to work hard."
PS: The second chapter will be out tomorrow at noon (maybe a little later).
(end of chapter)
Fifteen minutes, or perhaps even less.
The rustling sound of writing in the classroom began to grow intermittent. William looked up from his lesson plan, his interest piqued as he began to observe the students.
Unlike their cheerful mood when he had first entered the classroom, most of them now had looks of clear anxiety. This was especially true for the few who had looked most confident when the exam papers were handed out; beads of cold sweat dotted their foreheads, and mind you, it was only September.
William began to walk slowly through the classroom, his gaze sweeping over the students' exam papers. When he came across a student who had managed to answer a few more questions, he would silently commit their name and face to memory.
By the time he had spent ten minutes looking over everyone's exam papers, the atmosphere in the classroom had become incredibly oppressive.
The sound of quills scratching on exam papers had vanished completely. Occasionally, someone would flip over their paper to start studying a new page, but the quills they picked up were set down again without ever touching the parchment.
The better the student, the greater their frustration with this exam paper—after studying for so long, to be faced with actual past questions from the Ordinary Wizarding Levels exam and feel as if they had learned nothing at all.
By the time thirty minutes of the exam had passed, the entire classroom had descended into garbage time.
All the students had given up on answering. Some of the more short-tempered ones had started to abuse the fine downy feathers on their quills. Like authors approaching a deadline, they desperately plucked at the feathers, as if doing so would grant them some kind of inspiration, allowing them to complete the damnable exam paper before them as if by some wondrous magic.
*Clap! Clap!*
William stood at the lectern and clapped his hands.
"Half an hour has passed, and I've noticed that everyone seems to have given up—should I collect the papers early and go over them, or would you like another half hour to continue the exam?"
Nearly everyone let out a long sigh of relief. A few troublemakers seemed about to voice a different opinion, but under the strange gazes of those sitting near them, they thought better of it and raised no objections.
"Alright then. Everyone, pass your papers to the front. The students in the first row, please hand them to me. Then, everyone take out your textbooks and read the first twenty pages."
A command that would have certainly caused a commotion on any other day was carried out with exceptional obedience. The students passed up their exam papers as if they were getting rid of a hot potato.
A thick stack of exam papers was placed back on his desk, but the students below remained as silent as if they had been hit by a frost.
Only when William began to grade the exam papers did the students below start whispering amongst themselves.
"How'd you do?"
"An utter disaster. I did a little at the beginning, but I couldn't understand anything after that. You?"
"Same. I managed to solve one question near the end, though. It felt like there was a lot of stuff I'd never even seen before. Were those really past exam questions?"
"I don't know. The Professor wouldn't lie to us, would he?"
...
"Hey, Nancy's crying. Did you see?"
"I see her. Keep your voice down, do you want to be ostracized?"
...
At the lectern, William was grading the papers with incredible speed. In the thick stack of exam papers, very little had been written. Even for the few bold enough to try, their answers could be marked wrong right from the start. Since he only had to grade a few questions per paper, the thick stack was sorted into three piles at a speed not much slower than stamping documents.
By the time the last exam paper was tossed onto the thickest pile, the entire grading process had taken only five minutes.
After spending another five minutes transcribing the grades, William stood up and scanned the entire class.
"The papers are graded. I'm guessing no one wants me to read the results out loud, right?"
No one answered. They were Fifth Year students, after all; everyone had a good idea of what kind of grade they would get based on how little they had written.
"Now, I will call out your names to return your papers."
In front of everyone, William mixed the three piles of exam papers together and shuffled them again before he began calling out names.
After he had wandered around the room and handed back the last exam paper, he returned to the lectern and said in a forced, pained tone:
"Poor. Very poor. Extremely poor—that is my only assessment of your performance on this exam."
"The best grade was a P, for Poor. And even so, only three students managed to achieve that."
"Nancy Warren and Guy Walker of Ravenclaw, and Lenna Eddy of Hufflepuff. Each of you has earned five House Points for your respective House as a reward for achieving the highest grades—but everyone, no applause."
"This is hardly an ideal result, and I certainly don't want anyone to be proud of such a grade. According to the regulations of previous years, a grade like this wouldn't even qualify you for an Advanced Class, let alone allow you to dream of obtaining a N.E.W.T Certificate."
"I know some of you may not be convinced. Next, we'll do a simple review of the exam paper."
William picked up his lesson plan, flipping to the pages with the exam questions.
"Question one: from the 1990 OWLs exam, question five. The original question."
"Question two: from the 1979 OWLs exam, question eleven. The original question."
...
"The last question: from the 1975 exam, question eight. The original question, minus one restriction."
William put down his lesson plan and looked around at all the students.
"All of the questions, with the exception of three where I slightly altered a restriction, were original questions from the last twenty years of exams."
"And to prevent any of you from questioning my choice of exam questions—which are older than you are—I'll tell you something in advance."
"The Wizarding Examinations Authority—the organization in charge of the O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts exams—its Director is Professor Griselda Marchbanks. She once served as Headmaster Dumbledore's Examiner. And in my opinion, Professor Marchbanks will be heading the Authority for at least another thirty years. Therefore, this long history of past exam questions will be our most precious reference material."
"That can't be real, Professor?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore's Examiner! Is that really true, Professor?"
"It's true. As true as the fact that you all turned in what were essentially blank papers."
William snorted, his single sentence plunging the slightly energized students back into their dejected state.
It was no wonder the students were surprised—even he had been shocked by the information when he was researching the Wizarding Examinations Authority. Dumbledore's proctor!
It was like finding an awkward photo of some great figure from their youth, sparking a desire to investigate further. But unfortunately for them, exploration was not the theme of this class.
"I don't think I can accept a class of students turning in papers like this for their O.W.Ls a year from now. I imagine you all feel the same."
William turned to the blackboard and began writing furiously, unable to suppress a small measure of his smug satisfaction.
"Tutoring, Improvement, Intensive Study!"
Three words appeared on the blackboard.
"I originally wanted to make this class more enjoyable for everyone, but regrettably, your foundation is just a bit too weak," William said, a look of pity appearing on his face. "For the next year, we're going to have to work hard."
PS: The second chapter will be out tomorrow at noon (maybe a little later).
(end of chapter)
