And there it went! on Cascade Hall

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

December 14, 2012 7:32 PM

Here lies your CATS examination by Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

Today was the first day of the Critical Assessments of Talents and Skills exams. Also known as the C.A.T.S. examinations. The very exams that had most of the Fifth year class ripping their hair out, taking calming draught potions, and pulling all nighters for the last ten months of their lives. These examinations were extremely important for students as they would determine the course of actions the students would have for their future not only at Sonora, but for the rest of their lives. These exams were just as important as the exams to be taken by Seventh years.

Like every year before, there were four examiners waiting impatiently for the students to be ready to begin the three days of exams. The oldest of the examiners was Bernard Starsky. Some wondered why he was still allowed to be an examiner. Starsky was extremely hard of hearing. In fact, most of those who worked with him felt he should be declared legally deaf. There had been a small issue at the last school where he was an examiner that caused a little fuss due to his disability. As result, this would be his last year as an examiner. He was officially retiring. Still, for the students who had never seen him before and didn’t know of his disability, his stance with his head slightly tilted and his small eyes staring hard at them might have them feeling a bit threatened by the elderly Wizard.

The youngest of the group was Roland Ashburn. Anyone who ended up with him as an examiner was bound to pass the exam. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body and preferred to be liked rather than hated. As a result, people tended to walk all over him. That wasn’t to say students knew they were able to do this, but noticing his quick smile, his awkward stance, and overly cheerful disposition, they were bound to figure him out within the first couple of days.

The scariest looking one out of the four was also the only female, Nanette Langdon. She had a fierce look to her caused by her straight back posture, so tight bun that her face was pulled back, and the pinched up look on her face as though she was constantly smelling something foul. Beyond that, she had such sharp hard features that only matched her hard cold eyes that anyone who was unlucky enough to have her as their examiner might feel as though she was going out of her way to fail them.

Lastly, the examiner that everyone always hoped to get for a proper examination of skills was David Weatherby. Although he was a middle-aged Wizard, David was still a rather good looking man with graying dark hair and vibrant green eyes. There were many females who swooned at him. However, it was his fairness in his examinations that had students wanting him to be their examiner.

The mornings where the theoretical examinations were to take place, students were asked to quickly take their seats while the anti-cheating quills were presented to each of them. Examination books and parchments were faced down on desks and only allowed to be flipped once the examinations have begun. Langdon addressed the students in her crisp voice, “We have cast spells to prevent any cheating. Those who are caught will immediately be failed and removed from the room. Anyone who completes the examination prior to the end of the alluded time will remain seated and quiet out of respect to their peers.” Nanette made sure her seriousness of the situation was made clear as she looked at each student before continuing. “You may begin.”

In the afternoons when the practical examinations happened, students would wait outside of the Cascade Hall until their names were called. Once called, they would enter the Hall and make their way over to where the Examiner was awaiting them. The examiner would ask them to perform certain spells or create a certain potion. Once the student had completed each task, they were free to leave.

OOC: Theoretical (written) exams are in the morning and practical exams are in the afternoons. Mandatory classes are covered the first couple of days while electives are handled on the final day. You are free to write for your examiner and choose the one you would like to work with. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Finally. Let's get this over with. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

Here kitty! by Reggie

And there it went! by Addison Thornton

0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau Here lies your CATS examination 0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau 1 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

December 15, 2012 4:42 PM

Finally. Let's get this over with. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

The morning of C.A.T.S. exams, Josh felt ready to pass them all with flying colors. He had been studying for these exams since June and had studied just to pass the time. He was already excelling in his classes and he didn't doubt that he would do well on these exams. If he didn't, all of his time at school would have been a complete waste.

Josh enjoyed exams very much only because they were a good test of his skills and he took them very seriously. He dressed quickly and had time to eat breakfast before going to the theoretical examination. He sat down in a seat and listened as the examiner gave instructions. She reminded him of his grandmother, always stern-faced, sneering, and always disappointed in something.

Once the anti-cheating quills were passed out, Josh closed his eyes to gain focus and then began the exam once the examiner gave them the go-ahead. He went through it carefully, taking his time to read the directions and mark his answers. By the time he was finished, he felt confident that he had done well. He was done a little before the alluded time period, so he sat down and checked his answers twice before the time was finally up. He handed it in and then went out to attend the rest of his morning classes.

When the afternoon came and the practical exam was to be carried out, Josh waited outside the Hall with everyone else, looking down at the floor and practicing not feeling anything. He closed his eyes and kept them closed as he leaned against the wall until his name was called. "Maximilian McLachlan," a woman said from the door, and he went to her. As he walked into the Hall, he realized that the same woman who had given them instructions during the theoretical exam was also his examiner this time. If Josh wasn't used to the cold looks adults gave him and the intimidating faces of old women, he would have been indimidated by her. Feelings of inadequacy that he had once felt as a child rose, and he remembered his grandmother's sharp rebukes.

He had to clear his mind. Josh took a deep breath as he followed Ms. Langdon to a cauldron. Was he going to make a potion for his exam? His heart leaped as she sat down at her little desk. "You are going to make the Strengthening Solution." She stared down her nose at him and she picked up her quill, ready to judge his skills. Josh didn't think he could be any more confident than right now. Not only was the Strengthening Solution simple enough for him, but he had made this particular potion lots of times before.

"Go," Langdon said and Josh began. He fell into his own world as he crushed, mixed, poured, and stirred the potion. He loved doing this, automatically tweeking the potion slightly to make the solution last longer. When he was finished, Langdon walked over and peered into it. Josh poured some of the solution into the vial and watched as the old woman took it and capped it, labeling it with Josh's name.

The witch sat back down and wrote down a few things. "You're free to go," she said, looking up at him as if wondering why he hadn't left yet. She looked ready to fail him, but Josh wasn't deterred. That was the best solution he had ever made in his life and he hadn't forgotten any of the ingredients. Once he was out of the Hall and passed all the students waiting, he smiled a little to himself. His hard work had to pay off now after months and months of studying.

19 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan Finally. Let's get this over with. 184 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan 0 5

Reggie

December 22, 2012 2:22 PM

Here kitty! by Reggie

Reggie thought that this half of term would have gone differently. For one, she thought she would have had a boyfriend by this point in time. She had, for all intent and purposes, thought that Phoenix would have been her boyfriend. They had hit it off so well the first half of term and he had even accepted the picture of the two of them from the party, but apparently he had changed his mind about her after midterm had come and gone. She was rather put off about this because she really had liked him. He was fun to talk to and seemed to have gotten along pretty great. Oh well, there was no point in dwelling in it now. The year was over and she only had to get through these next three days of examinations.

Her examiner for the practical was Mr. Weatherby. Or, to his friends, probably David. Reggie couldn’t help but notice how nice he was to look at and wondered if it had anything to do with the name. She was still harvesting a heavy crush on the Aladren Quidditch Captain, so there was a chance that she was associating the name and automatically seeing someone handsome, but she doubted it. Maybe Davids’ were always just lucky in the genes department. That was probably silly to think, but she didn’t know too many Davids and these two current ones in her presence she noticed well enough.

She had Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts on her first day for both the written and the practical. Potions was by far, her easiest class since she had so much practice with her father. Defense she wasn’t really concerned with either since she knew a great deal of it from her mother. But Transfiguration was one of her more difficult subjects and she wasn’t quite so sure she could do well under the pressure of being watched so closely. Still, what she couldn’t do perfectly on the practical, she felt she had even out by the written. She was good at the written portion of things and having all those Charms essays sure did help.

When she managed to make it through her practical, Reggie was quite pleased. Her transfiguration work probably could have been a little better, but that was a very difficult subject and since she had nearly managed it on her first go of it, she felt pretty confident. She aced the potions without any issue and she was positive that she aced Defense. If her second day also went just as well with the remainder of her main core classes, Reggie was bound to have an excellent summer.

6 Reggie Here kitty! 187 Reggie 0 5

Addison Thornton

January 03, 2013 12:57 AM

And there it went! by Addison Thornton

Addison had been studying literally from the time that Arista had gotten her scores the summer before. Now, as the end of the year approached, it was her turn to take the CAT's Exams. Addison spent most of her time studying either alone or with Josephine as well as exercising, so she didn't really have much of a social life for the entirety of her fifth year (not like she'd ever had one before, but either way).

The Teppenpaw had seen other classmates of hers get all angsty, but to her, none of them were near as bad as she herself was. Medic Bailey had shown her many tricks to calm herself down, and she made sure to practice them all every chance she got. In hallways, walking to class; while she ate her healthy meals; while she studied; while she got ready for bed; and more, were her times to practice. She spent a lot of time counting up and down, taking deep breaths in and slow breaths back out again. She'd also spent some time memorizing a paragraph of things that would help her to feel better and less anxious.

The first morning of the CAT's Examination, Addi dressed in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve t-shirt. Even though the weather was getting warmer again outside, she still had goosebumps and red rash marks on her arms and upper chest areas from her anxiety so she wanted nothing to do with showing any of that off. She knew (from Arista the year before) that the mornings brought on the written tests. These didn't worry her nearly as much as the practical portions did. She'd studied plenty and was feeling okay about bookwork. It was doing things in front of the examiner that scared her most of all. A written test was just that, written. Nobody was grading her on it right then and there, that (for some reason) felt better to the fifth year than having someone give her a score on what they saw from her!

Once she (with the other fifth years) had entered Cascade Hall, she sat down in her chair towards the back of the room. Exam books were face down on the desk and anti-cheating quills were handed out when Nanette Langdon spoke to the bunch of them, explaining to them what would be happening if anyone was caught cheating. Addison wasn't planning on cheating, in fact never would have thought of doing that herself, but she still swallowed a big ball of saliva at the thought but nodded to show the scary woman that she understood the rules.

The test began and she turned over her book, answering question after question. She finished just as time ran out and made a rash decision not to check her answers. Second guessing myself is a bad idea... Momma always said that... she thought to herself as she stood up and handed in her paper before going out of Cascade Hall and up to the MARS rooms to go swimming in the water room. She'd promised herself a swim to work her body out (and hopefully calm it down some) each day before the practical exams in the afternoon.

Addi got out of the water after a nice swim and sat down at the waters edge with her last minute notes and as her heart thudded inside her chest, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying aloud what she'd memorized. “Day by day in every way I'm getting better and better. I am somebody, the me I see is the me I'll be. I will be on time, eager to learn, act in a positive manner. Respect myself and others, set my goals to be successful, I can succeed...!” she said, going on with her positive affirmation until the very end. “I will reveal the Warrior Princess underneath all the layers of hurt. I know winning is not about running from a storm, its about dancing in the rain. I know that no matter where I am in life, I can still be a hero. Fearless Faith!”

Okay... I can do this... I can do this... I can do this... she chanted to herself over and over again as she stood up and picked up her things to change fast for the practical portion of the tests.

Up in her room, she changed into a different pair of sweats, and a thinner hoodie (as she was a little chilly after her swim) and went back down to Cascade Hall. The room had changed a bit and now each student was being called one at a time by one of the four examiners. Her name was called by a higher pitched person and she bit her bottom lip when she looked up and saw the same scary woman, Nanette Langdon, looking at her.

She stood up and followed the woman. Addi had been told by Arista all about what happened when she had the lady examiner the year before and how she'd made her oldest sister battle a boggart and her heart beat faster and faster. The fifth year felt as if she was walking to the electric chair...

This was probably how Ris felt... she thought as they got to a small table. On it was a small bird in a cage.

”Take out this bird and change it into a water goblet.” Langdon said to her as she pulled her pad of paper closer to herself.

Addison pulled out her wand, took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Vera Verto!” she said as she pointed the wand at the bird. It changed into a water goblet (a slightly off-colored one, but a goblet nonetheless!). Addi liked Transfiguration, so she figured she'd do well with that. She was glad that her exam started with that class, it would help to make her slightly more comfortable with her surroundings, and that was a good thing.

Langdon bent down and opened a chest at her feet. A bunch of people popped out from inside and surrounded Addison. Her heart pounded. She had hoped that a Boggart wouldn't be used on her as it had on her sister, but there it was... She knew there were two things she could do. The first, think of something that would make that be funny to her. That choice was something she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be able to do. So she took the harder charm, but the easier way out.

She pointed her wand at the crowd of people, closed her eyes and made the wand movement she needed. “Expecto Patronum!” she said as she felt her wand move slightly. Opening her eyes, Addison saw that a small shadow of an animal rush out of her wand and out towards the crowd. It dissipated (much to her surprise) and she almost fell backwards out of her chair.

“Very well done, young lady...” Langdon said, seemingly impressed with her patronus. It wasn't fully corporeal, but it wasn't all shadow either. Addi was actually proud of herself. “That's all I need from you for now. Thank you.” she said as she waved Addison off.

Addi walked back out of the room in search of Arista or Josephine, didn't matter which to her, she felt WONDERFUL!

0 Addison Thornton And there it went! 190 Addison Thornton 0 5