I'm going to stuff this and display it. on Cascade Hall

Examiner Mann

September 14, 2020 5:49 PM

CATS - Fifth Year Student Exams by Examiner Mann

The time had come to fulfill the contract between Sonora and national examiners, wherein examiners arrived at the school to deliver tests for students. The CATS were the easier of the two, if only because they were designed for a lower level of magical proficiency. The Critical Assessments of Talents and Skills was given to fifth year students in a written format and the examiners would pace about the hall to make sure there was no cheating among them.

Students arrived to find Cascade Hall transformed into a testing center, with individual desks set up, equipped already with tamper-proof and cheat-proof quills and parchment. When everyone had taken their seat - several feet apart from each other - the examiners passed out test booklets, one subject at a time. These scores were important. While it was RATS scores that ultimately played a role in college admissions, it was CATS scores that determined which advanced classes students could take at all.

Examiner Mann paced the hall as students arrived, offering friendly smiles and tight-lipped nods to those who made eye contact with him. His colleagues were doing similarly around the room, to varying degrees of nicety. When everyone was seated, he opened his mouth and spoke loudly and clearly to explain the rules, the process, and the time they would have to take the exams. Breaks would be provided between each subject but students would not be permitted to leave Cascade Hall; any necessary snacks and beverages, as well as bathrooms, had been set up in the Hall for this purpose. Students were allowed to talk during breaks, but breaks would not begin until each test had completely finished, so students could not discuss tests which were still in progress. "The exception," he added solemnly, looking around at the gathered fifth years. "Is any students caught cheating. In that case, you will be immediately escorted from the Hall and the rest of your tests will be graded as submitted, which is to say blank."

When the written tests were concluded, Examiner Mann explained how the practical portion of the day would go and that each student would be dismissed after their turn. Practical exams would be done in a private testing chamber with two examiners while a third examiner remained in the Hall to monitor the waiting students, who were not to talk during that time. Students would be called in alphabetical order by last name and dismissed through a separate door so as not to have to face their peers at the end of it all.

22 Examiner Mann CATS - Fifth Year Student Exams 0 Examiner Mann 1 5

Topaz Brockert

September 24, 2020 9:57 PM

I'm going to stuff this and display it. by Topaz Brockert

Today was CATS and Topaz was more than ready for them. After all, she was pretty much sure she was a genius, after all and pretty magically powerful. If she had to pick a weak spot, it might be Care of Magical Creatures, because it was counter-intuitive for her to care for things. Still, the fifth year knew what she was supposed to do, it was just that she'd rather stuff animals than take care of them. It had been pretty easy over the years to figure to do the opposite of what she would actually do.

She'd gone ahead and studied anyway though to make extra sure she'd know everything that could possibly test her on as Topaz wanted perfect scores. She had been pleased to notice that she'd already pretty much known all the material already. Therefore, she was certain she was going to ace this thing. She was definitely going to do better than Allegra, but then, she'd never been worried about that when it came to CATS (and RATS). Obviously, she hoped to do better than her roommate too, but figured she'd never have way of finding this out whereas with her cousin, the Aladren could easily bully the results out of her. Still, if she heard Snotti-Ness bragging, she could easily shut that down by getting perfect scores. Nobody could best perfect scores.

Really, that was all this was about for Topaz. CATS scores were what was used to decide what classes someone could take, and if you couldn't take as many then you wouldn't have as many RATS which would limit your college and career prospects. Now, the fifth year hoped to get into the former, but she didn't really need to worry about the latter. Work was not a part of the Aladren's future. She really was not worried about not being able to continue with any particular class as it was and her parents would probably be able to use her scores to show suitors how intelligent she was.

Not that Topaz was especially looking forward to marriage and babies. She really could not imagine herself falling in love and procreating. What would in Merlin's name would she do with a child ? Maybe Care of Magical Creatures would help her there. Or, more likely, the Aladren would just hire a nanny and then, do her best to mold her children in her image.

Come to think of it, that was a pleasurable thought. While the processes involved in spawning, pregnancy and all that, were revolting, a lot of super intelligent offspring could only be a benefit to the world.

Also, when it came time for her wedding, Topaz, who'd genuinely never cared about such things, was going to make everyone's life as difficult as possible for no reason other than to mess with them on the grounds of being annoyed at having to marry and procreate. And, while she was on the topic of making someone's life difficult, she'd also decided to hide every spare writing instrument that normally resided in her dorm room meaning Snotti-Ness would have to borrow one from somewhere. After the exams, she'd put them all back where she found them. Topaz had even taken the liberty of borrowing one from Allegra herself, pretending to be angry that all the pens in their room had gone missing. The Crotalus likely knew she was pretending, and might really have figured it all out because she knew Topaz well but also knew her well enough to be terrified to say anything.

This was just one more petty yet totally satisfying thing in a long line of petty yet totally satisfying things she'd done to Snotti-Ness since prefect announcements at the beginning of the year.

She waited as one of the Examiners explained the rules and the first written exam began. Topaz read the first question and quickly wrote down her answer. Then she did the same for the rest of the questions, finishing up before too long. The Aladren looked around the room, wondering what all the fuss was about. Okay, yes, determining one's future class options, but they were supposed to be difficult . That had been really easy.

And the other written exams were just more of the same. Honestly, Topaz was just too smart for this. Maybe RATS would end up being more of a challenge. Or the practical part would but she doubted that. After all, she'd already been trying to learn higher level spells and potions.

11 Topaz Brockert I'm going to stuff this and display it. 1427 0 5