CATS EXAMINATIONS on Cascade Hall

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

April 27, 2013 1:10 PM

CATS EXAMINATIONS 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, there are four examiners in charge of testing these students. Last year had been Bernard Starsky’s final year as an examiner as he had officially retired. The board was rather pleased by this as he was far too old and outdated to keep up with the new demands and requirements that were set out every year, but there were some members who would undoubtedly miss the old bugger. In his place was the fresh face of Aurora Septentrion. Anyone who was paying attention to the examiners who had come for the R.A.T.S. examinations would remember her face, otherwise, she was new to all. Aurora allowed her blonde hair to remain free and down, giving her a youthful appearance that went well with her petite frame and blue eyes. Some of the males in the group were bound to find her attractive and, although she rarely smiled, the atmosphere around her was warm and friendly. However, students should not take this to mean she was an easy target to persuade or trick, Aurora took her responsibilities seriously and could be ruthless when needed.

Nanette Langdon was the complete opposite of Aurora in every way both physically and in personality. 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.

Roland Ashburn was one of the younger ones of the group and although he had been an examiner for many years now, he was still a push over. Roland had a difficult time being strict with the students as he knew they were trying their best under a stressful situation. Due to his need to please people, anyone who had him for an examiner were likely to pass. This wasn’t to say that students would know this going in, but his quick smile, awkward stance, and overly cheerful disposition, put students at ease within the first few minutes of being with him.

The last examiner and the fairest of them all, was David Weatherby. Handsome despite his aging appearance, David always enjoyed these weeks where he went from school to school meeting the students and learning of their abilities. With salt and pepper hair, vibrant green eyes, and a lean body, most of the female population tended to develop small crushes on him. However, it was his fairness and respect for the process in his examinations that had students hoping he would be the one to call out their name.

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!

0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau CATS EXAMINATIONS 0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau 1 5

Michael Grosvenor

May 03, 2013 1:08 PM

In theory... by Michael Grosvenor

Michael was weirdly calm. He wasn't sure whether it was that he'd used up all of his stress in the run up to the CATS, or the fact that simple things like having arrived on time or not having immediately had someone leap out and start hexing him as a DADA practical, testing how he coped with the element of surprise, meant that the day was already going better than the worst case scenarios he had imagined. He wasn't expecting too much of himself. He doubted his teachers were. His parents always forgot what the grading system was at Sonora and, in the quite likely event that he got mostly As, they would be delighted so long as they forgot to ask what it stood for.

He felt an uncomfortable prickling start to rise on the back of his neck as he sat down to his first exam. The atmosphere of the hall wasn't exactly designed to put one at ease, or to keep one there. He started to feel other people's tension which, coupled with the stern face of the examiner and the presence of a real, actual exam booklet made him increasingly uncomfortable.

He turned the paper over, able to do the first couple of simple short-answer questions. Ones which called for information such as the incantation for severing charm, or what the opposite of summoning was (please include name of charm, spell and wand movement – 3 points) were mostly fine. He tried not to panic when he had to skip over what incantation you used to make a doll dance (something really long that he'd learnt fricking ages ago, he knew that much) and when he could only name one of the required four charms to use a swish and flick motion. It was ok. Not knowing a couple of things was ok. He would finish the rest of the short answers, then look over them again before doing the longer questions. Again at the end, if he had time and it was still necessary. He thought the doll one began with 'a' and he could always try fudging it with messy hand-writing. They had sternly been told that such tricks would not work but it couldn't hurt to try as a last ditch attempt.

With a few questions missed and knowing he was getting to the difficult part, as well as increased exposure to the tension of the hall, Michael's insides were starting to squirm as he got to the longer questions, of which he would have to answer two from a choice of five. He scanned them once through, finding no firm favourites. In fact, finding nothing that didn't seem like utter gobbledegook on the first parse. Forcing himself not to panic, he tried to read through each question more slowly, taking time to take it in. The first one still contained the name of a wizard he thought he'd never heard of, so writing about his theories on anything was completely out.

Charms can be harmful if over-used. Discuss this statement with examples of specific spells and their side-effects.

He thought he could do that... He'd definitely read that cheering charms were bad if you used them too much cos you went mental or something. The bullet point did say discuss, which usually meant both sides of the argument, and it also requested examples plural. He wasn't sure what other charms were dangerous like that... But if he came up with an example that could be used safely loads of times (which was probably most of them), then that would be discussing and he would have more than one example, even if it was only one for each side. Plus he might think of something else whilst he wrote down what he knew about cheering charms. That was perhaps an over-optimistic assessment of both his ability to concentrate on more than one thing at a time and on how long his knowledge on cheering charms would take to put down on paper but it was enough of a plan for him to get cracking.

Cheering charms (spell: cleohilarius, wand movement: flicky and like you're making a smile), Michael wrote, unsure whether the spell and wnad movement would count but figuring it couldn't hurt seeing as he thought he knew them... ish.... is mostly a nice spell but it can be a problem if you use it too much. People end up kind of giggly and being a bit silly, he wrote, searching in vain for the word 'hysterical.' which is not very good, especially if they're trying to do something serious or where they need to concentrate. People can also get addicted to using them which is bad. He thought he'd read that. He'd read it about the effects of certain potions and didn't see why it couldn't be true of charms as well.

He paused, trying to think of a charm that was just... normal and ok to use. There were softening charms and colour changing charms which he thought were ok but he couldn't be one hundred percent sure that if you did those constantly to an object it wouldn't end up kind of squishy or a little bit green. But it probably wasn't as bad as someone getting all giddy, and that was almost like it being ok, and thus arguing both sides...

Charms you use on things rather than people are generally safer cos it matters less if you damage things. Charms to change a thing's colour (spell: multicolorous, flicky wand movement) he wrote, jumping back and adding this to his swish and flick list, although he wasn't really sure it also had a swish, or make them soft (spongify, s-shaped wand movement) can be used repeatedly without damaging a thing. However, repeated use over many years may mean the thing won't go fully back to normal – like being a bit soft or stained slightly.

Michael wasn't sure that was long enough but decided to start his other question whilst he thought about it some more.

OOC – anyone who wants to pass their CATS should double check information in class, rather than trusting Michael's memory, as this post contains deliberate errors.

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