What is an O.W.L.?
According to Harry Potter Wiki: "An O.W.L. (Ordinary Wizarding Level) is a subject-specific test taken during Hogwarts students' fifth year, administrated by the Wizarding Examinations Authority. The score made by a student on a particular O.W.L. determines whether or not he or she will be allowed to continue taking that subject in subsequent school years."
When do I take it as a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Roleplay Guild?
You will take it when your student reaches their fifth year. O.W.L.s will be held during the first and second months of every in-guild year. This also means that normal classes for fifth years stop during O.W.L. time to allow students enough time to finish all their tests. Yay!
Do I have to take O.W.L.s?
Every fifth year student must take their O.W.L.s in order to go on to the next level of their classes. You must take the O.W.L.s for each class that you are a student of. Core class O.W.L.s are mandatory.
Note: Please be aware that O.W.L.s are required to continue on at Hogwarts and any student found to not complete them in time will be held back in their fifth year, unless the student chooses to drop out instead. An extension may be requested by PMing Devlyn Maycry and requesting it. Posting in the absence thread will not count as an extension request. All extension requests must be put in before the last 5 days of the month and will only give you and extra 7 days after the month ends to finish.
I didn't take my elective in time to reach the point needed for O.W.L.s. What do I do?
Most electives need three years of study. If you jump into an elective late, or it was provided late, there are only a few options you have. You could double-up on an elective, meaning, take Elective I and Elective II at the same time to catch up. This can only be done during your fourth year, because fifth year is dedicated to studying for the O.W.L. during the first month.
Another option you may want to consider is taking the O.W.L. for that elective during your sixth year, but you will have to find a way to take the exam and also attend your sixth year classes.
If these options don't seem to your liking, you could always attempt to take the O.W.L. early, with permission from your professor.
What happens if I fail my O.W.L.s?
If you fail less than half of your exams, you have two choices: You may either wait until the next year, repeat the fifth year level for those lessons, and retake those exams, or allow them to move on to their sixth year without those classes. If you happen to fail half or more, then you have 2 choices. You can either, wait until the next year, and have your character repeat their fifth year and retake all their O.W.L.s for a better grade, or allow them to move on to their sixth year without those classes.
What happens if I pass all my O.W.L.s?
Congratulations! All you'll need to do is figure out which career path you'd like to go into and be prepared for your N.E.W.T. exams. Sign up for the N.E.W.T.-leveled classes that pertain to your career path and prepare for the tests. Sixth year and the beginning of seventh year are dedicated to N.E.W.T. exam reviewing.
What should I do to prepare?
Before starting on your O.W.L.s, make sure to create a thread in the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s subforum with the title as your character's name's O.W.L.s (example: Linda Bella's O.W.L.s). Then, post the O.W.L.s that you will be taking that year. The crew will review your O.W.L. scores and post them in your thread, adding their signature as proof. You may not tamper with your scores.
What about an option for opting out of my O.W.L.s?
That is actually something you can do! For anyone wishing to opt out of O.W.L.s, you may make a thread and put what classes you are taking, as well as their grades for the test, and an explanation of the grade they are receiving. A checker will come by and look over the grades. Please note that your grades must make sense for your character. If your character was a slacker, do not expect them to have straight O's unless you can justify it.
Policies for Opting Out
1 ) No student will be allowed to get all O's on their tests unless they take the actual tests instead of opting out.
2 ) 95-100 - O
85 - 94 - EE
70 - 84 - A
60 - 69 - P
50 - 59 - D
0 - 49 - T
3 ) Students taking 10 or less tests will be allowed to get two-thirds of their scores E or above.
4 ) Students taking 11-13 tests will be allowed to get one-half of their scores E or above.
5 ) Students taking 14 or more tests will be allowed to get one-third of their scores E or above.
6 ) A student may petition to get more than the stated allowances if their student is a studious, intelligent, or hard working student.
7 ) If you wish for your student to petition this, please PM Devlyn MayCry to discuss the options available and give good reasons/proof of reasoning.
8 ) If your student is taking some of the actual tests and opting out of others the ones that you are opting out of cannot be graded as O's.
Good luck!
Note: The tests do not support BBCode or paragraphs, so please make sure you keep that in consideration when you submit them.
Note: The tests do not support BBCode or paragraphs, so please make sure you keep that in consideration when you submit them.
