Things To Know For First Year Students
This book is a compilation of all the things that a first year student may find helpful to know,before joining and when here at Hogwarts.These are compiled by me by drawing inspiration from my own experience at first year in Hogwarts.
Last Updated
08/02/23
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The Hogwarts curriculum
Chapter 10
The Hogwarts curriculum is a seven-year course.
All first-years at Hogwarts must take seven core subjects:Transfiguration,Charms,Potions,History of Magic,Defense Against the Dark Arts,Astronomy and Herbology.Flying is a separate compulsory subject that teaches information about and also how to use magical transportation especially flying on broomsticks for transport and for playing Quidditch.You are not allowed to fly your own broomsticks in school in first year though,you are provided school broomsticks to fly and also are not allowed to fly without supervision in first year during your stay in school.All these subjects must be passed in the current Hogwarts curriculum in order to be able to move into second year.While passing Flying class is not compulsory to reach second year,failing in any other subject may lead students to be detained in first year until all subjects are passed.Flying class examination of first year can be passed later in second year by retaking it,however,until the flying class examination is passed,the student will not be allowed to fly without supervision during their stay in school,which means that though students are allowed to play Quidditch in second year,a student who has not passed the flying class examination of first year will face some inconveniences for always having to need supervision for flying even when practising Quidditch.Students are also allowed to drop Flying class in second year,if they choose to do so.
Second year begins and concludes with the same subjects as first year,with only Flying being droppable,except for the electives that can be taken up in this year.Earlier,at Hogwarts,electives could be taken up in the third year,but now the curriculum has been changed to allow students to take up electives in the second year.A minimum of two electives is compulsorily required to be taken up in the beginning of second year,at the end of first year.Only electives are droppable at this time if they become a burden,core subjects are not droppable at this time.The electives available in second year are Care of Magical Creatures,Ancient Runes,Alchemy(earlier at Hogwarts,Alchemy was only takeable in the last two years if there were enough students wanting to take it) and Divination.A subject called Arithmancy was available among electives in third year earlier but is no longer available at Hogwarts.
After passing all the core subjects of second year with or without dropping the electives,the student is allowed to take the third year course at Hogwarts.The third year remains pretty much the same in terms of courses taken and needed to be passed,in order to be able to move into the fourth year course.
After passing the third year,and moving on to the fourth year course,two more electives are added,which are Mythology and Muggle Studies.Earlier,Muggle Studies was a part of the electives in the third year curriculum at Hogwarts.Mythology is a relatively newly added subject now taught in Hogwarts which was not available at Hogwarts at the time of Harry Potter.
In the fifth year at Hogwarts,you will have a career path discussion with your Professors,looking at your current performance,to help you decide which subjects may be beneficial to take in future.All the subjects until fourth year are carried on to the fifth year.At the end of fifth year,a student is required to take the O.W.Ls or Ordinary Wizarding Levels examinations,on the passing of which they are promoted to sixth year in Hogwarts.
In the sixth year,the core subjects become droppable and some of the core subjects may be dropped depending upon what career in the wizarding world,the student is interested to pursue.You can take help from your professors to decide on your subjects,and they will help you on the basis of your current performance and grades.Students can provisionally select the subjects they want to take,and each of these selected subjects are either accepted or rejected by the Hogwarts administration based on the O.W.L.s grades obtained in that subject.Only subjects in which the O.W.L.s grades are satisfactory,which means atleast an A or Acceptable(more on grades,described below) can be taken up in the sixth year.Two more electives called the Ancient Studies and Magical Arts are available to take in the sixth year.
On passing all the subjects taken up in the sixth year,a student is promoted to the seventh year at Hogwarts,where all the same subjects of sixth year are to be taken and studied,and at the end of seventh year,there is another examination,called the N.E.W.T.s or Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests,for every subject specifically,and the grades obtained in the subjects required for a particular career help determine whether the person is able to pursue that career in future.You will have to pass the subjects required for your dream career so that you are able to pursue that career in future,of course,so study hard.
The grades obtainable in each subject in any of the examinations in Hogwarts are
O-Outstanding,the best grade at Hogwarts,
E-Exceeds Expectations,the second best grade at Hogwarts,
A-Acceptable,the last passing grade,
P-Poor,indicating you have narrowly failed the test,
D-Dreadful,indicating you have failed the test,
T-Troll,indicating you could not take the exams due to some reason or you are a troll,
from the highest to the lowest.The first three are passing grades,obtaining any one of which means that you have passed the subject and the last three indicate that you have failed.
You will learn more from me about what each subject is about,and what it teaches,in the next chapter.
Term in Hogwarts starts on September 1 and each year in Hogwarts has some classes for each subject,followed by a midterm examination,after which there is a Christmas break for which they can either go home by the Hogwarts express or stay at Hogwarts.After that,the rest of the classes for each subject are taken,and then the final examinations are held after which the students' current year ends and they go home by the Hogwarts express for a two month long vacation known as the Summer Holidays after which they come back to Hogwarts in the Hogwarts express as students in their next year.Noone is allowed to stay in Hogwarts for the Summer Holidays,except with special permission from the Headmaster/Headmistress.Please note that the final examinations are held after every year and must be passed to be allowed to take the courses available in the next year and are different from the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s which are held separately after the fifth year and the seventh year respectively.
*In HiH,you can view the entire course curriculum,in the course catalog under Academics section,which lists all the subjects in each year,with a short description of them on the cover page,and you can just tap on the subject to open the subject's course and enroll in it using the enroll button,if you are in that year,and need to or are interested in taking that subject.*