#281 - Monthly Exam

"What conditions? Please tell us!" A group of young wizards, including Joey, eagerly asked.

"I don't teach those who don't understand self-discipline. Only those who rank in the top three in the monthly meeting assessment can choose to accept my systematic training."

"Violating discipline, violating school rules, and having House points deducted will not only deduct from your year's score but also leave a record on my personal assessment. On the other hand, earning points for the House, abiding by discipline, and achieving excellent monthly test scores will all improve your personal assessment." Seeing everyone's high enthusiasm, Anduin included participation in the training as part of the monthly rewards.

After hearing Anduin's words, many around them fell silent. This meant that if they wanted to receive the Head's exclusive guidance, they had to ensure they had no violations, excellent grades, and actively earn points for the House?

Joey's heart sank. He had already violated discipline once this month, and his grades weren't good either, but his inner desire to become stronger still drove him.

"Understood, Head! I will definitely work hard!" Joey gritted his teeth and firmly promised.

"Yes, work hard." Anduin nodded, then put away the dummy and floated away.

The others who remained in place also felt a fire ignite within them, but to qualify, they not only had to avoid violating discipline but also had to show outstanding performance. The simplest and most direct way to do this was to improve their grades.

As a result, many people turned their attention to the other subject representatives. Since their foundations weren't solid, they could only spend more time making up for it.

"Vivian," Joey was the first to stop Vivian, who was preparing to return to her dormitory to rest. "My History of Magic is too poor. Can you help me? Please?"

"Now?" Vivian looked at him speechlessly. Tutoring was already over.

"Please, any time I can get is good." Joey put on a humble look, staring at Vivian pitifully.

In the end, Vivian, unable to withstand Joey's nagging, stayed in the common room for another hour to tutor him.

Joey wasn't the only one with this idea. Others in the stone hall were also taking action, either begging other subject representatives for help with tutoring or taking out their textbooks again and running to the common room to study.

Unexpectedly, this simple practical tutoring session tonight suddenly sparked everyone's enthusiasm for learning, and many people actually stayed up late studying until midnight.

However, their sudden enthusiasm came at a price. Several people were caught directly by Professor Flitwick for being late to class due to staying up too late.

Despite this, after that night, there were only more and more young wizards taking such actions. Even though study time was only two hours, many people voluntarily stayed behind after evening study to attend study group tutorials.

After finishing tutoring, there were still many young wizards staying in the common room, pulling subject representatives aside to tutor them, being extremely proactive.

This even angered several subject representatives, who finally got rid of them after a joint protest. However, these people still stayed up late to study on their own.

Anduin, in order to give everyone more opportunities to practice casting spells, specifically cleared out a dungeon and installed the dummies inside.

He allowed those who wanted to practice to go and practice on their own, but because he was worried about someone occupying it for a long time, he stipulated that each person could only cast ten spells at a time, to prevent malicious competition.

He planned to take the time to make a few more. For now, he would let them use this one first, and use this opportunity to test the dummy's trouble-free operating time.

In addition to the school, young wizards outside the school also showed almost crazy classroom enthusiasm.

Regardless of the year or class, whenever a professor asked a question, Slytherin wizards were always the first to raise their hands, something Ravenclaws usually liked to do.

This change not only surprised the professors but also confused the students from other houses who were taking classes together.

Moreover, this behavior intensified. To earn points and avoid making mistakes, these young wizards even began to compete with each other, and they were constantly comparing themselves every day.

They compared who earned the most points for the House, who studied the latest, who polished their leather shoes the brightest, and in the end, they even became a little obsessed. In order to avoid being deducted points, they didn't even speak while eating, and after finishing their meals, they quickly found a place to read or went to line up to practice casting spells.

Soon, a month was about to pass. In the previous weekly meetings, Anduin punished students who violated the rules with the same strict attitude, and everyone's push-up proficiency increased to 50.

This periodic warning allowed most people to maintain good habits.

But even so, not everyone could maintain such vigor and ambition.

Some individuals, out of laziness and long-term inertia, would still inadvertently violate discipline.

Some young wizards were still unable to fully integrate into the group. Seeing that they had no hope of competing, and their sense of honor was not strong, they began to slack off. Their year leaders were helpless in the face of this situation.

Moreover, because these young wizards committed one or two minor mistakes every week, they had to do 50-100 push-ups at the weekly meetings, and their physical fitness actually improved as a result.

This level of physical punishment could no longer put pressure on them.

Gradually, they began to adapt to this set of rules, but they didn't completely resist discipline. They would abide by discipline, but they wouldn't feel guilty or alert if they were caught due to negligence. Now, they even gave people a feeling of being seasoned veterans.

For these guys who wouldn't listen to reason, Anduin decided to find an opportunity to deal with them properly, but the current priority was the first monthly exam.

This monthly exam was scheduled for Saturday of the last week of the month. Because time was tight, Anduin separated the young wizards into written and practical spellcasting exams.

The entire morning was for written exams. Each subject had a written portion, but the proportion of written exams would decrease in the higher years. Since this was the case, Anduin distinguished different exam times according to the number of subjects and the year level.

First and second years had 7 subjects, with 40 minutes of exam time for each subject. They were still mainly focused on written exams, so the exam time was longer.

Third to fifth years had 9 subjects, with half an hour of exam time for each subject.

Sixth and seventh years only took exams for subjects they had passed the certifications for, but they were also only given 30 minutes for the written exams.

The reason for this was, on the one hand, that for higher years, the proportion of written exams was already quite low, except for theoretical knowledge subjects.

On the other hand, it was because Anduin wanted them to complete the written exams in advance and then use the remaining time in the morning to complete the practical exams.