The Terror of Knowing

Hello my fellow witches and wizards! I hope you’re all doing well. This week I’ve yet again been working very hard on revising for my OWL exams.

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about and think I might have finally cracked and started hallucinating about going to a fictional wizarding school, don’t worry, it’s just a Harry Potter/Wizarding World readathon but hey, let’s make like Disney World and protect character integrity, shall we?)

If you saw my earlier entry about my revision schedule or you saw my week one, my week two or my week three progress updates, you will have seen that I’m studying hard because, once I graduate, I want to be a Hogwarts Professor, specifically teaching Charms. There are specific OWL and NEWT exams I will have to take to fulfil this dream so I thought, to keep me accountable, I’d do periodic weekly updates of how my studying is going! This is going to be my last weekly update, since we only have a few days left of the readathon/exam preparation but my monthly wrap up will basically be the final word on how I did with the readathon/my exams! For now though, here’s where I’m at, at this present moment in time:

OWL Requirements for Hogwarts Professor

Must pass 7 O.W.L.s in total:
A subject you wish to teach
Defence Against the Dark Arts
+ 5 additional subjects of your choice

TBR – Prerequisites 

✓ Charms – Age-line: read an adult work
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

✓ Defence Against the Dark Arts – Reducto: title starts with an “R”
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

✓ Arithmancy – work written by more than one author
Shades of Magic: Vol. 1: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab

✓ Astronomy – “star” in the title
The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford Smith

✓ History of Magic – Published at least 10 years ago
Betrayal by Harold Pinter

✓ Potions – Next ingredient: sequel
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

✓ Transfiguration – Sprayed edges or red cover
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

So I’ve officially passed all the necessary requirements (at least at OWL level) to become a Hogwarts Professor once I’ve finished school – yay! But, because I’m making like Hermione Granger and trying to get a full set of exams (because why not be an overachiever, right?), I also have been “studying” for many additional subjects too and I’m curious to see if I can finish off my revision in the remaining days of the readathon/month:

TBR – Extras

Ancient Runes – Retelling
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

✓ Care of Magical Creatures – Land animal on cover
Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane

✓ Divination – Set in future
Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

✓ Herbology – Plant on cover
These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch

✓ Muggle Studies – Contemporary
Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren

In these dying breaths of the readathon, I just need to finish a book which is a retelling. Now, I could be a diligent student and read A Thousand Ships, as planned, or even one of my backup books (A Curse So Dark and Lonely or To Kill a Kingdom), or I could be a bad student, take a shortcut, and read a much shorter book, in the form of Odd and the Frost Giants which is kind of a retelling. Only time (i.e. the last couple of days of April) will tell.

Have you been taking part in the OWLs/Magical Readathon this year? How have you done so far? Even if you’re not participating, let me know what you have been reading this week because I’d love to know. Leave a comment below!

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