"Have you memorized the names of these young wizards?" Alan couldn't help but confirm, given that Hog had made such rapid progress.
"Don't worry, sir. After noon yesterday, you didn't even need to point them out to me anymore. Didn't I record them accurately yesterday afternoon?" Hog looked confident, seemingly at ease with the task.
Compared to only being able to mess with one person at Diagon Alley, Hog was clearly more interested in monitoring—a project that allowed him to mess with over a hundred people at once.
Alan was happy to be idle. With Hog's assistance, he could use his free time to create the teaching aids he had envisioned earlier. As a student who could achieve excellent grades in all subjects, Alan had a considerable understanding of Hogwarts' exams and the wizarding world's examination standards.
Among Hogwarts' seven main subjects and five electives, Alan classified them by course—based on reading, writing, memory, or practical spellcasting—broadly dividing them into three categories: Theoretical Knowledge Subjects, Theoretical Practice Subjects, and Spellcasting Practice Subjects.
Those subjects that primarily relied on memory, comprehension, and observation—where good grades could be achieved by spending time studying books or by having sufficient test-taking skills, such as cramming key points—were termed "Theoretical Knowledge Subjects" by Alan.
These courses mainly included History of Magic, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, and Divination. Of course, this classification was based on the examination requirements within Hogwarts; it didn't mean that these subjects required no spellcasting at all. If studied in depth, many of them, such as Arithmancy and Divination, also required strong practical abilities. However, Divination was quite absurd at Hogwarts; Professor Trelawney basically never truly taught anyone actual Divination, and the exam for this course was mainly written.
For the young wizards in Slytherin, now that Alan had arranged self-study time, Theoretical Knowledge Subjects were no longer a major problem. For these subjects, his approach was to cope with the exams, with grades as the ultimate goal.
These courses were relatively simple for someone like Alan, who was familiar with test-taking techniques. His strategy involved highlighting key points, doing a vast number of practice problems, and predicting exam questions. He instructed the Subject Representatives to collect past exam content for their respective subjects. Whether by recalling it themselves or by contacting graduated seniors, they had to record the frequently tested content of each Professor.
Then, at the House Committee meeting, he would arrange for the representatives to highlight the frequently tested areas for each grade from years one through five, and directly use past original questions as the material for the upcoming monthly exams.
As for predicting exam questions, he divided it into two parts: first, before future exams, he would have the Subject Representatives predict questions based on their experience; second, he would collect questions that Professors let slip during class.
In fact, after Alan entered Hogwarts, he was quite speechless about the school's exams, because most Professors had serious tendencies to leak questions. If one just wrote them down and reviewed them repeatedly, it was very easy to get a good grade. Yet, even so, a bunch of young wizards still scored failing or barely passing marks.
But now it was different; Alan was preparing to unify the management of test preparation. Many teachers leaked questions not just before the final exam, but when they first started teaching a certain spell or knowledge point. So Alan arranged for each grade level leader to organize an exam question collection team to compile questions for each subject and grade, allowing them to prepare for the final exam with a concentrated effort.
Theoretical Practice Subjects referred to courses with a lot of theoretical content but requiring more practice, while spellcasting was not very frequent. Many theoretical knowledge points in these subjects also required extensive memorization to pass. The exams generally depended on the Professor's preference, including both practical and written components.
Among those classified by Alan as Theoretical Practice Subjects were Herbology, Astronomy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures. For example, in Astronomy and Ancient Runes, only a very small part requires spellcasting. Astronomy mainly relies on identifying constellations, though there is often a practical exam at the end of the year. If one doesn't study Ancient Runes in depth, then only some translation content needs to be mastered. However, Ancient Runes are magical texts, so during high-level exams, there are also practical spellcasting sessions. The learning for these two courses is essentially similar to Theoretical Knowledge Subjects, relying on books and a little practice.
Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures require more practical content. To tutor these two subjects, one can only rely on rich experience to explain them from scratch, as many herbs and creatures cannot be brought into the common room. The creatures needed for Care of Magical Creatures actually have many real-life counterparts near the Forbidden Forest cabin, and while Alan is very familiar with Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn, he doesn't want to bother them.
To solve this, he plans to use one of the two newly developed teaching aids to assist. This was actually the large screen Alan used at the beginning of the school year. That screen was woven from "Inspiration Snow Cicada" silk threads combined with ordinary silk. The silk was a material Karkaroff specifically collected from Northern Europe; its characteristic is a good affinity for thought and memory. Previously, to find a way to treat the Longbottoms, he had Karkaroff collect many books related to thought and memory.
This silk thread can present objects in people's minds—whether text or images—on the screen at any time, as it senses changes in thought. Alan had made it into this large screen. He plans to lend it to students tutoring these two courses, allowing Subject Representatives to materialize the forms of herbs or magical creatures from their memories onto the screen, assisting the young wizards in semi-practical learning.
The last type, the so-called Spellcasting Practice Subjects, refers to those that require frequent spellcasting practice and whose exams are primarily practical. Of course, there is a lot of theoretical content, but the written exam scores generally account for a smaller proportion. These include Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. These courses require spellcasting both in class and during exams, so sufficient practice and an understanding of spellcasting principles are necessary; otherwise, it is difficult to improve.