Ordinary Wizarding Level

An Ordinary Wizarding Level (often abbreviated OWL), is the first academic designation awarded to students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, preceding the second and final NEWT designation, in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. After achieving a passing grade on an examination testing one's knowledge and ability within a particular subject area, the student is awarded an OWL designation in that particular subject area. The concept of the OWL is based upon the British system of secondary education, in which students work toward the eventual writing of examinations which, if passed, grant the student designations of various levels in a wide range of disciplines. The OWL designation is intended to mirror the real-world British GCSE designation.

OWL Practices

OWL examinations are administered to all Hogwarts students in their fifth year. They are not administered or graded by the school, but by officials from the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Examinations Authority. The examinations do, however, take place at Hogwarts, and ministry officials make an annual trip to the school to administer these examinations. Hogwarts teachers heavily emphasize the importance of the tests, as they play an important role in determining each student's course of study in his or her remaining two years of school (many NEWT classes require high OWL grades as prerequisites) as well as the careers that the students choose to pursue after Hogwarts.

Students take an OWL for each subject that they have studied. The tests take place in the month of June (at the end of the school year), and they are spread out over the span of a couple of weeks. Each examination comprises a theoretical portion and a practical portion, unless the examination is for a subject that only involves the learning of textual information (such as History of Magic and Ancient Runes), in which case only a theoretical examination is administered.

The theoretical portions of the examinations are written and administered in Hogwarts' Great Hall, which changes layout from four long tables to many individual desks when it comes time for OWL exams to be administered. The practical portions of the examinations are performed by each student individually before a ministry official, who set the student various tasks that pertain to the specified subject (for example, demonstrating a series of defence spells for a Defence Against the Dark Arts examination or making a particular potion for Potions). The official then evaluates the student on his or her performance based on a six-letter grading scale.

Grading

When a student passes an OWL examination, that student is said to have obtained an "Ordinary Wizarding Level" (OWL), in that particular field of magic or magical field of study.

Like the more advanced Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (NEWTs), OWLs are graded on the following scale:

Passing grades

• O for Outstanding
• E for Exceeds Expectations
• A for Acceptable

Failing grades

• P for Poor
• D for Dreadful
• T for Troll

Available subjects

OWLs can be taken in the following subjects:

Compulsory subjects include Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Charms, Astronomy and Herbology.

Electives include Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies.

Percy Weasley, of course, got all 12 OWLs, as revealed in book two (Fred was wondering why he had been acting so strangely, as normally smug Percy barely gloated about receiving 12 OWLs)

Harry Potter's OWLs

Harry Potter takes his OWLs in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He received his grades in the following book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

In Order of the Phoenix, Harry is told that Professor McGonagall accepts only students who have achieved at least Exceeds Expectations on their OWLs into her NEWT-level Transfiguration classes. Professor Snape only accepts students who have achieved Outstanding on their Potions OWLs into his NEWT-level classes.

In Half-Blood Prince, Harry receives his OWL marks:

• Astronomy: A
• Care of Magical Creatures: E
• Charms: E
• Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
• Divination: P
• Herbology: E
• History of Magic: D
• Potions: E
• Transfiguration: E

Hermione Granger gets ten O's, but only an E in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Her two extra classes are Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Ron Weasley received similar grades to Harry, passing and failing the same subjects, but he received no O's.

While it seems his chance of being an Auror is shattered (Snape only accepts students for his NEWT class who have an Outstanding, and Potions is a required Auror subject), due to a change of potion master (Snape finally becomes the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, whilst Horace Slughorn, a new professor who likes to associate with famous people such as Harry, becomes the potions master), he is allowed into the NEWT potion level.

See also

• NEWTs