Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 145 Suspicion of Cheating
Professor McGonagall, the vice-chancellor, was sitting alone in her office at that moment.

Compared to the examiners, she, as the vice principal, was now in a state of greater turmoil.

With the first week of exams over, the exam results for all lower-grade students have been released.

The grades from each year, recorded by various professors, were now all laid out before her.

The parchment almost covered the entire tabletop, and the dense series of "O"s and "E"s on it made her eyes slightly dizzy in the early summer sunlight.

Her expression at that moment was as if she had seen something incomprehensible.

She had already sensed something was wrong when she was proctoring the Transfiguration exam.

First-grade students smoothly transformed mice into exquisitely patterned snuffboxes; third-grade students, when faced with the transformation from still life to animals, showed no confusion in their eyes, only ample confidence and focus.

Most of the students looked like they were cut from the same mold, displaying precise skills.

Professor McGonagall humbly believed that it was all thanks to Levi, whose various ideas and activities inspired the students and encouraged them to actively engage in their studies.

However, she now realizes that it seems everything really was all thanks to Li Wei.
After compiling and arranging all the students' scores for all subjects, anyone who glances at their report cards will be able to spot the problem.

No matter what grade level the report card is, there are always a few subjects that are all "O" and "E".

However, it is limited to only three courses: Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Defense Against the Dark Arts, in particular, has so many "O"s that Professor McGonagall wondered if Professor Levy had made a mistake in the assessment method.

The "O" grade should be based on students' overall performance, and only the top-performing students should be awarded an "O".

But when Professor McGonagall saw the students' theoretical grades, she fell silent again.
Ron, a second-year student, scored 98 in theory and 95 in practice. Under Li Wei's assessment, these grades would only be "E", and he would be one of the four worst students.

All the other students got perfect scores of 100 in their theoretical courses and none of them scored below 95 in their practical courses. If they had such good grades, it would seem a bit unreasonable not to give them an "O".

But this year's results are simply too astonishing.
Professor McGonagall opened the cabinet and searched around, finding last year's students' grades for comparison. Well, that was a completely self-humiliating act.

Not only were the Transfiguration scores far worse than this year, but the students' Defense Against the Dark Arts scores last year could only be described as "disastrous"—more than 10 out of 20 students in a class failed.
Professor McGonagall first firmly ruled out the possibility that the students had "cheated".

Putting aside the other exams, she personally supervised the Transfiguration exam, making it impossible for students to cheat under her nose.

Moreover, just by looking at the children's performance on their free day and their confidence during the exam, it's clear that they are all truly talented.

Although the students' results were so impressive, Professor McGonagall suddenly thought of the senior students who were taking the advanced wizard exams. Could their results be just as amazing as those of the juniors?
Professor McGonagall's heart skipped a beat at the mere thought of this possibility.

"Li Wei—"

Professor McGonagall suddenly remembered her conversation with Levi.

What did she say before? The students are under too much pressure, Li Wei's teaching methods are too radical and high-pressure, he must change.
How could she say such a thing?

What needs to change? Who needs to change?
It's clearly her who needs to change.

Professor McGonagall paced back and forth in her office. Once this final week of exams was over, she would have to have a serious talk with Levi!

During the second week of exams, although the younger wizards were free, the atmosphere at Hogwarts became even more serious, especially among the Ministry of Magic examiners. While the students' excellent performance on the theoretical exams could be somewhat explained away by "thorough preparation,"...

The upcoming OWL and NEWT practical exams will be the real test of these wizards' skills.
However, once the exam began, that familiar sense of astonishment immediately swept over them with even greater force!
The first exam was on Spells.

The examiner, Topherdy, and two colleagues sat behind a long table with detailed score sheets spread out in front of them.

The first one to go up was a Ravenclaw girl.

When faced with the questions posed by the examiner:

Use magic to fold parchment into paper cranes.

Then use magic to make the bell ring continuously.

Finally, the levitation spell was used to stack the five crystal glasses into a tower shape.

She simply took a deep breath, then smoothly swung her wand, and quickly completed all the tests with a straight face.

The entire process was smooth and precise, and took less than one-tenth of the allotted time.

The three examiners had complicated expressions as they quickly made notes in the scorebook.

The next Hufflepuff boy will face a combination of the Color Change Charm and the Healing Charm.

He needs to first turn a pure silver cup into a bright blue color, then use a copying charm to create two identical copies, then use a shattering charm to destroy one of the copies, and finally use a repair charm to perfectly restore it.

He completed each step steadily, and even during the restoration, the light of the restoration spell was exceptionally condensed, demonstrating superb magical control.

As the exams progressed, the examiners saw more and more performances that exceeded their expectations.

Faced with the test question of making a pineapple tap dance across the desk, a Slytherin student chuckled and even showed off his skills on the spot, manipulating four pineapples to jump at the same time.
Finally, examiner Violet couldn't resist and whispered to Topherdy in disbelief:

"This is not just about being excellent; many of them have shown a level of control that I believe has reached NEWT level. What's going on with this year's students?"

Toford didn't answer; he just stared blankly as yet another student perfectly completed all the projects and then drew what was probably the umpteenth "O" of the day on the grade book.

In the afternoon, the eight students who took the NEWT exam were all outstanding, leaving the examiners speechless.

It's important to know that the NEWT exam is an ultimate wizard exam that students can choose to take.

Last year, only one student applied to Hogwarts, and his performance was mediocre.

This year, there are a total of eight! And each one of them performed better than last year!

The examiners' expressions of surprise and uncertainty didn't subside until the next day when the potions exam was held.

Students kept making mistakes in the potion practice class, and the young wizards started over with unexpected problems, their faces showing disappointment as they faced a pot of ruined potions.

Although it was somewhat inappropriate, the examiners almost burst out laughing.

That's more like it! This is the Hogwarts they know and love!
What were those before? Did Professor Flitwick give the students some kind of intensive training this year?
(End of this chapter)