Hogwarts Classes

Students at Hogwarts all take the same basic classes their first and second year. Before summer term in their second year, they choose several elective courses which they will study through fifth year. The results of the O.W.L. exams and the careers advice given toward the end of fifth year determine which classes a student will pursue in their final two years. Instructors are free to require specific passing grades in their subject area in order to accept a student into NEWT studies.

Schedule of classes by year

First Year:

classes:

• Astronomy
• Charms
• Defense Against the Dark Arts
• Herbology
• History of Magic
• Potions
• Transfiguration

June: finals (exams)

Second Year

Same classes as first year. During the Easter holidays, students choose two or more additional classes for year 3.

Choices include:

• Ancient Runes
• Arithmancy
• Care of Magical Creatures
• Divination
• Muggle Studies

June: finals (exams)

Third Year

Same classes as second year, add two new subjects. Students may drop an elective class if they wish but they are required to continue with the core classes begun in first year.

June: finals (exams)

Fourth Year

Same classes as third year, begin preparing for O.W.L.s. Students may drop an elective class if they wish but they are required to continue with the core classes begun in first year.

June: finals (exams)

Fifth Year

Same classes as fourth year. Students may drop an elective class if they wish but they are required to continue with the core classes begin in first year. Students received careers advice right after the Easter holidays.

June: Ordinary Wizarding Levels (O.W.L.s)

Sixth Year:

Students don’t know what their classes for sixth year will be until after they receive the results of their O.W.L.s. Once they have their O.W.L. results, the students know whether they have achieved the required grades to get into the classes they’re interested in for sixth year. On the first day of term, each student meets with his or her Head of House to determine which classes he or she can take. If the student did not pass an O.W.L., he or she discusses options with the Head of House.

If a student achieved the required O.W.L. in a particular subject (which varies from teacher to teacher), he or she may continue in that subject, but is not required to do so. For example, several (well, all, as far as we know) of Harry’s year opted to drop out of Care of Magical Creatures, much to Hagrid’s dismay. Students will choose to continue in subjects that they will need for their future goals, as determined in their career advice sessions during their fifth year. Some additional specialized classes are offered for sixth and seventh year students, including Alchemy (MagSp).

June: finals (exams)

Seventh Year:

We don’t know what the classes are for seventh year, although it is likely that seventh years concentrate on taking N.E.W.T. classes in their chosen fields. Their class options are likely the same as for sixth year.

June: Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (N.E.W.T.s)

Ordinary Wizarding Levels (O.W.L.s)

At the end of fifth year, each student sits an Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) for each of the classes he or she takes. These are standardized tests administered by the Wizarding Examinations Authority; the teachers may proctor exams outside their own subjects but do not attend the Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) in their own subjects.

Each O.W.L. has a theory portion, and for applicable classes a separate practical portion is given, so that many O.W.L.s are in two parts, although only one O.W.L. score is given for each subject. See the individual classes for the details of the material covered in the individual exams.

Pass Grades:

• Outstanding (O)
• Exceeds Expectations (E)
• Acceptable (A)

Failing grades:

• Poor (P)
• Dreadful (D)
• Troll (T)

Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (N.E.W.T.s)

At the end of seventh year, each student sits a Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test (N.E.W.T.) for each of the classes he or she takes. These are standardized tests administered by the Wizarding Examinations Authority, given at the same time and apparently in the same way that O.W.L.s are given to fifth-year students.

Harry’s classes

It is almost impossible to determine on which day of the week Harry had each class. It would be a bit easier if Rowling didn’t seem to assume that classes start on a Monday every year, even though it’s the day after September 1, which isn’t always a Sunday (In GF, both September 1 and September 2 are stated as being on Monday!). Our guesses are sometimes based on the real world calendar, sometimes on day references in the books themselves. All in all, these lists should not be taken as established canon but rather as a lot of really intelligent inference. Feel free to comment below and suggest additions and corrections.

First Year:

• Monday –
• Tuesday –
• Wednesday – Astronomy at midnight
• Thursday – Transfiguration
• Friday – Morning double Potions, afternoon off

Second Year:

• Schedule uncertain

Third Year:

• Schedule uncertain
  • First day of term (Monday?): Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Defense Against the Dark Arts
  • Thursday – Double Potions
  • Friday – Defense Against the Dark Arts (PA9)
• O.W.L. Exam schedule:
  • Monday – Transfiguration, Charms
  • Tuesday – Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Astronomy at midnight
  • Wednesday – History of Magic, Herbology
  • Thursday – Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination

Fourth Year:

The course schedule given in book four is quite consistent: three, possibly four class periods per day, two before and two after lunch, with a break between the two morning classes (there is only documentation of break on Fridays, but we have assumed it would take place every day). “Double” classes are twice the length of other lessons. A particular subject may meet once or twice per week.

There are a few glitches. For example, the days History of Magic are held are clearly Tuesday and Friday (History and Double Potions on the same day–what an ordeal), but the time of day is not clear. In GF29 it is the first class on Friday, but an earlier passage implies that it takes place after lunch: “every time he glimpsed Cho that day–during break, and then lunchtime, and once on the way to History of Magic–she was surrounded by friends” (GF22). (It is possible, though unlikely, that it is Cho, not Harry, who is on the way to History of Magic.)

It is also possible that the schedule is more complex than the simple grid given below and that classes are not always in the same slot. The general consistency elsewhere suggests that the schedule is quite fixed, however.

There is no mention of Astronomy, whether of continuing it or dropping it.

Ron‘s schedule, as far as we know, is the same as Harry’s
Hermione‘s differs in that she has Arithmancy on Monday afternoons (GF13)
Fred, George, and Lee have DADA on Monday afternoons (GF13)
Cedric has Charms in the first block on Monday mornings (GF20)
Cho has DADA last thing on Friday afternoons (GF22)

Fifth Year:

Inconsistencies and Unknowns

Although we know from CS8 that Harry’s fifth year of school would be 1995-96, the days of the week once again do not correspond to the actual calendar of those years.

There must be a spell that saves Rowling from inconsistency by turning every first day of the fall lessons into a Monday . . . see the Goblet of Fire calendar. Here, August 12 is a Thursday, making it quite impossible for September 2 (the first day of lessons) to be a Monday. Nevertheless, Rowling says it lessons begin on a Monday so a Monday it shall be.

In OP13, Astronomy is established as taking place on a Wednesday, sometime before dinner: “He had to give up his lunch hour to complete the picture of the Bowtruckle and, meanwhile, Professors McGonagall, Grubbly-Plank and Sinistra gave them yet more homework, which he had no prospect of finishing that evening because of his second detention with Umbridge.” Barbara Werschkun suggests: “Maybe they only have theory lessons on Wednesday afternoon and do the actual star watching some other time? But when? Because Harry is in detention every evening that week, plus the following, and there is no mention of him missing Astronomy because of it…” And when does the theory class take place? Wednesdays are jammed full.

Ron’s schedule, as far as we know, is the same as Harry’s.

Hermione’s differs in that she has Ancient Runes on Monday (OP26) and Arithmancy first thing on Wednesday, and of course no longer takes Divination (OP15).

Fred and George have Herbology first thing Monday morning (OP12) and Charms right before lunch on Monday (OP15).

Sixth Year:

• Monday – Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions
• Tuesday – Herbology, Potions, Charms
• Wednesday –
• Thursday –
• Friday – Trasnfiguration