First Year

Chapter 2

Year One

This chapter is for everything you'll need to know in your first 'year' of HiH.

Your Assignments

               The main income of your House Points will be from your assignments. In Year One, every lesson will come with a short quiz and most of them will have an essay. The essays are extra credit, they are not necessary to complete the course and unfortunately, will not raise your grade. But they are a great way to earn more House Points and practice for later years when they aren’t optional. To get all 10 points from each assignment you will have to get a 100%. This is so easy to do when you follow these rules and guidance from current PA’s and Head Students:

·        AI use and Plagiarism from the lessons will NOT be tolerated in the whole of the site. This will be repeated in every course. And yet, students will continue to submit assignments (mostly essays) using AI technology or copy and paste directly from the lessons. Professors and PA’s are trained to find these critical errors and, when found, will result in it being flagged for plagiarism (which means you will get a 0% on the whole assignment and will keep it since you cannot retake the assignment, which also means you will not be able to officially advance a Year if you do it enough times to flunk the whole course). Just don’t. Why join the site if you aren’t going to use your own work? Those who grade want to hear your voice and they want you to learn these amazing things for yourself.

Hopefully, that deterred you from cheating in your homework. Great job! Now that you are using your own work for assignments, here are a few more pieces of advice before submitting your work:

·        If you have questions, ask BEFORE submitting your assignments. Professors are there to answer your questions about the course material. It’s practically a third of their jobs, give them an Owl. Head Students and PA’s are also around and active to answer, and should be your first stop in asking questions about the course. But, none of them are able to answer your questions in your submitted assignments, and it creates more work to fix your answers after it’s graded (if the Professors even choose to let you). Also, note; with a mixed question quiz or test, staff will only be able to see your short answer responses, the site automatically grades the multiple-choice questions. Hence, if you have a quiz that is purely MC the whole assignment gets graded immediately, whereas you’re waiting for staff to grade any short answer or essay assignments. If you try to ask about a multiple-choice question in the submission, they will be unable to do anything about it. Asking and answering questions is a lot easier if you join the Discord server, by the way.

·        Also, before submitting your work, don’t forget to give your assignment a double check. This means to both the assignment requirements and your own work. A lot of submissions lose points, or fail altogether, because they missed any of the requirements that goes into the answers. This could be minimum word counts, topics discussed, or other points to consider. And, while PA’s are grateful you’ve put in your own work, don’t forget to check for spelling and grammar. Points get taken off if the mistakes are too often (unless you are a student with a learning disability or non-english speaking and have identified in your submissions as such).

·        Homework should be written in English. Almost all of the staff is English speaking, and they already have to check for plagiarism. Great news! The site is inclusive for other countries. If you are not a native English speaker you can simply put “NES” (non-English speaking) in your homework that you’ve translated from Google or the such. There will be an “additional notes” section at the bottom of your assignments where you can label it. Or, put it at the top of your essay submissions. That way the staff will not take off points for spelling or grammar. The same goes for those with learning disabilities. Add “LD” to your work before submitting. All assignments are graded anonymously. PA’s, Head Students, and even Professors will not be able to inherently see whose work they are grading. And only Head Students and Professors have the ability to check assignments after they are graded.

·        This one might not be obvious; all assignments are open book. You are free to open another internet tab for the Lesson, and one for the assignment. That way you don’t have to guess answers or leave them blank if your notes fall short (been there, done that). Don’t copy and paste from the lesson, though. You are also allowed to back out of the assignment and return to the lesson. Do note that some quizzes and tests have a refreshing question pool. If you do back out, you might lose some of the questions you already answered in turn for a question you have not.

All of these will be reiterated in every course. If you are tired of hearing this, I’m sorry. If none of these apply to you, thank you on behalf of the Staff. If you think you can bypass these rules, like Harry Potter did in his school time, you better have a lightning scar.

If you think your assignment has been graded unfairly or have questions about the grade, this can be solved in a few simple steps. Owl the Head Student of your Year or the course Professor. You will need your assignment ID, which can be found in your Gradebook. In your Gradebook, scroll to the Lesson and then the assignment you are referring to. To the right of the Gradebook will have your grade, your points, and then a spot that says ‘Get ID#’. Click on that and it will open up to give you a number. Take that assignment ID number and put it in your Owl, they cannot help much without it. Remember to be respectful, the PA’s and HS’s have a strict rubric for grading assignments, so if your answers don’t match up entirely you will get a fail for it.

          On to a better note; these assignments should be fun and creative. Most classes will allow you to submit a different form of work to complete your homework, like artwork or poetry. In fact, an assignment in DADA will actually ask for a submitted piece of art to express your version of a Gargoyle! And most courses have introductory essays to get your feel about certain subjects! HiH has many fun and magical assignments just hiding behind a little bit of work.

Your Courses

               I have devised a rating system based on how hard the classes might be. This includes, course material, note taking, and test and exam questions following the course work. You will not find answers to quizzes or exams here. Just personal thoughts about the classes in general. These are always subject to individual opinion and talents, though I've tried to be as unbiased as possible. If you feel differently, let me know! 

            Astronomy (8/8)

               Astronomy with Professor Plumb is absolutely fantastic and informative, but out of all eight classes in First Year it is the toughest. I say this not to alarm you, but to inform you to prepare. The course work is detailed and extensive, most of my notes exceeding double the pages from other classes. Professor Plumb also has a tendency to heavily use short answer responses for quizzes that will require some forethought for the information in the lessons, so your notes should reflect the full coursework if you hope for an O (which will be easy nonetheless). Professor Plumb and his PA’s are always easy to reach for questions or concerns if they haven’t already explained your incorrect answers in the graded assignment.

            Charms (3/8)

               Charms with Professor Laurel is so fun. The course covers the basic spellwork we all know and love with added information like basic history and interesting classifications not thought of. I am speaking of the spellcasting components you will learn in this course (as well as in DADA and Transfiguration). While these components are almost completely new, it gives an immersive look into your spellcasting (even if you are a Muggle). It also has one of the most magical assignments called “What’s in the Box”. It’s an essay that follows the role-playing aspect from the first lesson as you use your first two spells to report what you find in the box. While Professor Laurel and her PA’s are also easy to reach for questions and comments, it should be noted that with the new information and a few assignments that are completely multiple choice, this course will be easy to pass.

            Defense Against the Dark Arts (5/8)

               This course with Professor Kwan is exciting as it is interesting. The lessons will take a brief look into the Dark Arts with spells (some similar to Charms) for countering against them. It also takes you into a look at some magical creatures you might have or will eventually come across and how to protect yourself against them. The quizzes are mostly multiple choice and easy to find answers. With some solid notes, you will pass the course easily.

            Flying (1/8)

               Flying with Madam Fox is fun and whimsical and entirely easy. For just the one year (for now) you have simple and direct coursework where most quizzes and exams are multiple choice. This is not your ticket to slack off. Also, Lesson 9 has an activity called “Trying Out Tapestries” that is a pick-your-own-adventure game roleplaying the end of the year game on flying carpets. It’s completely fun and your chosen adventure is already the work for an extra credit assignment. It’s actually advised there to copy and paste from screen to submission forms. Otherwise, for the rest of the assignments, reading the lesson as a bare minimum will get you through the course. Madam Fox and her PA’s are always available to reach out and ask questions about the lesson or assignments.

            Herbology (6/8)

               Herbology with Professor Aspen is thorough and knowledgeable in all things plants, including Magical and non-magical plants. First Year students are just getting acquainted with basic plants and plant care. It might seem like a lot of information in a lesson, but Professor Aspen does a good job explaining. The assignments are a simple mix of Multiple Choice and Short answer, but do not get comfortable because there are a couple of questions that are meant to be tricky and take some extra thinking. They also have the added pressure that most of the required quizzes are not retakable. Do make sure you have given your assignment a second glance before submitting to ensure you get the best possible grade only the one time.

            History of Magic (2/8)

               Even for people unable to remember historical dates and events (like me), History of Magic is an easy one. Most of the information from the lessons are informative and exciting. I suggest reading through the lesson fully before taking notes, though. And if your note-taking abilities are just above subpar you can easily take well informed and structured notes to aide you in quizzes and exams. The quizzes and exams are a mixture of multiple choice and short answer, where all answers lie in the lessons. As this course is inbetween Professors, Headmistress Oshiro has been carefully watching over the course. 

            Potions (4/8)

               Potions with Professor Draekon is much easier to accomplish than you think. The lessons are informative and easy to follow. The assignments also have easy to find answers. The essays take a bit more work to plan and think out, but they are extra credit, so you don’t need to do them to complete the course but they are fun and will get you extra House Points! Don’t fret over the practical segments, First Years only go over two of the easier potions, Cure for Boils and the Forgetfulness Potion. With the proper guidance you will be carefully brewing in no time!

            Transfiguration (7/8)

               I, myself would consider Transfiguration with Professor Mitchell to be a little bit more challenging because the course material is slightly different theoretically. It talks about transfiguration as quantum physics (not that you have to know anything about quantum physics), as an essence that the main purpose is still unknown and mostly unknowable. Because of this, you are working with material that does not and will not make complete sense. Professor Mitchell does her best to explain. The assignments have a mixture of easy to find answers with a few that require some forethought.

Additional Notes

Here I have gathered, how I believe to best group your courses for the study groups (or in general) if you are not taking all eight courses together:

·        Astronomy is the tough one, I suggest pairing it with easier courses like Flying and/or History of Magic. Flying and HoM are both fast courses to take notes (I averaged about an hour each lesson) and leave you plenty of extra time to devote to Astronomy.

·        Charms, DADA, and Transfiguration are all similar courses, with similar coursework. Several lessons reflect similar information and spellwork. You’ll likely pass all three together.

·        Herbology and Potions are also similar courses with similar coursework and necessary equipment. Known to bounce off of each other, you will likely pass both courses together.

Graduating

               While you by no means have to be a Year Two to take Year Two courses, some of you might enjoy the rush of completing your first year. To do so, you must open up the course Home Page (the one that lists the lessons), and just below the lessons will be a button “Complete Course”. Do not fret! You can re-enroll at any time you need to go back to revise grades or complete coursework you decided not to. To complete the course, you must submit all required assignments for the course and have it graded to show a passing grade (O, EE, A). You will have to officially complete the course before you can enroll for the next year’s class to receive those assignments, though. Otherwise, you can only view the Lessons.

               Once all mandatory classes are officially completed (meaning you have all required assignments submitted and graded, and have clicked the "Complete Course" button) you can find the “Complete Grade” button at the bottom of the "Your Classes" page. Scroll down until you see the blue banner saying 'Ready to advance years?' and click the link.

               Good luck to your first year at Hogwarts! Or congratulations if you’ve just graduated Year One. See you next year!