Chapter 35: Professor Levent’s Malice【please Keep Reading】
Monday morning.
The first class in the morning was Fifth Year Muggle Studies class.
Melvin stood at the side of the podium, wearing a gray-blue shirt with a wool vest over it, sleeves rolled up halfway, one hand supporting the lectern, body slightly tilted and leaning on the desk, appearing somewhat languid.
The brown-black trousers made his legs look straight and slender. At first glance, they didn’t seem particularly standout, not as eye-catching as his previous outfits, but this ensemble perfectly highlighted his figure, tall and straight, making people unable to look away.
Over the past few weeks, the students had grown accustomed to the professor’s unique Muggle style. Some little witches began to notice the styles and features of these clothes. Students from Muggle families planned to buy new clothes when they went home for the holidays, while students from wizarding families also learned to adopt similar pairings.
Melvin’s gaze swept around: “It’s been half a month since the start of term. Over the past two weeks, we’ve covered the new knowledge for this school year and reviewed and sorted out the Third Year Muggle Studies foundation knowledge. I believe all of you have adapted to this teaching method…”
A murmur of whispers arose.
Percy Weasley sat in the front row, head down flipping through his notes.
Dozens of densely packed pages, clearly organized, all copied down last week from Third Year foundation knowledge, with various rows, tables, and tree diagrams crowding the paper. Most complex and hard-to-remember terms were replaced with abbreviations, and concepts needing memorization were simplified into a few isolated words. The grammar was so fragmented it couldn’t form sentences, but just seeing these prompts naturally brought the full explanation to mind.
Recalling the scene of Professor Levent teaching and guiding them through the review, Percy was slightly distracted.
Not all the content in the textbook was useful. Some descriptions were knowledge, while some seemingly important examples were just reading material. Knowledge was divided by difficulty into ordinary knowledge points, key points, common pitfalls, and difficult points; by importance into exam points and non-exam points, including exam points from last year that were unlikely to repeat, and exam points not tested for five or six years that were highly likely to repeat…
Percy considered himself an outstanding student skilled at studying and taking exams, with his past grades and praise from classmates and professors as strong proof. But he had never before thought that reviewing and preparing for exams could be done this way.
“The review progress is a bit slower than I expected, but fortunately we have plenty of time.”
Melvin opened the textbook, took out a stack of wood pulp paper test papers, placed them on the desk and tapped them twice to align them: “Before entering the Fourth Year stage review, I’ve prepared a simple in-class test to check your mastery of the review knowledge. The exam scores don’t matter; what’s important is identifying and filling gaps.”
A chorus of groans rose from below the podium.
The students complained that the professor’s attack was too sudden.
Percy gripped his quill, his palms sweating from nervousness.
Professor Levent crooked his fingers and tapped the test papers twice with his knuckles. The papers immediately flew out in a whirlwind, like owls bursting from a shed, rustling as they each landed on the students’ desks.
“You have two class periods to complete the exam. Time starts now.”
“…”
The time was fairly ample.
Percy exhaled, not rushing to open the test paper. Instead, he dipped his quill into the ink bottle. The feather needed about half a minute to absorb the ink properly. Waiting for it to soak was the perfect time to skim the paper and get an impression of the later questions, making answering smoother.
This was an exam technique he had summarized himself.
「Single-choice questions（1 point per question, total 15 points）: Select the correct answer from the four options for each question below and fill its letter label into the bracket in the stem.」
「Multiple-choice questions: At least two correct answers per question. No points for selecting too many, too few, wrong ones, or none.」
「True/False questions（1 point per question, total 15 points）: Judge the truth of each statement below. Fill T for true and F for false in the bracket after the stem.」
All multiple choice and true/false, no time-consuming essays, not even fill-in-the-blanks.
“Not too many questions, should be able to finish…”
Percy took out his quill and began answering, soon discovering it wasn’t that simple.
The single-choice options were extremely tricky. The four options quickly allowed eliminating two wrong answers, but choosing between the remaining two was hard—they were highly similar and related, requiring a full review of the relevant knowledge points to determine the correct one.
“The following does not fit the definition of Muggle public transportation… Knight Bus, Express Train, Portkey, Thestral Carriage.”
Percy felt for the first time that choice questions were harder than essay questions.
Similarly, multiple-choice with four options should theoretically be simpler, but the actual experience was even more agonizing. Every time filling in answers, he couldn’t help doubting himself—
For this question with three options, did I select too many?
For the previous one with two options, did I miss some?
Percy answered while agonizing, finally reaching the last question through sheer willpower: read the stem, check options, prepare to eliminate, elimination failed…
“Hm?”
Percy paused: “This question… why do all four options feel correct?”
Read the stem again and check options.
Confirmed that the correct answer for this question was to select all.
“The previous questions with three options, no missing selections there too?”
Percy froze. It was early autumn September, not yet much cooler, yet he suddenly felt chilled all over.
The quill left an ink blot on the test paper, like Professor Levent’s dark and profound malice.
“Hiss…”
The other students in the classroom had similar reactions, gasps of cold air rising one after another.
Melvin sat behind the lectern, with an excellent view. Looking out, he saw Rowena Ravenclaw’s female prefect Penelope Clearwater with her eyebrows tightly furrowed, Ravenclaw’s male prefect Robert Hilliard grit his teeth, and that red-haired Percy Weasley with a pale expression…
These were all good students. Only those with sufficient knowledge would fall into deeper agony.
Students with weak foundations couldn’t spot the traps hidden in the options and just selected casually.
The good thing was that this was the Fifth Year advanced class; almost everyone present was a diligent and eager good student, so nearly all were struggling in agony.
Melvin listened to the students’ sighs, appreciating their agonized and struggling expressions, and felt a profound sense of satisfaction in teaching and nurturing.
“Time’s almost up.”
“…”
Hearing the professor’s reminder, the whole class stiffened, then hurriedly filled in answers, speeding up greatly since there was no time left to agonize.
The bell rang, ending the exam time.
As a professor with extremely high moral character, Melvin didn’t let the class run over, never delaying the students’ meals. As soon as the bell rang, he stopped them from continuing and used Accio to instantly collect the papers.
The bell stopped.
The thirty advanced class students in the classroom looked dazed, eyes unfocused, still clutching their quills. Good students who usually loved checking answers after exams now felt mentally and physically exhausted, unable to muster energy.
Melvin left the classroom, striding decisively without pause.
“Professor Levent.”
A voice suddenly called from behind, a bit startling.
New book trial recommendation period, please give Professor Levent some follow reads~
