The Brakebills Entrance Exam, also referred to as the Preliminary Examination, is a standardized test provided by Brakebills University to gauge the magical aptitude of young Magicians for enrollment. The duration of the test is two and a half hours, and the only possible grades are Pass and Fail.
On a Pass, the Magicians are advanced to the second stage of the Examination, where they are provided with numerous stimulants until their magic is provoked out of them. If the Magicians were to fail, they would be returned to their homes with a plausible alibi and very little memory of the entire experience.
Only a handful of those invited actually pass the exam, but those who do join the ranks of the most elite magical institution in North America.
History[]
Quentin Coldwater advances to the second stage of the Exam.
The Entrance Exam is provided by Brakebills University every year for the university's Spring semester, inviting a hundred or so young Magicians to take the test. Most do not pass the Exam, but the ones who do are advanced to the second stage, in which their magic is coaxed out of them in the form of a Minor Incantation. [1][2]
Throughout the 40 timelines created by Jane Chatwin, Quentin Coldwater has taken the exam and been accepted at Brakebills, along with Penny Adiyodi and Alice Quinn, who located the school and asked to take the exam.[3] Julia Wicker also was invited to take the exam, but in two of the timelines, she was rejected by Henry Fogg on the orders of Chatwin in order to find the right combination of events which would lead to the defeat of the Beast. This eventually led Wicker to find other ways to learn magic, particularly by becoming a Hedge Witch.[4]
Students' aptitudes tested during the Exam.
After the Order of the Library of the Neitherlands used the Siphon to control the levels of ambient magic, Brakebills was forced to test potential students in smaller batches than normal, requiring Fogg to request a periodic raise of the school's magic levels via written request to a Library branch.[5] Following the death of Everett Rowe and release of higher ambient magic, however, Brakebills became overrun with new students discovering their magic, and enrollment increased at a rate the school was unable to handle.[6]