It's a funny thing in an exercise like the one today. There's a good reason to go verbal once the hexes start getting thick in the air: if you want credit for the ones you land, it helps if the teacher heard you cast it.

But, yeah, I spent a lot of time this summer practising nonverbal casting. You don't get accepted to the programme if you can't already do it at a high level--complex spells under challenging conditions.