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This is not one of the easiest classes taught at Durmstrang's Academy of Magic, but nor is it the most difficult. Some students that take this class find that although there is no homework assigned, it would be easier if there were. In order to pass the test without knowing the secret, Arithmancy requires copious amounts of memorization.

The basic principle behind Arithmancy is to find out how numbers are related to Magic. Arithmancy breaks down to- Arithmos (Greek for Number) and Manteia (Greek for Divination) Textbooks on this subject look more like pages upon pages of charts.

Key lessons for the subject start out simple; students must know the numbers, what digit represents which number count (ex- 000, would be the hundreds slot), and know the basic math formulas- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Then the lessons progess to; knowing how strong their name is, from just the first name, the middle, the last and then all three, and how to make it a single digit number if needed; finding out their heart number, social/life number, character/personality number, and sometimes how strong a person's birth date is. (Some of the kids that find they have "weak" names, will usually go as far as to create "stronger" ones for themselves)
After that lesson, the students have to be able to identify which are the strongest spells given in a list, and be able to explain why. Then, if they proceed from that level, one of the hardest parts of the class is changing a spell, (either by adding, removing, or changing letters) to make it better. It is a tricky process, because just the slighest tweak could have the opposite effect, making it weaker, or make it stronger to the point where the person is unable to control it, causing the spell to backfire.

Depending on where the class is at test-time, the final might have parts removed or added, if needed. Or sometimes, he leaves everything, and counts some questions as extra, and does not grade them on those, and lets the kids stress over the knowledge. (It is just a paycheck to him after all)