It also marked a change for Alan. His housemaster asked Blamey, an earnest and also rather isolated boy a year older than Alan, to share a two-boy study with him. Blamey was to try to make Alan more tidy, to 'help him conform, and try and show him there were other things in life besides mathematics.' In the first objective there was a lamentable failure; in the second he came up against the difficulty that Alan 'had wonderful concentration, and would become absorbed in some abstruse problem.' Blamey would consider it his duty to 'interrupt and say it is time to go to chapel, to games, or afternoon classes' as the case might be, he being a well-meaning person, who believed in making the system run as smoothly as possible.19 O'Hanlon had written at Christmas of Alan that

对艾伦来说，这也标志着改变。宿舍长布来梅（比艾伦大一岁，很认真也很孤僻的一个男孩）打听了艾伦的情况，并试着让他能显得整洁一些，试着让艾伦了解并相信，生命中除了数学，还有其他很多东西。他的第一个目标，可悲地失败了，第二个目标也遇到了困难，他说：「艾伦有神奇般的注意力，会完全沉迷在一些深奥的问题中。」布来梅觉得他有必要打断他，告诉他该做礼拜了，该做游戏了，或者该去上课了。总得来讲，他是一个很善意的人，他唯一地信念，就是让这个体制尽量顺利地运转。在圣诞节时，奥汉兰写到艾伦：

No doubt he is very aggravating, and he should know by now that I don't care to find him boiling heaven knows what witches' brew by the aid of two guttering candles on a naked window sill. However, he has borne his afflictions very cheerfully, and undoubtedly has taken more trouble, e.g. with physical training. I am far from hopeless.

他非常烦人，他现在应该知道，我对他在窗边用两根破蜡烛烧的那些恶心的玩意一点兴趣都没有。可是他却很开心地忍受这种折磨，然后又会陷入各种其它的麻烦，比如体育训练。我对他几乎绝望了。

Alan's only regret regarding the 'witches' brew' was that O'Hanlon 'had missed seeing at their height the very fine colours produced by the ignition of the vapour produced by super-heated candle-grease.' Alan was still fascinated by chemistry, but not interested in doing it in a way that pleased anyone else. Mathematics and science reports such as '… marred by inaccuracy, untidiness, and bad style … frightfully untidy both in written and experimental work …' continued to reflect his lack of ability to communicate effectively, while admitting that he was 'very promising'. 'His manner of presenting work is still disgusting, ' wrote O'Hanlon, 'and takes away much of the pleasure it should give.' 'He doesn't understand what bad manners bad writing and messy figures are.' Ross had passed him on to another form, but he was still placed nearly at the bottom in the spring of 1928. 'His mind seems rather chaotic at present and he finds great difficulty in expressing himself. He should read more, ' wrote the master, perhaps more enlightened than Ross.

艾伦则认为，「那些恶心的玩意」的唯一遗憾，就是奥汉兰没有看到，高温加热蜡烛时产生的蒸气，燃烧起来的颜色非常好看。艾伦仍然痴迷化学，但他的实验报告总是脏乱到可怕的程度。在一些数学和科学的小结中，老师在表扬他「很有前途」的同时，也总是说，他缺乏有效的沟通能力。奥汉兰评论说：「他在展示自己时，举止仍然糟糕至极，这使他无法表现他的魅力。」罗斯把艾伦转到了另一个年级，但直到1928年春天，他的成绩仍然是倒数的。罗斯评论他：「他根本不知道什么叫恶劣的举止、肮脏的书写和混乱的图形。」还有一位老师则评论：「他的思想好像特别混乱，在展示自己时有很大的困难。他应该多读一点书。」