@danio1972 It has been established, that negative emotions make your magic stronger. When the teacher came and taunted them after they finally felt like they accomplished something his anger let him move all those nails at once.
@danio1972 I think that Quentin has a lot more magic power than he uses, it's just that he doesn't know how to use it. Like in the beginning of the show, when he made a card castle, that clearly shows that he is a much better magician than most people would think judging on how he cannot control it since he is only a first year at the school.
The main difference between this and Harry Potter is that in this show, the characters aren't magic experts from the beginning, they cannot even cast spells to defend themselves, even for those like Quentin who have the power.
Shout by SimonBlockedParentSpoilers2016-09-14T08:08:32Z
So... 1 nail is put into place over a period of what seems to be hours, then, suddenly hundreds can be squished into place in one go. Come on!