CAN YOU PASS WITHOUT CHEATING ?

[larrymeyer]

CAN YOU PASS WITHOUT CHEATING ?

This is eye-opening. See if you can pass the 8th grade test. What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895 --Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) Do we even know what this is??

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers, and I failed the 8th grade test

[axmdr40]

ahem.....one semester from a bachelors degree....couldn't get past number 1.....

[ReefBlue]

I cheated . . .

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp


Status: False



My answer: If I was still in school, I could pass that test no problem, being out of school for 20 years makes it way harder if not impossible.

[Brick]

On the Arithmetic side

1. The fundamental rules are Addition, Subtraction Multiplication and Division.

2. 2'X10'X3" = 60 Cft. 60 Cft X B/Cft = Bushels (I'd have to look the conversion up)

3. 3942 - 1050 = 2892# net (2892 X WBushel/#) X $0.50/Bushel = total value (Again I'd have to look up the conversion value for wt of one bushel of wheat)

4. Total valuation = $35,000 required $454. Millage = 454/35000= $0.01297 per dollar of assessed value.

5. 6720 #/2000#/ton = 3.36 tons then at $6/ton cost is $20.16

6. Assuming simple interest: $512.60 X .07%per year X 258/365 = $25.36.

7. One metre is one meter (using today's spelling) so 40 X 16 = 640' and 640'/3.28'/meter = 195.12 meters so $3902.43

8. (C'mon Larry you're old enough to remember banks discounting short-term loans) 10% of $300 is $30 on a 90 day loan (1/4 year) that would be $30/4 = $7.50

9. 640 rods is 160 chains so the farm is square with 160 chains per side. Total area is 25600 sq. chains. There are 10 sq. chains per acre so the farm's area is 2,560 acres cost is $38,400.

10. Written instruments, bank checks we use all the time (unless you do e-transfers of funds) promissary notes are IOUs and receipts well received and add who, what when, how and why.

The History and Geography questions aren't too bad, I think I could get through them OK. The grammer and orthography (I never knew there was such a word!) throw me a bit, but way back in the dim recesses of my mind I recall doing some this in 1st or 2nd grade. Good test! Have fun!