8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS – 1895

  • Richard V.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Posts: 2596
    #1263576

    Are you smart enough to pass this 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 , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

    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 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 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 6,720 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)
    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.’
    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. 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 how poor our education system has become.

    stuart
    Mn.
    Posts: 3682
    #789441

    Oh,Hell no.

    big_g
    Isle, MN
    Posts: 22456
    #789443

    Thats pretty neat, but if I had eight school years to learn it, I think I would have handled it…….. I don’t for one minute think school was harder in the 1800’s or 1900’s than it is today… or vice versa…. neat either way

    big G

    chamberschamps
    Mazomanie, WI
    Posts: 1089
    #789452

    snopes, false.

    Besides, most that chit is pretty useless in today’s world

    tonyplut
    Burnsville/Mille Lacs
    Posts: 44
    #789459

    Looks like I’m taking eighth grade again next year.

    thegun
    mn
    Posts: 1009
    #789460

    don’t need to worry about jumping right back in to 8th grade! might need to start back a few years farther!

    Richard V.
    Somewhere over the rainbow
    Posts: 2596
    #789462

    Quote:


    don’t need to worry about jumping right back in to 8th grade! might need to start back a few years farther!



    I know what you mean. I am going to take an assessment test so that potential employers will think they are not looking at an idiots resume…

    tom_gursky
    Michigan's Upper Peninsula(Iron Mountain)
    Posts: 4751
    #789470

    Quote:


    Thats pretty neat, but if I had eight school years to learn it, I think I would have handled it…….. I don’t for one minute think school was harder in the 1800’s or 1900’s than it is today… or vice versa…. neat either way

    big G


    You have got to be kidding me G
    I taught all levels of Public school from 1976 to 2006 and am still teaching part time. Those principles in that 8th grade (exit test) are still relevant today. Right now an alarming percentage of 9th graders are failing Math, Science, and Language…The cirriculum has been slowly been diluted for years. My 4th graders from the 1970s were much better at pre algebra than many of the 8th graders I see in 2009…sad but true.

    BTW You DID have 8 years to learn that…

    big_g
    Isle, MN
    Posts: 22456
    #789490

    Tom, I am not a genius by any stretch of my imagination, but I am pretty sure I would have graduated 8th grade in 1895. I was taught many of the things listed, but retention is what counts. That which we learn and apply, we retain. I have little use for when exactly the civil war started in my life today. I don’t plan on trying out for Jeopardy. Was I taught it ? Yes. Did I pass a test on it, I would venture to guess yes. Are lessons a little different than they were back in 1895, definitely. I would also venture to guess, they will be teaching different things in the year 2295, than they are today and most of the pupils will look at the lessons from today and say “what” ???? Imagine when they see this fake test from 1895 It is what it is…..

    big G

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #789501

    Quote:


    but I am pretty sure I would have graduated 8th grade in 1895


    Don’t kid yourself G…you would have been fishing too much…and I would have been protesting the new taxpayer funded stadiums.

    kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #789570

    Can anyone in Kansas pass this today?

    dylan-gravenhof
    Worthington, MN
    Posts: 190
    #789602

    i just finished 8th grade and i couldnt answer those!!

    farmboy1
    Mantorville, MN
    Posts: 3668
    #789606

    Don’t know, don’t care

    I ain’t never bin much fir book lernin

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