8th Grade Final Exam - 1895

[Marie5656]

8th Grade Final Exam - 1895



Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such 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 Salina, KS, 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.


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8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895


Grammar (Time, one hour)
Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
Define Case. Illustrate each Case.
What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.


Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 ft. long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. a bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
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?
Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
What is the cost of 40 boards, 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per meter?
Find the bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.


U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
Show the territorial growth of the United States.
Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.


Orthography (Time, one hour)
What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
What are elementary sounds? How are they classified?
What are the following and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup
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.
Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.


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

Gives the saying of an early 20th century person that "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, eh?

I doubt I would've made it through the 6th grade with teaching standards like that.

[chonsigirl]

Oh, that is an interesting exam!

Remember, most people were lucky to reach 8th grade back then, if they went further then that they were the exception.

[Erinna1112]

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

Originally Posted by Erinna1112

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

9. Write the past tense and past participle of these verbs: Lay, Seek, Sit, Get, Dare, Thrive, Lie, Set, Light, Loose, Fly, Flee, Chide, Overflow, Catch, Lose, Swim, Climb, Drink, Stay, Leap, Quit, Swell, Burst, Eat.

[nvalleyvee]

Originally Posted by SnoozeControl

9. Write the past tense and past participle of these verbs: Lay, Seek, Sit, Get, Dare, Thrive, Lie, Set, Light, Loose, Fly, Flee, Chide, Overflow, Catch, Lose, Swim, Climb, Drink, Stay, Leap, Quit, Swell, Burst, Eat.

I will attempt this challenge without going to the internet..............Iam 50 years old

The test which was discussed in the opening post is interesting. Now I see Snopes has debunked it but what got my interest was that it was very basic. The arithmetical calculations are pretty straightforward and simple (sez me who was/is hopeless at maths). The rest of the questions are straightforward recall questions. If you've stayed awake in a class and done a bit of decent revision you would recall most of those facts to be able to reproduce them sufficiently to pass (assuming that there is a criterion and it's not graded on the curve).

I would think that today we ask far more of students in terms of comprehension and application/evaluation of knowledge.

Anyway, an interesting thread if I may say so.