What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...
Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out.
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 Newspaper.
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 'lie, 'play,' 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 hour 15 minutes)
- Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
- A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
- If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 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 6,720 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 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
- Find 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 of 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 Americaby 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 classified?
- What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, lingual.
- 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 the inclination of the earth.
