8th grade test

beblondie

grand high exhalted poobah
Mar 25, 2005
567
0
0
46
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 in 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.

8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

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, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. 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)
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 1050lbs. 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 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 meter?
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 around 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, sub vocals, 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 &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.
Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.
Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? :banher:
 
Yes and no...

Different areas of focus now. I think school was more "schooling" then- the American School system (for someone who moved from Europe to America half-way through high-school) seems more focused on extra-curricular items and sports than actual education. That's my experience only though- reality could be different.



From a historical perspective- I think American schools these days are much more into diversification of learning than they were in the late 1800's.

If, all you learn are the basics- you sure as heck better know it well! ;)

There didn't seem to be any science in the above test- 8th graders these days are expected to know some science. Then there is PE, and art, and other things that were probably not diversified into back then.


Also- who uses "bushel" or "rod" any more. I don't know what they are without looking them up. Partially because they are obsolete. I probably wouldn't do as well on an 1895 test as I would on a 1995 test or a current test... Still looks relatively easy though (minus the obsolete questions about bushels and rods).

Different things taught these days... different expectations as a result.
 
It looks intimidating, but if you had just studied all this stuff, it wouldn't be that bad.
 
bushel is not an obsolete unit of measure

I think the only time I see the bushel unit used is by the local farmers who sell their peaches at the side of the road.

I can visualize how much a bushel of peaches are- but I couldn't for the life of me even tell you if it's a measurement of weight or volume.

It might vary region to region- but if not obsolete- bushel is at best archaic.
 
I think the only time I see the bushel unit used is by the local farmers who sell their peaches at the side of the road.

I can visualize how much a bushel of peaches are- but I couldn't for the life of me even tell you if it's a measurement of weight or volume.

It might vary region to region- but if not obsolete- bushel is at best archaic.

All grains, like corn and soybeans are measured, and sold in bushels.
Just like crude oil is sold and traded by the barrel, when in all likelyhood, the grains were never in bushel baskets, and the oil never even saw a 55gal drum.
 
AquariaCentral.com