Received this in an email........
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
Salina, KS -1895
Grammar (Time, 1 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 do,
lie,
lay 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, 1.25 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 50
cts./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 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 are,
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, 1 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, 1 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,
Heca, Yukno, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and
Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the
U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give 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.
Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade
education" (when
speaking of
an early 20th century person) a whole new meaning. |
