Eighth-Grade Final Exam from
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?
(LOOK CLOSELY... THAT'S EIGHTEEN NINETY FIVE). 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 Limit - 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 Limit - 1.25 hours)
- 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 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts/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 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 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 around which is 640 rods?
- Write a Bank Check,
a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
U.S. History
(Time
Limit - 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 Limit - 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,
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 Limit - 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.
Also notice that
the exam took six hours to complete.
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