1895 8th Grade Test: Could You Pass It?

[Family Ties Forever!]

Could you pass this test?

An 1895 Test to Pass 8th Grade.

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents 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, Kansas, 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, 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," "play," 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 50cts/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 the 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 metre?
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 of 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, 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, 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 and 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.

[Im a big deal]

wow, I knew like 5 answers.
thats crazy hard.
no wonder they only got an 8th grade education, that was all they needed.

[Courtnee]

holy hell. I would have failed 8th grade.

[Mr. Television]

Just reading it gave me a headache.

[Brent88]

Geez...

[Chad Michael Murray]

Hell no I couldn't.

People make such a big deal out of education now, but if you think about it...even though the majority of people graduate high school now and many go on to college, who here actually had to know anything like THAT in 8th grade??

Just because we call ourselves better educated now, maybe that's not the case afterall. Not to say that people are uneducated now, because they aren't, but I think this proves that people weren't as uneducated back then as people might think they were.

[PrettyinPink55]

OH WOW!!!!!

[Jrnygrl]

Originally Posted by MATTrish Stratus™

Hell no I couldn't.

People make such a big deal out of education now, but if you think about it...even though the majority of people graduate high school now and many go on to college, who here actually had to know anything like THAT in 8th grade??

Just because we call ourselves better educated now, maybe that's not the case afterall. Not to say that people are uneducated now, because they aren't, but I think this proves that people weren't as uneducated back then as people might think they were.

I agree with you!

[Rachel3118]

I definatly don't know like any questions. lol. Once people were in school educations were probably treated more seriously back then. It could just be hard because it is stuff we no longer focus on and they what have learned stuff that would prepare them for the test.

[crystals]

Hell, I'd fail that test big time. I think I'd do okay on questions 1 and 10 on the geography part, but I suck at wording my answers. I would totally fail that test.

[MsOrange]

i'd be an 8th grade drop out

[Sharop]

I'd pass it with flying colours.




Actually, no, I don't think I'd do very well.

[Superstar]

I doubt I'd make it through elementary school if all the tests were that hard

[Penny Lane]

My husband's dad had an 8th grade education and he owned and operated a successful hardware store for 50 years. Besides having a good business sense he could fix anything which was a service of his small town store. Having lived through the Depression he HAD to know how to do things!
Me? I never would have made it through the second grade back then!
Which is probably untrue because teachers back in those days were trained differently and were very dedicated.(Not that there aren't good teachers today) But times were much different then. Kids had very few distractions(TV, video games, etc,) I think that they were more geared to learning. Education was very important to bettering oneself.

[spunkygirl]

No way, I'd fail miserably