[Nfbf-l] 8th Grade Final Exam in the year 1895

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Subject: 8th  Grade Education in 1895


 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 
 
 
 
 
     
 



 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     
     
 
 
 
Take this  test and pass it on to your more literate  friends..  



 
 
 

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 , 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 hour 15 minutes)
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 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at  
50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 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 6,720 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)  
[Do we even  know what this is??]
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.' (HUH?)
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. 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. 

Notice that  the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.  

Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade  education’ a whole new meaning, 
doesn't  it?



 
 
 
No wonder  they dropped out after 8th grade. They already knew more than  
they needed to  know!



 
 
 

No,  I don't have the answers! And I don't think I ever did!  



 
 
 
Have fun  with  this.



































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