Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they
only had an 8th grade education? This is the eighth-grade final
exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas. It was taken from the original document
on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina,
KA. Notice that the exam takes five hours to complete.
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 per
annum.
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 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,
and 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, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono.
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 & locate the principal trade centers
of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe
& 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.
This test gives the saying, He only had an 8th grade education, a whole
new meaning!