WOW!!!
It does make one wonder doesn't it

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

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, lay and run.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks
of Punctuation.

7. 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 ighs 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 acre,
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, 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, sub vocals, 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 diacrtially 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 & Orinoco. . 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.

Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.

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

aw crap, thats hard, im in 8th, i could probably do it, but a hellava lot of others cant

Well, we have WAY more knowledge about history and geography now than we had in 1895. As for the other parts, I think I could do it , if it were in german.

Holy ______!!! Just looking at it, I don't think I have the brains to complete it! I'm going to give it a shot, but I won't hold my breath . . .

Wow; pretty tough.

Whoa..I was only able answer a handful of those..





Oh boy, we have a genius here.

Let's see your answers then.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm

Status: False

Oh wow... I usually check to make sure things are legit... but this didn't seem to be a hoax... oh well...


And Thank God... Cause I was starting to feel ... not so intelligent...

what?

It's not exactly a hoax, if I read Snopes correctly, but rather a misinterpretation. It was a real test, but it doesn't demonstrate how much "not so smart" we are compared to 1895 8th graders, but rather how education has changed. For one thing, remember that the kids taking this would have been actually studying it for some time. Also, a lot of what was taught then is no longer really useful. How many of us have to figure out how many bushels of grain we got and what it's going to bring in? Some few do, of course, in agricultural areas, but those few learn it. No need for the rest of us to.

Today there is greater emphasis on science, the arts, world history and literature, things like that. It's an interesting historical document, but don't let it make you feel stupid or undereducated.