Can You Graduate from the 8th Grade?
By Glenn Merrit
How many of us could graduate from
8th grade?
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
Gives the saying
of an early 20th century person that "she/he only had an 8th grade
education" a whole new meaning.
Below is an 8th grade test from
1895. It will knock your socks off ! ! ! I'm
barefooted.
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 do, 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.(30%)
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 50 cents per 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 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 are, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank
Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
1. Give the epochs
into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account
of the discovery of
3. Relate the causes
and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the
territorial growth of the
5. Tell what you can
of the history of
6. Describe three of
the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following:
Morse, Whitney,
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. 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.
8. Use the following
correctly in sentences, cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein,
raze, raise, rays.
9. 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
3. Of what use are
rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the
mountains of
5. Name and describe
the following:
6. Name and locate
the principal trade centers of the
7. Name all the
republics of
8. Why is the
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 inclination of the earth.
Makes you wonder when the "dumbing down" actually started.
Publisher's Note
This article was
sent to me by a good friend who found this piece, along with an incredible
number of other informative and educational articles, on www.freedomwriter.com.
It was submitted to the Freedom Writer on