# Can You Pass Harvard's 1869 Entrance Exam? (check it out!) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477 "2011-10-03T21:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/1 "2011-10-03T21:01:04Z")
[Well can ya punk?](http://www.good.is/post/can-you-pass-harvard-s-1869-entrance-exam-we-bet-not/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=outbrain) > [@](#): > > A New York Times education blogger recently uploaded to the web an 1869 Harvard entrance exam (PDF) in a post reminiscing on the days when college was “a buyer’s bazaar.” Long before attending college was a cutthroat affair, so eager was Harvard to get qualified applicants that it would boast in its ads of the ease of the application exam. Click through to see if you think it’s easy. > > Besides Latin, Greek, Greek history, and ancient geography, applicants were expected to know more standard educational fare like arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Not only is this slideshow a great way to find out how little you actually know about Greek language, it’s an amazing glimpse into what elite education used to mean in America, and sometimes still does: A very narrow, ethnocentric experience almost tailor-made for wealthy white men ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/2 "2011-10-03T21:06:42Z")
I’m not terribly embarrassed at not knowing Latin or Greek, but those arithmetic and algebraic questions made me cringe, and I occasionally think I should have gotten a Math degree instead of Linguistics. I could probably work them out given enough time, though, since my main thought on seeing that is “Screw that, I haven’t got the time to fuss with questions that intricate right now.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/3 "2011-10-03T21:13:54Z")
I wouldn’t be able to now. Right after high school I wouldn’t have been able to. But if I had an inkling that this would be the nature of the test, I could have prepared to pass it while in high school. I couldn’t get much of a score on SATs now. I didn’t take them until I was out of high school for 2 years, but got a decent score then, even though I recognized at the time that I’d already lost some of the skills involved. I don’t think this would be exceptionally difficult for modern high school students to get through if their curriculum were based on the areas covered in the test. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/4 "2011-10-03T21:19:32Z")
Wow, that’s one tough exam. I might be able to pass with Google access. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/5 "2011-10-03T21:23:55Z")
I would have had no problem with any of the math my senior year of high school, and I probably could have done the Latin. I never studied Greek, and my geography was pretty primitive, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/6 "2011-10-03T21:52:43Z")
So many years since I had to exercise any maths means I would definitely struggle. I note with interest that question 7 in the Arithmetic test uses Pounds, shillings and pence, and question 8 uses the UK English spelling of metre. I never learnt Latin or Greek, so they’re gone, and my geography and history didn’t cover much of what this test asks. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/7 "2011-10-03T21:56:04Z")
No, but since none of them would even understand much of the useless shit I know, I’ll call it even. 😉 “What do you mean by ‘control-alt-delete’?” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/8 "2011-10-03T21:56:40Z")
I could do the math part, but it would take time. Were they able to use slide rules to do the arithmetic questions? Never studied Latin or Greek, so no way would I get even one of those questions correct. History and geography… maybe a few, but I’d struggle with most. Thing is, we’re just not taught that sort of stuff today. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/9 "2011-10-03T22:01:15Z")
I’ve had an education that largely consists of stuff 19th century white men should know, so I can do fine. The Latin and Greek questions are really boring and do not take much mastery of the languages. I don’t draw well so I doubt my map of the route of the Ten Thousand would pass muster. But I’m guessing it was probably enough to know what the Anabasis was and to vaguely get the shape of the Near East right. The math part is not difficult either, but it asks for stuff that would take me forever to try to do by hand. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/10 "2011-10-03T22:01:59Z")
I thought the blurb was well and good until the last part. Why must the study of Latin and geography be considered white man’s fare? ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/11 "2011-10-03T22:09:53Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I thought the blurb was well and good until the last part. Why must the study of Latin and geography be considered white man’s fare? Because for the most part, they were. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/12 "2011-10-03T22:33:28Z")
The Latin section doesn’t look bad at all. I’d need to review some of the grammar, but they give you practically all of the vocabulary. I could probably figure out most of the math (and would have been much better at it when I was a senior in high school), but I am _floored_ that people were expected to calculate square and cube roots by hand. I don’t have the slightest idea how you do that. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/13 "2011-10-03T22:58:20Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > …but I am _floored_ that people were expected to calculate square and cube roots by hand. I don’t have the slightest idea how you do that. It’s actually very easy, and something you would absolutely be expected to do before calculators were available. We even learned the square root algorithm in 8th grade, although it was quickly dismissed as unnecessary and archaic. See here: [Calculate square root without a calculator](http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/square-root-algorithm.php) ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/14 "2011-10-03T23:01:49Z")
The only one I could easily do now was the algebra word problem (#7). I could probably have done some of the math in high school. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/15 "2011-10-03T23:02:18Z")
All this talk about the exam makes me wonder one thing - what was the passing grade? Did they just score everyone and start at the top and accept people and work down until they were out of student slots? How exactly did this score affect your chances? ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/16 "2011-10-03T23:09:06Z")
Totally nailed question V on the History and Geography section. That is, if the professor accepts the answer “MADNESS?!?” scrawled in blood. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/17 "2011-10-03T23:34:00Z")
I’ve never studied Latin or Greek, so F on that. There was a time when I could have got some of the math, but I am just too reliant on calculators there days. I’d really love to see the problems done out so I could study them. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/18 "2011-10-03T23:37:01Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > The Latin section doesn’t look bad at all. I’d need to review some of the grammar, but they give you practically all of the vocabulary. > > I could probably figure out most of the math (and would have been much better at it when I was a senior in high school), but I am _floored_ that people were expected to calculate square and cube roots by hand. I don’t have the slightest idea how you do that. Yeah, what **Jas09** said: Doing square roots by hand was part of our 8th grade math curriculum. It was a little like long division. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/19 "2011-10-04T00:13:50Z")
yeah too bad Latin and Greek education isn’t valued anymore. We’ve forgotten our priorities ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477/20 "2011-10-04T00:18:27Z")
I could do OK in the math. The rest? FAIL!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-pass-harvards-1869-entrance-exam-check-it-out/598477.md?page=2)