Victorian High School Exam

Factual Questions
1

Seeing the “Were the Victorians smarter than us” thread reminded me of something I had laying around - a reprint of a test given to graduating students from an academy in Zanesville, Ohio. The following is from 1877. Would you have graduated? Take the test and find out if you were going on to a life of middle class affluence, or a job in the shoe factory.

English Grammar

  1. Analyze the following and parse words in *italics *
    I cannot tell if to departin silence,
    or bitterly to speak in your reproof,
    Best fitteth my degree or your condition.
  2. Write the following in prose, and parse the verb awaits:
    The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauthy, all that wealth e’er gave, Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
  3. Give a brief example of a compound and complex sentence. Give the rule for the use of the subjunctive mood.
  4. Define and give the etymology of verb, prounoun, conjuntion, and adverb. Give example of defective, an auxillary, an impersonal and a redudant verb. How many kinds of prounous are there? Give an example of each.
  5. Prior has the following sentence. State it if be good grammar. If not, why? It it be, parse the word than: Thou art a girl as much brighter than her, As he is a poet sublimer than me.
  6. Give rule for forming plural of nouns ending in “y,” with examples. Give plurals of staff, radius, miasma, Miss White, rendezvous, talisman, loaf, grief, seraph, Mussulman, forceps, spoonful, who, beef, s, x, 6, and madam. Also give the singulars of kine, ashes, bandits, swine, animalcula.
  7. Compare chief, much, former, far, forth, next, round, up, ill, full.
  8. Give the feminines of abbot, earl, duke, lad, marquis, hero, tiger, nephew, testator, bachelor, wizard, and ox.
  9. Write the past tense and past particple of the following: lay, seek, sit, get, dare, thrive, lie, set, light, loose, fly, flee, chide, overflow, catch, lose, swim, climb, drink, stay, leap, quit, swell, burst, eat.
  10. Define metonymy, catachresis, and hyberbole; and state the differnce between a metaphor and a simile.
  11. Punctuate the following: But when I ask the trembling question Will you be mine my dearest Miss Then may there be no hesitation But say distinctly yes sir yes.
  12. Parse the three “thats” in the following sentence:
    He that fears that dog thinks that he is mad.

Orthography

  1. give etymology of orthography. What are mutes, labials, and liquids, and why so called?
  2. Give meaning of the prefixe, ante, anti, circum, quad, proto, oct, trans, sym, and con.
  3. Form derivatives of prefer, begin, stop, run, defy, abridge, tie, and die with teh suffix ing or ed.
  4. Write a word containing a dipthong, one containing a digraph, and one containing a trigraph.
  5. Define accent, and marek the accent on the following words: inverse, diverse, adverse, reverse, obverse, calcine, piquant, orthoepy, abdomen, acclimated, area, salutatory, accessary, gondola, illustrate, prolix, portent, inquiry, contemplated, expert, extant.

Arithmetic
Put all your work on the paper and make it explain itself.

  1. Define integer, fraction, interest, discount, power, and root.
  2. What effect has multiplying both terms of a fraction by the same number, and why; and why in dividing one fraction by another do you invert the divisor and multiply the terms together?
  3. If A’s age were increased by 3/7 its 4/5 and 19, the sum would equal 2 1/2 times his age - how old is A?
  4. Multiply 7/8 by .000018 and divide the product by 27 millioneths.
  5. 32 men agree to construct 28 miles 4 furlongs and 32 rods of road; after completing one-half of it, one-fourth of the number of member left the company, what distance did each man construct before and after one-fourth of the men left?
  6. A man drive 97 pegs on a line and spaces them 3 ft. 8 in. apart. What is the distance from the first peg to the last peg?
  7. A man receives $65 interest for the use of $600 for 3 years, 7 months, and 15 days. What is rate per cent?
  8. What is due on the following note: $1200 Zanesville, Ohio, December 10, 1871. One year after date I promise to pay to the order of Richard Roe tweleve hundred dollars, value received.
  9. Give the rule of obtaining the difference of time, having the difference of longitude, and vice versa, and give the reasons for the rule.
  10. A square lot containing 54,756 square feet is surrounded by a board fence 12 feet high. What would the boards cost at $13 per thousand?

Geography

  1. Where does the earth have the greates diameter?
  2. Why do we reckon 180 degrees of longitude but only 90 degress of latitude.
  3. What is meant by the equinoxes?
  4. Locate the Crimea, Bombay, Bay of Fundy, and the Capital of Mississippi.
  5. Into what three functions is the government of the United States dividied? Define each function.
  6. Describe and locate the Indus and Niger rivers.
  7. Through what water bodies would a ship pass in going from Duluth to Odessa?
  8. Bound France and give five of its chief cities.
  9. Name the New England states and locate their capitals.
  10. Define equator, zone, latitude, and longitude.
  11. Into what bodies of water do teh following flow: The Danube, Rhone, Volga, Tiber, Rio Grande, Jordan, and Mahoning Rivers?

Please keep your eyes on your own paper. You have one hour.

I’ll see you in the shoe factory.

2

Good God! ONE HOUR?! I guess a college education ain’t what it used to be. Maybe I’m wasting my money.

Then again, who really needs to know what the subjunctive mood is or five different cities in France to make a good living?

3

I’ve seen this exam lots of times before, and it has ALWAYS struck me as an urban legend. http://www.snopes.com has its status as undetermined. Has anyone EVER seen any documentation on that this is for real?

See http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/exam.htm

4

My reprint is from Volume 66, Number 7 of The English Journal, published in October 1977. the author of the article were the test is reprinted is given as John Velz, a member of the English Department faculty at the University of Texas, Austin. The original test was given by Joseph Crosby, chief of Examiners for the Public Schools of Zanesville, OH.

Sounds legit to me.

5

Does anyone know how to interpret “increased by 3/7 its 4/5” into modern English?

6

I interpreted this to mean: Take A’s age and increase it by 3/7ths, 4/5ths, and 19. The sum of that equation would then equal 2.5 times his age. What is his age?

7

I take it, then, it would look like this to us post-modern algebra weenies:

X + (3/7)X + (4/5)X + 19 = 2.5X

I’m not so sure though. “3/7 its 4/5” sounds a whole lot like 12/35 to me, which would yield:

X + (12/35)X + 19 = 2.5X

Dang them Victorians anyway!

8

Actually, if you read the explanatory information in the Snopes article, much of what it says about the “exam” printed there rings true about the “exam” posted in this thread. The Snopes explanation rings fairly true–late-19th century high school education was top-heavy in what we would call today nitpicking rules of grammar, with little to no emphasis on the arts, mathematics used now fairly obsolete measurements like rods and furlongs (and was also keen on “proofs,” hence the instruction in this exam to “Put all your work on the paper and make it explain itself.”), stronger emphasis on geography. All of these factors can help to explain this exam.

Two things trouble me, though, about the veracity of this exam: 1. Define the singular of “kine.” By the 18th century, the use of “kine” as the plural of “cow” had largely given way to “cows” or “cattle.” 2. “You have one hour to complete the test.” Notice the position of this instruction–at the end. Surely, wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to have this at the beginning? Another thing–how many students would have had watches to be able to pace their work in 1877? I can’t believe there were clocks in every classroom at that time. (The Snopes article says nothing about timed tests.)

But in the end I have to fully agree with Snopes here. The test looks impossibly difficult to us, but under the circumstances students would have taken it, it was not impossible for them. If any of us clever people (hey, we’re talking SDMB’ers here :D) had had day after day of parsing sentences, converting furlongs to rods and back to miles, and memorizing lists of the 50 largest cities in Europe ranked by population, we’d find this test easy too.

9

Actually that test doesn’t look hard at all.

Of course I don’t know all the answers to the questions, but I’m sure I could learn the answers to all those questions in four years of schooling. I can’t parse a single “that” in the three "that"s sentence, but if I spent my formative years parsing "that"s, I’m sure it would be a snap.

10

The man who developed this particular tests was a Shakespearean scholar (according to the article), so he may have thrown “kine” in to see if any of his students were famlilar with the word. I put the “you have one hour” part in just so you didn’t dawdle, consult every reference book you could lay your hands on, etc.

According to the article there was also a sizeable oral component to the tests, too.

11

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by plnnr *
My reprint is from Volume 66, Number 7 of The English Journal, published in October 1977.

THANK YOU! I’ve been looking for documentation for this for ages. If you look at the original article, though, you find something a bit different than what’s described here. It’s not a high school graduation exam–it’s a teacher-qualifying exam.

To be sure, most of today’s teachers would fail the exam miserably, but it’s one thing to ask those questions of high school grads. It’s quite another to ask them, as they were in fact asked, of (presumably) college graduates at a time when study of Greek and Latin (along with the intricacies of grammar) was the norm.

12

**English Grammar

  1. Analyze the following and parse words in italics *
    I cannot tell if to departin silence,
    or bitterly to speak in your reproof,
    Best fitteth my degree or your condition.    *

Not knowing what parsing is, I’m guessing it’s something similar to declining . . . here goes:

cannot tell, could not tell, cannot have told, could not have told, will not be able to tell, would not be able to tell. depart, departed, have departed, departing, had departed, will depart, will have departed, would depart, would have departed. your, you, yourn, youse? I give up here. I’m wrong.

2. Write the following in prose, and parse the verb awaits: The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauthy, all that wealth e’er gave, Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

These things all await the inevitable hour: the braggartry of heraldry, the boast of power, and all that has beaty or that wealth ever gave. the paths of glory all lead to death.

4. Define and give the etymology of verb, prounoun, conjuntion, and adverb. Give example of defective, an auxillary, an impersonal and a redudant verb. How many kinds of prounous are there? Give an example of each.

verb: verbo, verbare Latin “to speak”. pronoun: pro “for” and nous “us” pronous~pronoun. Con “with”, juncto, juctare “to join” tion is a suffix basically making the word a noun. ad “to” verbo, verbare “to speak” ~adverb. “Continue on” is a redundant verb, grow is an impersonal verb. the verb “to be” is an auxilliary verb (I dunno wtf an auxillary is).

There are five kinds of pronouns: I, me, my, mine, and myself. I refuse to comment further.

5. Prior has the following sentence. State it if be good grammar. If not, why? It it be, parse the word than: Thou art a girl as much brighter than her, As he is a poet sublimer than me.

Not proper grammar, as “her” should be “she”. As such, I don’t have to parse it. YAY!

6. Give rule for forming plural of nouns ending in “y,” with examples. Give plurals of staff, radius, miasma, Miss White, rendezvous, talisman, loaf, grief, seraph, Mussulman, forceps, spoonful, who, beef, s, x, 6, and madam. Also give the singulars of kine, ashes, bandits, swine, animalcula.

When such is a proper onun, one puts an s on the end of the word and leaves it thus. When it is not, one changes Y to IE and adds an s. staffs, radii, miasmae, Misses White, rendez-vouses, talismans, loaves, griefs, seraves, mussulmen, forcepses, spoons full, whos, beefs, Ss, Xes, 6s and madams. Cow, ash, bandit, pig, animalculum.

7. Compare chief, much, former, far, forth, next, round, up, ill, full.

Compare them to what?

8. Give the feminines of abbot, earl, duke, lad, marquis, hero, tiger, nephew, testator, bachelor, wizard, and ox.

Abbess, earless, duchess, lass, marquisse, heroine, tigress, niece, testatress, bachelorette, wizard (is for both male and female) and cow.

9. Write the past tense and past particple of the following: lay, seek, sit, get, dare, thrive, lie, set, light, loose, fly, flee, chide, overflow, catch, lose, swim, climb, drink, stay, leap, quit, swell, burst, eat.

layed, layed, sought, sought, sat, sat, got, gotten, dared, dared, thrived, thrived, lied, lied, set, set, lighted, lighted, lose, lost, flew, flew, fleed, fleed, chided, chidden?, flowed, flown, caught, caught, lost, lost, swam, swum, climbed, drank drunk, lept lept, quit, swelled, burst, ate eaten.

  1. Punctuate the following: But when I ask the trembling question, “Will you be mine, my dearest Miss Then”, may there be no hesitation. But say distinctly, “Yes sir, yes.”**

12. Parse the three “thats” in the following sentence:
He that fears that dog thinks that he is mad.

He who fears this dog thinks himself to be mad.

2. Give meaning of the prefixe, ante, anti, circum, quad, proto, oct, trans, sym, and con.

ante-before. anti-against. circum-around. quad-four. proto-model. oct-eight. trans-across. sym-same. con-against.

3. Form derivatives of prefer, begin, stop, run, defy, abridge, tie, and die with teh suffix ing or ed.

preferring, beginning, stopping, running, defying, abridging, tying, and dying.

1. Define integer, fraction, interest, discount, power, and root.

Integer: a whole number. fraction: a numerator on top of a denominator with a line b/w the two. interest: what you wish I had in this test. discount: the money I’m getting for this damn test. power: to^2 - power is 2. root: I do not care anymore.

2. What effect has multiplying both terms of a fraction by the same number, and why; and why in dividing one fraction by another do you invert the divisor and multiply the terms together?

The former is a scalar and has no effect except as to make both numbers proportionally larger. The latter you do so as to be correct in your answer.

  1. If A’s age were increased by 3/7 its 4/5 and 19, the sum would equal 2 1/2 times his age - how old is A?

(4A/5)*(10/7) + 19=2.5A

40A/35 + 19=2.5A

40A + 665=87.5A

665=47.5A

A=14

4. Multiply 7/8 by .000018 and divide the product by 27 millioneths.

0.058333

5. 32 men agree to construct 28 miles 4 furlongs and 32 rods of road; after completing one-half of it, one-fourth of the number of member left the company, what distance did each man construct before and after one-fourth of the men left?

before: 7/16 miles, 1/16 furlong, 1/2 rod. After: 24 men left, 14 miles, 2 furlongs, 16 rods left. each man completes 14/24 miles, 2/24 furlongs, 16/24 rods.

6. A man drive 97 pegs on a line and spaces them 3 ft. 8 in. apart. What is the distance from the first peg to the last peg?

Ignoring the width of the pegs, 963=286 feet. 968=768/12(in/ft)=64+286(feet in first measurement)=350 feet b/w first and last, ignoring width of pegs.

10. A square lot containing 54,756 square feet is surrounded by a board fence 12 feet high. What would the boards cost at $13 per thousand?

234 feet to a side, 4 sides is 936 feet long times 12 feet high is 11,232 square feet. Assuming $13 per thousand SQUARE feet, that’s $146.016, or $146.02.

1. Where does the earth have the greates diameter?

Everywhere. The diameter of a sphere does not change as one moves.

2. Why do we reckon 180 degrees of longitude but only 90 degress of latitude.

Because latitute measures half the distance as longitude, proportionally.

  1. What is meant by the equinoxes?

The day on which one season changes to another.

4. Locate the Crimea, Bombay, Bay of Fundy, and the Capital of Mississippi.

Crimea is, IIRC, in Russia. Bombay India, Fundy in the south somewhere, Jackson Mississippi.

5. Into what three functions is the government of the United States dividied? Define each function.

Legislative writes stupid laws, executive vetoes them and judicial makes damn sure you’re driving the speed limit.

6. Describe and locate the Indus and Niger rivers.

They’re in the east.

8. Bound France and give five of its chief cities.

Last time someone tried to bound france, the RAF and US army came in and whined. Paris, Marseilles, Avignon, Lyons, Chartres.

9. Name the New England states and locate their capitals.

Vermont: Montpelier. New Hampshire: Augusta. RI: Providence. Mass: Boston. CT: hartford. NY: Albany. Beyond that I dunno.

10. Define equator, zone, latitude, and longitude.

The equator is the line over the place on the earth where the circumference is greatest. Zones of time . . . duh. Latitude are lines that go across the earth, longitude down.

Was anyone else annoyed by this test? I know I was.

13

Did I miss something in Geography class? Or are the answers Capitol Hill, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and Capitol Hill (Old Senate Chamber, to be more precise)?
panama jack

14

True about a sphere, not true about the earth. The earth is a bit flattened at the poles. IIRC, the circumference is a coupla hundred miles longer around the equator than across the poles.

15

Well, thanks for explaining the time limit…that seemed a bit dodgy. As for the man who devised the test–if he was a Shakespearean scholar, why didn’t he put in any questions about Shakespeare–or, for that matter anything about literature at all?

iampunha: the Bay of Fundy is in Eastern Canada. Still, I think you aced that exam :slight_smile:

16

I was operating under the assumption that someone back in Victorian days wouldn’t have been taught this, so I was going with what they were looking for rather than what most of us today hold to be the truth.

Duke, if you noticed, I skipped 10 of the Qs and a couple I answered jokingly. Several months ago I got a copy of the supposed 8th grade exam for students in Kansas c. 100 years ago. I took the test just to see how I would do and I got about 80 percent right. Not bad for a (hopeful) future schoolteacher.

17

For most modern teachers, too, the test questions are often difficult. The MSAT and SSAT likely ask for more knowledge (relatively) than these century-old exams, but they’re always graded on a curve (I’m not even sure that they have an accurate absolute scoring system). I’d think that these old tests were scored in the same way.
And I do hope no one goes away thinking that iampunha aced the test. It was more entertaining to read his post since more of the answers were given out of apathy than anything else.

I’d especially like to point out that integers and whole numbers as technical terms refer to different sets of numbers.

Other minor errors : proto- means early, not type, pl. of seraph is usually seraphim, multiplying both terms of a fraction by the same amount = the same fraction (x/x = 1),
wife of an earl is a countess, wife of a marquis is a marquese , IIRC (but British peerage uses Marquess/Marchioness).

And iampunha, ‘parsing’ refers to analyzing the syntax or grammar; think of diagramming sentences, it was all the rage in grammar schools of yesteryear.

18

Panamajack:
The answer would be 1) legislative, the adoption of laws, 2) executive, the enforcement of laws, and 3) judicial, the interpretation of laws.

Why this question is in GEOGRAPHY instead of Social Studies, Civics, or some related class may be a more pertinent question. Or maybe that’s what you mean by listing the Capitol, the White House, and the pre-1935 Supreme Court chambers. :slight_smile:

iampunha:
8) The female of testator is testatrix
4) Bay of Fundy is in Canada, IIRC at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. It’s got nothing to do with Southern Baptists or any other sort of Fundy. :slight_smile:

19

Got a few wrong.

earl --> countess. (There is no rank of “count” in British nobility – some say because it could be pronounced as though the “o” were missing.)
marquis --> marquise
Testator --> testatrix
wizard --> witch
I don’t think the word “bachelorette” existed at the time the test supposedly was given. I suspect they were looking for “old maid” (segue into sexism in language lecture).
“Cow,” strictly speaking, is not the feminine form of “ox.” Since an “ox” is not, strictly speaking, male, the correct answer would be a neutered cow, though I don’t know offhand what that term might be.

20

Maybe I’d make a bad Victorian, but wouldn’t it help to know the dimensions of the boards here? I mean, if you have boards that are 6’ long, you need two per slat to reach the 12’. Maybe you can find 24’ boards and saw them in half (big boards, I know). Are the boards supposed to be placed horizontally or vertically? Fake or not, this is one poorly written question.