Eighth Grade Graduation Test

By Anne Homan

Until at least 1920, eighth graders in the Livermore Valley were required to take tests in order to graduate. For many students, this was end of their formal education—most did not continue on to high school. If they passed the exams, which were held on a series of days in May, they received a diploma. Today, in order to graduate from high school after passing a certain number of classes, students must also pass an exit exam consisting of a math test and an essay writing test. Students who took the following test in 1899 were held accountable in many fields of study. See how well you can do—sorry, the list did not come with answers! Because of the word limit for this column, I could not print all of the questions under the categories.

Spelling (50 words):
courteous, legacy, demagogue, stampede, orifice, jubilant, clavicle, conjugation, domicile, previous, delicious, sombrero

Grammar (10 questions):
1. Define connective pronoun and name five examples.
2. The Roman General hastened to his waiting army. Classify parts of speech in the above sentence.
3. Write a complex sentence. Write a compound sentence.
4. Give principal parts of go, come, be, reply.

Politeness and Moral Training (5 questions):
1. Illustrate or explain what this means: “Idleness is the mother of vice.”
2. Mention two distinct injuries resulting from your failure to keep a promise to anyone.
3. Give a rule or illustration of good manners in traveling by rail.

Music:
1. Define diatonic scale and chromatic scale.
2. How are intermediate tones indicated? What is a natural?
3. What is a triplet? What three properties must a musical tone have?
4. Write five measures, no two alike, in the key of A, 4/4 time.

Arithmetic (10 questions):
1. A retail dealer buys books at $1.50 each, less 33? and 10 percent. At what price per copy must he sell them to gain 25 percent?
2. At 50 cents per rod, what will it cost to fence a square field containing 10 acres?
3. Some men mowed 16¼ acres of grain in 7½ days. At the same rate, how many acres could they mow in 9¼ days?
4. What will it cost to plaster a hall 40 by 80 feet with a ten-foot ceiling at 25 cents per square yard, allowing 40 square yards for doors and windows?

Mental Arithmetic (10 questions):
1. If 7/12 of a piece of work can be done in one day, in what time can the work be done?
2. In what time at 6 per cent per annum will the interest of $75 equal $9?
3. How many cords of wood can 5 men cut in 8 days, if 10 men in 12 days cut 72 cords?

History (10 questions):
1. What events in our history took place on these dates: 1775, 1776, 1789, 1812, 1861?
2. Why did slavery flourish in the north and not the south?
3. What political question was temporarily settled by the Missouri Compromise?

Oral Reading:
Examiners are to select the reading from the course the pupils have pursued during the school year.

Composition:
Select from the following list the subject you like best and write a page or more: 1. Our present war, 2. Our new possessions, 3. City life and country life, 4. Select your own subject.

Penmanship:
Write the 10-line poem given.

Bookkeeping (5 questions):
1. Write a letter of introduction and recommendation.
2. Enter at least 8 items in proper form in Day Book, post in Ledger, balance and bring down the account.
3. Write a negotiable note payable 9 months after date with interest at 6 per cent.

Geography (10 questions):
1. Into what physical division is North America naturally divided?
2. Why is the climate of Southern Europe warm?
3. What causes trade winds?

Drawings (5)
Physiology (10 questions):
1. How many bones are in the human body? Name the bones of the arm and hand.
2. Name three uses of the skin.
3. Describe the brain.
Before you saw this test, perhaps you did not think highly of an ancestor who had “only” finished the eighth grade.

( Readers can reach me via e-mail at am3homan@yahoo.com.)