A 1912 eighth grade exam paper has been put together by staff at the Bullitt County History Museum in Kentucky. The copy of the Eighth Grade Exam for Bullitt County Schools in 1912, which was usually a one-room school in those days, was donated to the museum. The "common exam" was taken once or twice a year at the county courthouse.
Those who passed the exam would go on to high school, which was a "big deal back then." Acccording to the museum, high school was rare for many farm children.
Some questions are intriguing, as it provides an insight into what the students were taught 100 years ago.
The questions range from reading, arithmetic, grammar, geography, physiology, geology, history and civil government.
Some questions ask students to describe the Gulf Stream and locate Erie Canal and where it connects.
For physiology, students were asked to name the organs of circulation, describe the heart, and compare arteries and veins as to function.
For Civil Government, the exam asks students to "define and give examples of each of the following forms of government: Democrazy, Limited Monarchy, Absolute Monarchy, Republic."
Other questions are:
"Who first discovered the following places: Florida, Pacific Ocean, Miss River, St Lawrence River?
"Sketch briefly Sir Walter Rawleigh, Peter Stuyvesant"
Click here for the full exam questions given to eighth graders 100 years ago.
