The old exams · Eighth-grade “common exam”, taken at the county courthouse
Bullitt County, Kentucky, 1912
1912 Eighth Grade Examination for Bullitt County Schools
Work each subject on paper, then open the answer notes to check. Tick the questions your child got right; the ticks are saved in this browser.
Spelling, Reading, Writing
Spelling: a list of words given by the teacher. (The word list is on the museum's scan of the original, linked above; it hasn't been typed out.) Reading and writing were also judged.
Arithmetic
Write in words the following: .5764; .000003; .123416; 653.0965; 43.37.
map[Solve:35.7 plus 4, 5.8 plus 5.14 - 59.112.]
Find cost at 12½ cents per sq. yd. of kalsomining the walls of a room 20 ft. long, 16 ft. wide and 9 ft. high, deducting 1 door 8 ft. by 4 ft 6 in. and 2 windows 5 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in. each.
A man bought a farm for $2400 and sold it for $2700. What percent did he gain?
A man sold a watch for $180 and lost 16⅔%. What was the cost of the watch?
Find the amount of $50.30 for 3 yrs., 3 mo. and 3 days, at 8 percent.
A school enrolled 120 pupils and the number of boys was two thirds of the number of girls. How many of each sex were enrolled?
How long a rope is required to reach from the top of a building 40 ft. high, to the ground 30 ft. from the base of the building?
How many steps 2 ft. 4 in. each will a man take in walking 2¼ miles?
At $1.62½ a cord, what will be the cost of a pile of wood 24 ft. long, 4 ft. wide and 6 ft. 3 in. high?
Grammar
How many parts of speech are there? Define each.
Define proper noun; common noun. Name the properties of a noun.
What is a Personal Pronoun? Decline I.
What properties have verbs?
"William struck James." Change the Voice of the verb.
Adjectives have how many Degrees of Comparison? Compare good; wise, beautiful.
Diagram: The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.
Parse all the words in the following sentences: "John ran over the bridge." "Helen's parents love her."
Geography
Define longitude and latitude.
Name and give the boundaries of the five zones.
Tell what you know of the Gulf Stream.
Locate Erie Canal; what waters does it connect, and why is it important?
Locate the following countries which border each other: Turkey, Greece, Servia, Montenegro, Roumania.
Name and give the capitals of States touching the Ohio River.
Locate these cities: Mobile, Quebec, Buenos Aires, Liverpool, Honolulu.
Name in order of their size three largest States in the United States.
Locate the following mountains: Blue Ridge, Himalaya, Andes, Alps, Wasatch.
Through what waters would a vessel pass in going from England through the Suez Canal to Manila?
Physiology
How does the liver compare in size with other glands in the human body? Where is it located? What does it secrete?
Name the organs of circulation.
Describe the heart.
Compare arteries and veins as to function. Where is the blood carried to be purified?
Where is the chief nervous center of the body?
Define Cerebrum; Cerebellum.
What are the functions (or uses) of the spinal column?
Why should we study Physiology?
Give at least five rules to be observed in maintaining good health.
Civil Government
Define the following forms of government: Democracy, Limit Monarchy, Absolute Monarchy, Republic. Give examples of each.
To what four governments are students in school subjected?
Name five county officers, and the principal duties of each.
Name and define the three branches of the government of the United States.
Give three duties of the President. What is meant by the veto power?
Name three rights given Congress by the Constitution and two rights denied Congress.
In the election of a president and vice-president, how many electoral votes is each State allowed?
Give the eligibility of president, vice-president and Governor of Kentucky.
What is a copyright? Patent right?
Describe the manner in which the president and vice-president of the United States are elected.
History
Who first discovered the following places: Florida, Pacific Ocean, Mississippi River, St. Lawrence River?
Sketch briefly Sir Walter Raleigh, Peter Stuyvesant.
By whom were the following settled: Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida?
During what wars were the following battles fought: Brandywine, Great Meadows, Lundy's Lane, Antietam, Buena Vista?
Describe the battle of Quebec.
Give the cause of the War of 1812, and name an important battle fought during that war.
Name 2 presidents who have died in office; three who were assassinated.
Name the last battle of the Civil War; War of 1812; French and Indian War, and the commanders in each battle.
What president was impeached, and on what charge?
Who invented the following: magneto, telegraph, cotton gin, sewing machine, telephone, phonograph?
About this exam
The original was donated to the Bullitt County History Museum in Shepherdsville, KY. The museum's exam page shows only a scanned image. The museum says the exam was handed out as a scroll, and that pupils gathered at the county courthouse once or twice a year to take this "Common Exam." Passing could earn a scholarship to high school. The museum thinks the copy was a master sent to schools. It warns that the exam contains typesetting errors, such as "eneeavor" for "endeavor" in the spelling list, and that the exam should not be used to compare students then and now. The question text below follows the museum's own wording, as reprinted on its answers page, and the Modern Survival Blog transcription. The two match on every item checked. The bracketed notes the museum added to Geography Q5 ("[Ottoman Empire]", "[Serbia today]", "[early spelling of Romania]") have been removed. "Limit Monarchy" (Civil Government Q1) appears this way in both copies and is kept. The scan includes a spelling list (CSM says it has 40 words) that is not in any text transcription found, so it is missing here. Neither copy gives the Reading or Writing tasks or a time limit. The spelling list should be added from the scan before use.
Source: Bullitt County History Museum (Bullitt County Genealogical Society) - scan of the donated original; Bullitt County History Museum - museum staff's suggested answers (each question …; Bullitt County History Museum - "Memories" page (David Strange article, The …; Modern Survival Blog, "An Eighth Grade Test From 1912" (Ken Jorgustin, 2015) - …; Christian Science Monitor, Andrew Averill, 12 Aug 2013 (context).
The museum publishes its own suggested answers: Bullitt County History Museum answers ↗.