Me, too.

I went to school, read lots of books, seen lots of movies and TV, talked to lots of people, done lots of things.

I'm sure you have, too.

Therefore, I'm sure, with all this knowledge we've obtained, that we wouldn't have the slightest problem with a mere 8th grade final exam, right?  You can already picture a few of the questions:

History: Our country won its independence from England after the:
A. Revolutionary War
B. Civil War
C. War of 1812
D. Spanish-American War

Math: A box 2' x 3' x 4' holds how many cubic feet?
A. 8
B. 12
C. 24
D. 36

You know; not real difficult questions, but not easy, either.  Typical 8th grade stuff.

But hey, no sense in just talking about it, let's take the test!  A simple 8th grade final exam from Salina, Kansas.

1895.

       Grammar (Time, one hour)
       1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
       2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have
       no modifications.
       3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
       4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give
       Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
       5. Define Case. Illustrate each Case.
       6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks
       of Punctuation.
       7. - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and
       show therein that you understand the practical use of
       the rules of grammar.

       ———————————————————
       Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
       1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of
       Arithmetic.
       2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft.
       wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
       3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it
       worth at 50 cts. bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
       4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is
       the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months
       at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
       5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
       6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18
       days at 7 percent.
       7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16
       ft. long at $20 per metre?
       8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace)
       at 10 percent.
       9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are,
       the distance around which is 640 rods?
       10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a
       Receipt.

       ———————————————————-
       US History (Time, 45 minutes)
       1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
       2. Give an account of the discovery of America by
       Columbus.
       3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary
       War.
       4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
       5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
       6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the
       Rebellion.
       7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton,
       Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
       8. Name events connected with the following dates:
       1607 1620 1800 1849 1865.

       ———————————————————
       Orthography (Time, one hour)
       1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic,
       orthography, etymology, syllabication?
       2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
       3. What are the following, and give examples of each:
       Trigraph,  sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters,
       linguals?
       4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
       5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'.
       Name two exceptions under each rule.
       6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling.
       Illustrate each.
       7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection
       with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non,
       inter, mono, sup
       8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the
       following, and name the sign that indicates the sound:
       Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare,
       last.
       9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite,
       site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein,
       raze, raise, rays.
       10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and
       indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and
       by syllabication.

       ——————————————————
       Geography (Time, one hour)
       1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
       2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in
       Kansas?
       3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
       4. Describe the mountains of North America.
       5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa,
       Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan
       Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
       6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the
       U.S.
       7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital
       of each.
       8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific
       in the same latitude?
       9. Describe the process by which the water of the
       ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
       10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give
       inclination of the earth.

Damn, I missed one!  Everybody knows that the Gulf Stream runs UP the East Coast, therefore the Atlantic would have to be WARMER than the Pacific!  Damn!

Hope you did better,
Doc