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Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

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Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#51

Post by tokenadult »

ddol wrote: post #43
jbermudes wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The test is from 1869, but the stamp indicates that it was placed in the archive in 1899.

It's fascinating to think that in 1869 there were Transatlantic telegraph links. One could have sat this entrance exam in London while it was being sat in MA simultaneously, with Questions/Answers transmitted digitally.

What was the bandwidth of that telegraph link? And what were the clerical procedures for passing message text from a sending client to the telegraph operator at the sending end, and from the the telegraph operator to the recipient at the receiving end? Just how simultaneous was communication after the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was laid? Much faster than any ship, surely, but fast enough (and inexpensive enough for most people?) for cheating on a Harvard entrance examination?

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#52

Post by jules »

oskarkv wrote: post #24
Gatsky wrote: post #14

Hurray for algebra! Still as relevant today as it was a hundred years ago. Are programming languages going to be equally durable?

That's the goal of Arc. :)

It would have to become relevant first though. I conjecture that no programming language alive now is going to be relevant in 100 years. If you look at the history of programming languages, this is not at all a bold conjecture.

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#53

Post by tokenadult »

Gatsky wrote: post #14

Hurray for algebra! Still as relevant today as it was a hundred years ago. Are programming languages going to be equally durable?

Algebra reached its current durable form after centuries of development out of the verbally posed form it was in in the writings of Al-Khwarizmi. So hurrah for letters for unknown quantities (and the convention that "variables" are represented by one set of letters, usually, while "constants" are represented by a distinct set of letters, usually) and hurrah for explicit symbols for arithmetic operations. (I would also say hurrah for Descartes and analytic geometry, which does a lot to make algebra more comprehensible for many visual learners.)

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#54

Post by tokenadult »

wicknicks wrote: post #21

Interesting. The Math section with today's GRE exam makes the latter seem like a kindergarten exam.

Graduate students from China (in such humanities subjects as philosophy) derided the GRE main test mathematics section (used as one element of admission decisions for graduate schools in the United States) as a test of "junior high math," which it literally is in terms of the standard curriculum of urban schools in China. The GRE subject test in mathematics, used largely but not exclusively for admission into graduate programs in mathematics, actually has some undergraduate mathematics content, but the mathematics section of the general GRE includes only mathematics that any well educated person who completed secondary schooling ought to know.

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#55

Post by tokenadult »

gaius wrote: post #37
andjones wrote: post #16

This test shows what was valued - at least at Harvard - in the late 1800's. Greek and Latin were more important, as well as knowledge of geography of the known world and algebra and geometry. Algebra and geometry, I feel, are still important today (see SAT). Greek and Latin are less important, although they are still in the background. The humanities have changed and we now learn about more modern authors / topics an…

The point of Latin was that it is the root of many European languages, so by studying it early on in education, you would later more easily be able to pick up one of its descendents.

However it is much more efficient to take a course in etymology (word roots) focused on the subset of Greek and Latin used in word formation in the major European languages (Romance or not) than it is to learn a lot of Latin and Greek just for that side benefit. I by no means disparage learning languages--I majored in Chinese and studied two forms of Greek in university, among several other languages--but if the goal is learning etymology, today there are royal roads for that purpose that can be traveled by people who never practice reading Latin or Greek texts.

The general observation is that learning ANY language eases learning the third and the fourth language, because the earliest experience in learning a non-native language reminds the speaker that each language has arbitrary features that must be distinguished from those of the learner's native language(s). Within the ambit of that general principle, learning cognate languages (for example, German for an English speaker) is easier that learning non-cognate languages (for example, Malay for a Chinese speaker).

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#56

Post by noonespecial »

ddol wrote: post #43
jbermudes wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The test is from 1869, but the stamp indicates that it was placed in the archive in 1899.

It's fascinating to think that in 1869 there were Transatlantic telegraph links. One could have sat this entrance exam in London while it was being sat in MA simultaneously, with Questions/Answers transmitted digitally.

First contact was made in 1858, but the cable failed in mere days. The first reliable link happened in 1866. It ran about half "telegraph speed", which was pretty darn slow. I'd hate to connect to that bbs.

It's a fascinating read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#57

Post by eagleal »

The Latin part (1st one) is very simple. The Latin high-school final exam here in Italy is way more difficult (you translate, analyze and discuss Latin authors from their original texts, eg. Cicero is tricky).

As schrototo said the greek part should be as easy.

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#58

Post by Goladus »

mjs wrote: post #42
nanijoe wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you find bizarre, having to write an essay or the choice of topics? This type of question is pretty much standard on (high school) English exams in many commonwealth countries, even today.

The choice of topics, really. This was for (I think) an entrance exam, and so the only topic I think even vaguely suitable to write about without forewarning is "English country life in the 18th century." The Battle of Blenheim and the character of Rachel Lady Castlewood can only be attempted if you already know about those (very specific) things, and duelling is broad, and odd.

I don't know whether this is an entrance exam and that would definitely change things.

But either way, according to Wikipedia, dueling was a part of British culture though the early 1800s, the last fatal duel was in 1856. Meaning a typical candidate from an elite family in 1899 will have a living relative who has probably at least read public discourse about dueling, and there's a good chance the subject has come up at least once during primary education.

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#59

Post by watchandwait »

yequalsx wrote: post #19
jclaassen wrote: post #7

Am I just being an engineer, or is the math way easier than the rest of this test?

I teach mathematics at a community college and I can tell you that for most people the mathematics on the test is hard. Our course with the largest number of students is on arithmetic and the students just don't comprehend fractions. They can't even comprehend how to convert a decimal to a percent. Especially when given a problem like: Conver 0.25% to a decimal. That really throws them off.

I've heard from folks in retail finance that large segments of American society do not understand the concept of an interest rate. Everything is just "what is my monthly payment?"

Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]

#60

Post by leif »

jclaassen wrote: post #7

Am I just being an engineer, or is the math way easier than the rest of this test?

This is not the entrance exam for math majors, it's the entrance exam for everyone. The math is much more difficult than the entrance exams I took, though mine did offer sections on a broader set of topics, if you were familiar, to let you place out of courses.
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