Anyone know what the time limit on the test is?
Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
81–90 of 99 posts
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#82Original article here is worth reading: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/remembering-wh... Notes that... "of the 210 candidates who took its 1870 test the June before, 185 were admitted." Also, according to the NYT, this is the 1869 exam, not the 1899 exam (maybe it was added to the library in 1899, hence the stamp?)
It also says 1969 on the bottom of the last page
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#83What is truly amazing is how easy it is to find those answers today. With Google, Wolframalpha, etc. retrieving information is cheap both time wise and money wise. Perhaps a test could be made today that would test a person's ability to search for obscure knowledge and comprehend it. A person would have to determine which sources are trustworthy and what conclusion could be made from the information received. Is this…
I think we're moving from single answer knowledge to multi-answer understanding of the matter. This involves being able to absorb large amounts of information, rather than being able to find obscure information. We probably need more knowledge than ever before, but it has more breadth and less specificity. A historian might be asked to discuss why Spain and Portugal were the first of the European countries to build a…
One of the best examples for an exam like this was the final exam in history at my high school. Half of it was a few class-wide topics of 20th century history. The other half was anything of the students choosing, I've chosen the policy of Perestroika of Gorbatschov and the downfall of the Sowjet Union.
The exam was simply a text snippet (dunno anymore whether newspaper or something more official) from the time about the reunion of the two Germans, and the assignment was to put it into greater context and connect it with other things that happened at the time, hereby explaining this particular incident. The questions for the general part were of similar spirit.
It's been one of the best exams I've ever had. Not just because I've got a straight A, but also because I've actually _learned_ something while writing it: It forced me to think about the knowledge I've already amassed from a different pov for two hours, greatly increasing my understanding of it.
I think every exam should be like that: If you haven't learned anything new while writing/having it, it's likely just pointless rendition of stuff learned by heart. And frankly, computers just beat humans at that ;-). Of course, doing this requires good teachers and quite an investment of time from them.
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
Slow, but amazing at the same time. I love thinking about things like this. I remember someone calling my old BBS, back in the early 90s, with a TDD to see what would happen. That explained why I had been seeing 300bps callers when I was used to seeing 1200bps-2400bps. I recall one holiday starting the download of a picture of a bear. I then went and had Thanksgiving dinner with my family for about two hours. I arriv…
I completely remember those gifs coming in one agonizing line after the other, except mine were... uuh.. Also bears.
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#85This 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.
Here are the reasons why one would learn Latin.
1. Converse with the great ideas of the past directly (definitely still true.)
2. Enrich one's mind by learning a superior language (like learning Haskell to write better PHP...speak better English by learning Latin. Still true.)
3. Learn a language found everywhere (not so true anymore.)
4. Learn the language of law, medicine and theology (sort of still true.)
5. Learn a foundation to learn Romance languages more quickly, as has been said.
6. Learn it just because it's there and a Renaissance Man has to take a crack at everything. Will be true as long as the language exists!
Finally, I strongly object to the idea that the purpose of Latin is to be "elite." Back then, anyone who went to school would at least learn a little Latin. So, you can say the purpose of having school is to be elite but not the purpose of Latin, because Latin wasn't taught to a subset of children until the 20th century. Today, Latin is taught to anyone who wants to learn, regardless of whether they go to school. My wife is a Latin tutor and about half of her students are below the poverty line or minorities -- and several adults are also receiving instruction from her.
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?"
I talked to a fellow CS major Thursday evening and he said he hated all the math involved with the CS program, and that he' failed Pre-Calculus & Trigonometry I three times . This came out after he was complaining about his discrete computational structures class being "nothing but proofs". If you don't like the math, why get a CS degree? Get a physical science degree and learn how to code on your own time.
Physical science probably won't be much better if you don't like math. Remember, "The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics". Heck, be a humanities major and learn to code, it's not like computers only work for people with technical degrees (though I suspect the training in rigorous thinking helps).
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#87Tuition was probably also around $100 back then. My how we've 'progressed'.
According to [1] tuition was $150 in 1900. According to [2] average annual wage was $450. Assuming women in the work place was a lot less common I will bump it to $500. So about 30% of household income? Harvard costs $34,976 in 2010. According to [3] median household income in 2009? is $49,777. So 70% of median income. Prices as a percentage of average income has certainly gotten steeper but you cannot argue that thi…
It is under-appreciated how open Harvard, Yale, etc, have gotten in modern times. While tuition at Harvard might be 70% of the median annual income today, someone whose family makes $50k/year pays nothing in tuition. At Yale between $60k-$120k, tuition is held at about 10% of family income. Full tuition doesn't phase in until well over $200k.
My brother is at Yale, and his classmates are by and large the children of upper middle class professionals. Certainly kids who've gotten a good shake in life, but mostly people who got in because of good SAT scores and extracurriculars, not donations or political connections.
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#88Original article here is worth reading: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/remembering-wh... Notes that... "of the 210 candidates who took its 1870 test the June before, 185 were admitted." Also, according to the NYT, this is the 1869 exam, not the 1899 exam (maybe it was added to the library in 1899, hence the stamp?)
It also says 1969 on the bottom of the last page
Erm - 1869 :)
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#89I found some Cambridge exam papers from 1899 a while back. I don't have scans, but there's a few of the more interesting/mysterious questions at: http://beebo.org/lately/2001-07-10_cambridge.html I quite like the 2.5 hour "English Essay" for bizarreness: Write an English Essay on one of the following subjects: 1. English country life in the 18th century. 2. The battle of Blenheim. 3. The character of Rachel Lady Cast…
Until recently, the Oxford All Souls entrance exam had one paper which was a single word that you had to write about for three hours.
I gather that they've dropped it now, I assume because it confirmed for many people that the main thing an Oxford education prepared you for was bullshitting on topics you know nothing about.
(Full disclosure: I went to Oxford)
Re: Harvard's 1899 Entrance Exam [pdf]
#90Earlier 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 guess it's loosely equivalent to an essay topic today on:
1. English city life in the 19th century. 2. The Battle of the Somme 3. The character of Lady Chatterley 4. Apartheid
I'd expect that whilst they might seem absurdly dated 100 years from now many contemporary British Cambridge applicants today could confidently write essays on (2), a fair few on (3). I'd be really happy if (4) seemed like an odd subject in 100 years' time.