Could you have gotten into Harvard in 1869?

<p>Probably already posted, but I thought this was cool:</p>

<p><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/education/harvardexam.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/education/harvardexam.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I’m not white - therefore it’s a forgone conclusion of no :c.</p>

<p>Probably not, I would have completely failed the Latin/Greek grammar section.</p>

<p>No, but if I were born 10 years later I might have had a chance at Radcliffe College.</p>

<p>Absolutely not…</p>

<p>Hmm… I’ve never taken Greek, but had it been 1869, I probably would have stuck out my Latin past Latin 3 and therefore could have done that part.</p>

<p>The rest didn’t look too difficult… The math… though tedious was doable.</p>

<p>I mean if you really wanted to, you could sit there and complete a good bit of it. And of course if you had an 1896 education, you probably would be geared more towards those types of questions.</p>

<p>However, with today’s education system… I would say no. Most people don’t take Greek and Latin is also a rarity. Only one public high school in my state offers it.</p>

<p>Besides some of that maths, I would have failed that exam hard</p>

<p>This was geared toward mainly prep schools. If you went to a prep school during those times you had to take Latin and Greek. You also had a lot of time for school. So the working class and poor are out. </p>

<p>You would only go to Harvard in 1869 if you came from a very wealthy “old money” WASP family. So that would today be less than 0.5% of the population.</p>

<p>The math is trivial, but I don’t know much Greek or Latin. Of course, I’m sure I would have learned Greek or Latin in prep school, and probably would have passed.</p>

<p>And let’s see, 1860’s, my family would have been in Poland, fighting Russian imperialism. No time for Harvard entrance exams.</p>

<p>Math was a joke.</p>

<p>I haven’t taken Latin in 5 years, and I don’t remember a thing.</p>

<p>So guys, if I have £50 12s. 5d. gaining 8% simple interest for 5 years, 2 months and 3 days, how much do I end up with?</p>

<p>Seriously, someone answer that. Since the math was apparently so simple.</p>

<p>And when you’re done, give me the cube root of .0093 to 5 decimals, obviously without using a calculator.</p>

<p>Well considering the major difference in education… I supposed one could do a series of AVT calculations for the cube root. And the trig, had to remember a sine chart.</p>

<p>Cube root, oh my gosh. :|</p>

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<p>I don’t know what 12s. 5d. is, but simple interest is something usually taught in 5th grade… I assume the interest is yearly, and assume 2 months and 3 days is 1/6 + 3/365 of a year, so it would be 50 + .08<em>50</em>(5 + 1/6 + 3/365), which is about 20.7.</p>

<p>The cube root one is 0.21029. If you don’t know how to find cube roots by hand, consult this: [Math</a> Forum - Ask Dr. Math](<a href=“Classroom Resources - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics”>Classroom Resources - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics)</p>

<p>These were given as exercises in 8th grade… the methodology is about as simple as long division, it’s just something that maybe isn’t as commonly taught.</p>

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<p>that would be a problem</p>

<p>50 pounds 12 shillings 5 pence</p>

<p>Dear god, I hope I’m not the only one that thinks it’d be torture to have to do that simple math without using a calculator.
The Geometry & Algebra sections are the only ones that look do-able to me.</p>

<p>But either way, I wouldn’t be able to get in, I’m Hispanic.</p>