MIT Entrance exam (1869)

It's worth noting that MIT didn't really become an academically prestigious institution until the 1940-50's. Before the second world war it was largely a Engineering and technical college and certainly wasn't one of the top 10 institutions in the country.<p>More specifically, at the time of this exam the school was only ~8 years old and engineering wasn't considered the prestigious career it is today.<p>The round up of federal funding in the 1940's and 50's is really interesting to read about as it completely transformed the school and in a broader sense transformed higher education in the US as a whole.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Massachusetts_In...</a>

Odd. One of the English questions asks "Who is Count Bismark?" The answer given is, "Count (Otto von) Bismark (1815-1898) was creator and first chancellor of the German Empire (1871-1890)." But this is the MIT Entrance Exam of 1869-70, one year <i>before</i> Count Bismark became the first chancellor. Either the year of the exam is wrong, or it was expected that Bismark was going to become the next ruler of Germany.

link to IIT joint entrance exam (JEE) <a href="http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/98820-IIT-JEE-Mathematics-Paper" rel="nofollow">http://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/98820-IIT-JEE-Mathematics-Pape...</a>

Isn't that kind of high school level algebra?<p>I thought we were all supposed to have been dumbed down compared to our illustrious forefathers?

Weird. It was apparently easier to get into MIT in the late 19th century than it was to pass the eighth grade.

Answers: <a href="http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/exam/algebra-answers.html" rel="nofollow">http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/exam/algebra-answ...</a>

It's usual exercises for school in Russia. I don't find any difficult problems. I mean all except English.

I would love to see Göttingen's or Cambridge's entrance exams of the early 20th century, if there was an exam for these institutions.

the geometry section is much harder:<p><a href="http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/exam/geometry.html" rel="nofollow">http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/exam/geometry.htm...</a>

Am I the only one who was struck by how much that exam looks like something produced by LaTeX?<p><a href="http://bm98.posterous.com/did-they-have-latex-in-1869" rel="nofollow">http://bm98.posterous.com/did-they-have-latex-in-1869</a>

The Math sections are about the level of high school entrance exam in many countries in Asia (for students who just finish grade 9 equivalents applying to high school).<p>It is only a bit harder than SAT I Math, in my opinion. I've always wondered why SAT I Math is so easy--a good middle school graduate in Asia would have aced it. If anyone here can comment/point to references on the matter, I will appreciate it.

Much easier than the 8th grade examination from 1895 posted the other day. <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959690" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959690</a>

anyone have a more recent copy? took me 15 min.

I already feel like a MIT Graduate :D :D