The national patent diploma, in our time, seems easy to you? And that of 1955 then? Find out what was asked of students in calculus.
So, was the school level more demanding before, in the 1950s? In our time, 3rd graders pass four written tests for the national patent diploma: French, maths, history-geography and science. In 1955, children’s schooling was based on other cycles, studies lasted much shorter… But we can quite easily consider that the diploma that most resembled the current college patent was the “primary school certificate” (CEP), the famous “certificate”, replaced in 1989, which students aged 11 to 12 then had to take at school.
The certificate made it possible to assess students at the end of elementary primary education, to take stock of the acquisition of basic knowledge: writing, reading, mathematics, history-geography and applied sciences.
Pass the 1955 CEP math test
In 1955, the certificate of primary studies contained the calculation test below:
1. A farmer sells first a quarter, then a third of the chickens she has brought to market. She then sold 14 chickens:
A. How much does he have left to sell?
B. What sum will she have received when she has sold them all, knowing that, in the first sale, she sells them at 350 francs each, at the second sale at 400 francs each and at the third sale at 375 F each?
2. A garden sprinkler is turned on at 8:15 a.m. The water meter then reads 342.7 m³. At 9:30 a.m., it marks 343.825 m³:
A. What is the throughput of this device per minute? Per hour ?
B. Knowing that a cubic meter of city water costs 9.50 francs, how much would watering cost if the device operates from 8h15 min to 1l/h?
C. How long would it take to spread with a 1.2 dal hand sprinkler, the same amount of water, if to pump water from the well, carry it and spread it. it takes 8 minutes per watering can? Calculate the value of labor at the rate of 120 F per hour.
A mental calculation test was also included, here it is
1. A postman travels 12.5 km in the morning and 8.25 km in the evening. How far does he travel?
2. What is the price of 19 exercise books at 35 francs?
3. A bus leaves at 7:10 a.m. and arrives at 9:02 a.m. How long is the journey?
4. I spent 2/5 of what I had on sandals. I have 2,100 francs left. What is the price of the sandals?
5. A triangular field is 75 m2 in area and 20 m high. What is the length of its base?
Answers
1. Answers: 10 chickens; 9,050 F.
2. Responses: 15 l per minute; 900 liters per hour; 24 francs; 27h36 min; CHF 3,312