Humans
PUBLISHED
School and university exams caused nerves and anxiety for even the most prepared of students even way back in history. A necessary part of getting a job you wanted, those wishing to become English language teachers in 1913 had to sit a very long Cambridge exam. Now, to celebrate 110 years of the Cambridge English exam, a question has been released – but can you solve it?
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Back in June 1913, only three candidates, hoping to become English language teachers, took the first Certificate of Proficiency in English exam, which cost £3 to sit. The grueling exam took 12 hours and included dictation, translation, and phonetic transcription sections. Now, this exam is known as the C2 Proficiency, and Cambridge English exams are taken by over 6 million people every year as proof of their English language ability.
“From just three candidates, we now open doors for millions of people every year to learn and teach English. The historical papers from our archives paint a fascinating picture of how much has changed when it comes to learning English with Cambridge,” commented Francesca Woodward, Managing Director for English at Cambridge, in a statement.
One hundred and ten years after it was first sat, the C2 Proficiency exam is now the highest-level Cambridge English qualification. While they have changed significantly in this period, the exam still focuses on communication skills.
Now for the tricky bit, can you work out the answers to this question?
.png "Cambridge English exam from 1913")
In case you want to test your skills further, check out either Harvard or MIT’s entrance exam questions from 1869, but just remember, highly intelligent people are slower to answer questions.
And for the answers, check out what the BBC thinks they were looking for.
