Part of an English test first administered in 1913 was published by the University of Cambridge to mark the 110th anniversary of its first Cambridge English examinations.
Only three students took the Certificate of Proficiency in English, which at the time cost them £3 and took 12 hours to complete.
It involved translation, dictation and phonetic transcription and was taken by those who wished to teach the subject.
6.1 million people now take Cambridge English exams each year.
The original Certificate of Proficiency in English is now known as the C2 Proficiency Exam and is the highest Cambridge English qualification according to the Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
One of the questions faced by the candidates in 1913 was made public.
Spoiler alert: find the answers at the end of this article.
Francesca Woodward, Executive Director for English at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, said: “From just three candidates, we are now opening doors to millions of people each year to learn and teach English.”
“The historical documents from our archives paint a fascinating picture of how much has changed in English learning at Cambridge.
“The original papers represented a revolution in English language assessment because they set clear goals and emphasized ability to use the language.”
The question from the first-ever C2 Proficiency exam paper – which is preserved in the archives of Cambridge University Press & Assessment – tested students’ abilities to recognize a divided infinitive and use the correct tense, the Daily Mail first reported.
To mark its anniversary, the university asked people, “Do you have what it takes to answer a 110-year-old exam question in English?”
The answers are below – with the caveat that “opinions about what ‘proper’ English is have changed a lot in the last 110 years”.
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