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Exam papers – school and university, 1949-55

In the 1950s, the usual route for pupils at Edinburgh Academy who aspired to qualify as solicitors in Scotland, was to sit the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board School Certificate at age 16/17 and then to sit the Scottish Higher Leaving Certificate at age 17/18, in order to gain qualification for entrance to the University of Edinburgh for the combined degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. The first two years of the university course were full-time study, then students were simultaneously indentured to a firm of Edinburgh solicitors for the next three years. This involved attending university classes from 9 am until 10 or 11 am during term-time, working in the office until 4 pm or 5 pm, and then attending one or two further university classes. After three years, students graduated Master of Arts; after a further two years, they graduated Bachelor of Laws. Further details are available on this website under ‘Balfour+Manson history’ at pages 45-46. The following are the exam papers which Ian sat from 1949 to 1955. Looking at them, now he realizes how much he has forgotten over the intervening years – he certainly could not pass these papers now. The results for the Oxford and Cambridge Certificate are briefly noted at ‘1949, English Composition’, page 2.

 

 

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1949 English book – Chaucer
1949 English composition
♦ 1949 English history
♦ 1949 English language
♦ 1949 French composition
♦ 1949 German composition
♦ 1949 German translation
♦ 1949 History – growth of USA
♦ 1949 Latin I
♦ 1949 Latin IIChaucer
♦ 1949 Mathematics I
♦ 1949 Mathematics II
♦ 1949 New Testament – Acts
♦ 1949 New Testament – Matthew
♦ 1949 Shakespeare – Hamlet
♦ 1950 Arithmetic
♦ 1950 English composition
♦ 1950 English interpretation
♦ 1950 English literature
♦ 1950 French comprehension
♦ 1950 French translation into English
♦ 1950 French translation into French
♦ 1950 German aural, instructions
♦ 1950 German aural, questions
♦ 1950 German translation into English
♦ 1950 German translation into German
♦ 1950 History
♦ 1950 Latin translation into English
♦ 1950 Latin translation into Latin
♦ 1950 Mathematics I
♦ 1950 Mathematics II
♦ 1951 British history I
♦ 1951 British history II
♦ 1951 Geography I
♦ 1951 Geography II
♦ 1952 Constitutional law I
pythagoras♦ 1952 Constitutional law II
♦ 1952 Jurisprudence I
♦ 1952 Jurisprudence II
♦ 1952 Latin I
♦ 1952 Latin I re-sit
♦ 1952 Latin II
♦ 1952 Latin II re-sit
♦ 1952 Public international law
♦ 1953 Civil law I
♦ 1953 Civil law II
♦ 1953 Moral philosophy I
♦ 1953 Moral philosophy II
♦ 1954 Mercantile law I
♦ 1954 Mercantile law II
♦ 1954 Scots law I
♦ 1954 Scots law II
♦ 1955 Conveyancing I
♦ 1955 Conveyancing II
♦ 1955 Evidence and pleading
♦ 1955 Forensic medicine
♦ 1955 International private law