A few generations ago, a junior matriculation (Grade 12) meant instant employment, and those who endured to complete senior matriculation were considered the academic crème de la crème. They had to weather the stressful Grade 13 departmental examinations, those two and-a-half-hour sittings that determined an entire year’s work.
- Toronto Star, July 2017
From 1948-1967 in order to pass high school chemistry, your grade was based solely on the province-wide exam. What did Ontario high school chemistry students need to know 60 years ago? On the next two pages check out a scan of one of the original final exams. It is a booklet of four small pages. Students were not given a periodic table and hand-held (pocket) calculators would not be around for another decade. 1958-exam-printable.pdf
And for those who have always wondered, the “13” in our name is from Ontario Grade 13, which ended in 1988. It was replaced by Ontario Academic Credits (OAC), which were phased out in 2003. Now in Ontario, high school ends with grade 12.
