Q 01/05

The words 'degree' and 'graduate' both come from which Latin word, meaning 'step'?

A) Gradus

B) Cursus

C) Passus

D) Scala

Answer · why

A) Gradus

Ceremonies for graduating students date to the first European universities in the twelfth century.

Q 02/05

The square academic cap gets its common nickname from its resemblance to a tool used by whom?

A) Carpenters

B) Bricklayers

C) Sailors

D) Bakers

Answer · why

B) Bricklayers

Masons hold mortar on a flat board; the cap probably began in Italy no later than 1520 and may descend from the clerical biretta.

Q 03/05

In American commencements, undergraduates typically begin with the tassel on which side of the cap?

A) Left

B) Front

C) Right

D) Back

Answer · why

C) Right

They swap it to the left, individually or all at once, when the degree is conferred.

Q 04/05

In what year was the Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume adopted in the US?

A) 1855

B) 1875

C) 1915

D) 1895

Answer · why

D) 1895

Gardner Cotrell Leonard, whose Albany firm made academic dress, advised the meeting.

Q 05/05

How many velvet bands appear on the sleeves of an American doctoral gown?

A) Three

B) One

C) Two

D) Four

Answer · why

A) Three

Doctors may also swap the mortarboard for a four-, six- or eight-sided velvet tam.