Q 01/05

Which Latin word meaning 'step' gives English the word 'degree'?

A) Gradus

B) Cursus

C) Passus

D) Scala

Answer · why

A) Gradus

Gradus, Latin for 'step', reached English as 'degree' through Old French degré; each academic degree marks a step up the ladder of learning.

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

Bricklayers carry mortar on a flat square board called a hawk, and the flat square top of the academic cap earned it the nickname mortarboard.

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

Right is the starting side: the tassel hangs on the right of the cap until the degree is conferred, then graduates move it to the left.

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

1895 is when the Intercollegiate Commission, meeting at Columbia in New York, adopted the code; Gardner Cotrell Leonard, whose Albany firm Cotrell & L...

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

Three velvet bars cross each sleeve of the American doctoral gown, matching the velvet facings down its front; doctors may also swap the mortarboard f...