The scholarship examination was a very thorough assessment of student academic
performance generally featuring a few different papers including Arithmetic,
English, Geography and History. The marks of the successful candidates show
that students had to be well equipped with an all round knowledge of those
subjects which were prescribed for the Fifth Class in primary school. Students
had to possess more than average ability to answer examination questions intelligently
and had to have been taught well.
This examination was very important to each student as it determined a student's
career chances. If they passed, they could attend a grammar or catholic school
or school administered by Christian Brothers. Failure meant that the student
finished his/her schooling and looked for work.