The time allowed for each question is about three quarters of an hour or an hour; for each German theme, it is as much as an hour and a half or two hours.
The questions are of a comprehensive character; e.g. Give a history of the campaign of 1813, or of the life of Alexander the Great; enumerate the rivers flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, with the principal towns situated upon each of them. The German themes are, first, a curriculum vitæ, an account of the candidate’s life, which is, however, not supposed to count in the result, and is merely for the examiner’s information; second and third, two themes on some sentence or proverb, for the first of which the examiner assists the candidate by vivâ voce questions and corrections in drawing up the preliminary outline of arrangement; for the second he is left entirely to himself.
There is a subsequent vivâ voce examination in all the subjects, drawing excepted. The candidates are taken in small classes, not exceeding seven in number, and are examined together, but not in public.
The results of the examination are considered according to the system of predicates or epithets, sometimes also called censures. The candidates’ answers are characterized as excellent (vorzüglich,) good (gut,) satisfactory (befriedigend,) insufficient (nicht hinreichend,) or unsatisfactory (ungenügend.) Numerical values are attached to each of these epithets; “excellent” is marked with 9; “unsatisfactory” counts as 1; and according to the amount of importance attached to the different subjects the marks thus given are multiplied by a higher or lower number, by 5 in one case, by 3 or by 1 in others. German, Latin, and mathematics have all the highest estimate of 5, and are each five times more important than drawing, which is marked by 1; geography, history, and French, are each valued at 3. A young man who gets the predicate “excellent,” in German, will receive 45 marks, his 9 being multiplied by 5; whereas the same predicate for history would obtain him only 15, and in drawing only 5 marks.
| German, | 5 | |
| Latin, | 5 | Total, 25. |
| Mathematics, | 5 | |
| History, | 3 | |
| Geography, | 3 | |
| French, | 3 | |
| Drawing, | 1 |
A report is then drawn up, and according to the marks or predicates, the candidates are pronounced as admissible with distinction, admissible with honor, or simply admissible; or their re-examination after six months, their re-examination after a year, or their absolute rejection, is recommended.
This report, with the candidates’ certificates, is forwarded to the supreme military examinations board at Berlin, and, if approved by them, is submitted in their quarterly report to the king; and the result, when sanctioned by him, is communicated to the respective corps.
The candidates are all informed not only of the practical result, but also of the particulars of their examinations; they are told in what subjects they have failed, and in what they have succeeded. The candidates can not, under any circumstances, try more than three times.
The young men who pass, are thus, so far as their qualification in point of knowledge is concerned, pronounced admissible to the ensign’s grade. They have of course to complete their six months’ service with the troops. Yet even when this is completed, a vacancy in the list of ensigns must be waited for, and months may pass before the aspirant receives the distinctive badge, the special Sword-knot, which marks his superiority to the corporals, and shows that he has gained the first step that leads to a commission.