The final examinations are conducted by a State Board of Examiners, who are appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, from the following classes:--the State Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent, who is President of the Board, the Principal of another Normal School, two County or Borough Superintendents from the First District, and the Principal of this Normal School. Each student must receive four votes out of the five in order to pass the examination, and to graduate. The final examination occurs about two weeks before Commencement,[2] the date being fixed by the State Superintendent. The examination is almost wholly in writing, and lasts two or three days. Regular graduates who have continued their studies for two years (_i.e._ have completed either the Elementary or Scientific Course), and have practised their profession for two years in the Common Schools of the State, and who have presented to the Faculty and Board of Examiners a certificate of good moral character and skill in the Art of Teaching from the Board or Boards of Directors by whom they were employed, countersigned by the proper County Superintendent, receive further diplomas, constituting them Masters in the Course in which they graduated, and conferring upon them one of the following degrees: Master of the Elements (M.E.); Master of the Sciences (M.S.). These diplomas confer upon their holders the right to teach the subjects therein named, in the public schools of Pennsylvania, without further examination. It is also the duty of the Pennsylvania Normal Schools to grant State certificates to such teachers in the Common Schools of the State who make application for the same, and who fulfil the following conditions: i. Each applicant must be twenty-one years of age, and must have taught in the Common Schools of the State during three successive years. ii. Each must present certificates of moral character, and skill in practical teaching. iii. The examination must be either in the subjects of the Elementary or Scientific Course, and must be taken at the time of the Annual Examination of the Normal School at which application is made. iv. Each applicant is required to present an original Thesis on some educational subject. The School year is usually forty-two weeks, and is divided into two sessions--a winter session of about twenty-eight weeks from August to March, and a summer of fourteen weeks, beginning with the end of March. The usual charge for the Winter Session is $140 (about £28), and for the Summer Session $70 (about £14). By a recent Act of the Legislature the following appropriations are made by the State to Normal students and graduates. i. Each student over seventeen years of age who shall sign a paper declaring his intention to teach in the Common Schools of the State shall receive the sum of fifty cents (about 2_s._) per week toward defraying the expenses of tuition and boarding.