Vertigo23

How did you score on the practice tests? In instances where you lost points, was it because of vocabulary deficiency or something else? Phil Sparrow is dead on: a test is a game, and you need to focus on beating it. Poor performance doesn't mean you're a bad person, or your MA is worthless, or whatever. It means you haven't figured the game out--you haven't studied it on its own (arbitrary and irrelevant) terms.

How did you score on the practice tests? In instances where you lost points, was it because of vocabulary deficiency or something else? Phil Sparrow is dead on: a test is a game, and you need to focus on beating it. Poor performance doesn't mean you're a bad person, or your MA is worthless, or whatever. It means you haven't figured the game out--you haven't studied it on its own (arbitrary and irrelevant) terms.

These days, everyone is expected to have a strong familiarity with "theory," regardless of period specialization. Because of that, and because the job market is geared toward period specialists, you'll probably want to gravitate toward some historical period eventually. That being said, the degree to which "theory" is read and applied in departments varies a great deal. You can discover a department's theoretical leanings relatively quickly by perusing their website. Take a look at course descriptions if you can find them. I've heard positive and negative things about Berkeley's rhetoric program: it's theory heavy, but one instructor I corresponded with said it didn't focus enough on professionalization. It'll take time to research programs that are right for you, but it's time well spent.