TripWillis
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Posts posted by TripWillis
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I promised myself I would not look up anything because it will just make me feel worse. There is nothing I can do about it now, so I need to just move on and focus elsewhere.
Amen to this BTW...
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I didn't find TripWillis's joke very funny. Mainly because there may have been a question on the exam that could have been Lord of the Rings trivia. And at one point I interpreted it as such.
I think I answered Seamus Heaney for that question.
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Well, being that we signed multiple times on the test that we wouldn't reveal anything that was on the test, I don't think that's a good idea.
Okay, but you guys gotta keep this secret...
It's almost all Lord of the Rings trivia. Probably about 40% Silmarillion and Hobbit and 60% on LOTR, split between the three books.
- Timshel and wreckofthehope
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When I took it last year, the theory was pretty extensive. Both the ETS and the study guides made it seem like it would just be "spot the term and link to the writer" type stuff (very easy), but the kind of questions I got was more like "Who is such and such responding to in such and such argument" or "what is the primary argument of such and such's essay on topic z." I had a ton of theory (four semesters, both historical and contemporary) under my belt when I took the test, but it still kicked my ass. And no, it's not all C20 either -- they hit you with a good chunk of C18 and C19 theory as well. But that stuff's generally easier, and more along the lines of "spot the phrase." Ie. You'll need to know Arnold, Pater, Eliot, Coleridge's theory stuff. I can't remember the specific question, but there was a nasty one about Baudrillard's Simulacra. Grim.
I had a ton of US on mine, but I don't remember it being more or less than British. There was a surprising amount of US contemporary poetry (something I generally don't touch) and a good chunk of international stuff too. Also, a lot of really contemporary US fiction (meaning like 1980s>)
Wow, that's weird. Not as much world lit on mine as I expected. GG Marquez made an appearance.
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If we're being truthful here, I think there were under 15 questions about American Literature. Do others agree?
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So, considering how many of you state that studying for the Subject Test proved unhelpful (at least as regards the test itself), would you still recommend studying for it, or not? I'm sure you'll agree that studying anything is productive and useful, but would it negatively affect me if I didn't study for the exam specifically?
If I have time, I'll definitely study for it; the problem is that the next year and a half is going to be quite hectic for me: studying abroad in France, attending a national conference (hopefully), taking more rigorous and theoretically informed coursework (via independent studies), etc. This of course is excluding the hell that is applying for PhD programs.
What say you?
I would focus on prosody, literary terms, verse forms, stanza forms, etc. and, rather than focusing on identification, focus on reading about 10 well-known poems from each literary period of note in-depth so that you can really familiarize yourself with antiquated language and periodic style. I think if you focus more on style and structure, it will help you. For instance, I was able to nail John Donne and John Milton just by style, even though I'm not super familiar with either of those works. I could just tell it was them.
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After perusing this topic, I'm even more nervous for this test. Fuck.
Don't be too nervous. My nervous racing mind really worked against me during the test, as around question 124 I started to get mentally exhausted and overwhelmed due to the difficulty and my inability to "speed analyze" for more than an hour at a time. It began to cripple my confidence, even though I was doing alright (I thought) for the first half.
(Seriously, if they wanted to reflect actual graduate life, they'd give us a break every 45 minutes to check facebook and pour a cup of coffee and eat a few potato chips.)
Just remember: it is no mystery that this test is hard, and therefore, there's no reason to be nervous. I wish I had told myself this.
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You could try every school outside the heartland. Marxist criticism is highly influential pretty much everywhere.
- runonsentence and Phil Sparrow
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I guess if it's "recommended," you might as well just send it. That indicates to me that a poor GRE Subject score probably won't hurt you with them.
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"In addition, applicants for the Ph.D. program in English and American literature must also submit results of the GRE subject test in English"
That's from the NYU English Dept. website... so...
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Progress:
LoRs approached and confirmed
Writing Sample and SoPs all in advanced revision stages; meeting professors and letter writers later this month for more feedback
GRE Revised Done (and very happy with!)
Subject Test Done
Transcripts requested and sent
Applications started and saved
CV updated
I'm basically on the home stretch at this point.
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It was pretty much exactly what I expected: a total trainwreck.
I'm just glad that I survived. I've always known that this test isn't going to be the star of my application, nor should it be the star of anyone's application. But, my studying did help because I was able to nail all the stanza and verse form and literary term questions. Those were points I wouldn't have had before.
Overall, I just have to say that this test had very, very long passages with lots of dependent questions. I'll admit, that was very frustrating. It was too hard to get through it all and I left a bunch of questions unanswered (though I definitely at least scanned the whole thing). I don't understand what the purpose is of making sure someone can analyze literature quickly. Taking the test today maybe reinforced my opinion that schools are probably not taking this as seriously as we all think, especially for those of us focusing on American Literature. There were like 0 American Lit questions! I'm not even exaggerating!
What's Your Focus?
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
African-American literature (particularly Queer Black Studies), dirty realism, literature and the environment (particularly the redefinition of the nature/human divide in the postmodern and globalized era).