Need Some GRE Lit Advice (any past test takers?)

[unræd]

 between ETS and test prep companies

 

There's a difference?

[Dr. Old Bill]

I don't remember a heightened amount of POE, but I seem to remember at least one question on Poe...

 

Am I contributing to this discussion in a productive way?

 

Nevermor...I mean...nevermind.

[Waco-Waco]

By the by, where did you guys find online practice tests? I've only managed to find that one practice test on the ETS website. Am I missing something? Thanks. 

[screamingacrossthesky]

By the by, where did you guys find online practice tests? I've only managed to find that one practice test on the ETS website. Am I missing something? Thanks. 

 

 

There is a practice test in the back of the Princeton Review book, but you can also find a few more (now quite old) ETS exams on the web.  I'm not sure which exam is currently available on the ETS site, but if you just do a Google search for forms GR9564, GR0764, and/or GR9964,  you should be able to find a few more in PDF form.  

 

ETA: I remembered an old post on here with a few of these tests: http://ge.tt/6hi9L7u?c

Edited August 11, 2015 by slipperydevil

[Waco-Waco]

Ah great, thanks very much! 

[drownsoda]

I studied for the GRE for about a month, and took it in November of last year. I was simultaneously working on my applications at that point, so I was a mental disaster. The GRE is a strange beast, because on one hand, studying for it is beneficial (i.e. learning their not-common-but-most-commonly-used vocabulary words they like to spit at you during the verbal test), but on the other, there are simply things about it that are impossible to study for. You basically just need to know the framework of the test and how it operates and go into it with that knowledge. I will say that I used Magoosh's flash cards to learn crazy vocab that I wouldn't have known otherwise, and that definitely helped me on the test. I also used the Princeton Review's GRE book, which was somewhat helpful. 

I ended up getting a 159 verbal, an atrocious 140 in quantitative (right-brained, sorry), and a 5.0 on the analytical writing. My verbal score was good but not great, my math was clearly a joke, but I did extremely well on the writing, which is what I think got me into the program I aimed for.

Edited August 14, 2015 by drownsoda

[1Q84]

My verbal score was good but not great, my math was clearly a joke, but I did extremely well on the writing, which is what I think got me into the program I aimed for.

Not saying it's untrue for your app experience, since I know nothing else about it, but I think that may be overstating the writing section's importance just a tad. Conventional wisdom holds that the AW section on the GRE means little to nothing--especially if you're applying to an English program. I mean, why would a committee care what you got on AW if they have your writing sample right in front of them?

[drownsoda]

Not saying it's untrue for your app experience, since I know nothing else about it, but I think that may be overstating the writing section's importance just a tad. Conventional wisdom holds that the AW section on the GRE means little to nothing--especially if you're applying to an English program. I mean, why would a committee care what you got on AW if they have your writing sample right in front of them?

That's a good point I guess. I just assumed that score helped me rather than hurt me because my verbal score was average and my math was a disaster (not that English programs really look at math, but still). I was applying for MA programs as well, not PhD, so that could have something to do with it as well.

[Waco-Waco]

Hey, 

I wanted to drop this in here as it's proving very useful for me - on top of all the flashcards and everything, these podcasts are a great way to fill in train/bus/car journeys with casual/relaxed learning. It's a UK BBC series and there are a bunch of relevant ones; mostly they're useful for historical context. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01drwny
 

[biyutefulphlower]

Hey, 

I wanted to drop this in here as it's proving very useful for me - on top of all the flashcards and everything, these podcasts are a great way to fill in train/bus/car journeys with casual/relaxed learning. It's a UK BBC series and there are a bunch of relevant ones; mostly they're useful for historical context. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01drwny
 

Well, I know what I'll be listening to at work in the background for the next 20 days, lol.  Thanks so much for the share Waco!

[Horb]

For what it is worth, I took the exam last October. I used Princeton Review and it had a break down of how the test is usually structured in terms of genre/time period (British Lit Pre-1800, Shakespeare, American Lit, etc.). It was completely inaccurate. I was preparing to have tons of questions on 18-19th century British literature and I had almost none. My exam was primarily American Poetry, which I didn't have a strong background in.

I still managed to get into three amazing programs with an abysmal score. I know that the subject test mattered somewhat because when I visited the school, there was a chance I was going to take a year off to do a fellowship and I was told that I would have to reapply and might want to retake my GRE tests. I hate standardized tests, finding them absolutely pointless in demonstrating anyone's potential to actually do grad level work, so I probably wouldn't have done them again. /endrant

[Waco-Waco]

Ok guys - this is a last ditch attempt to ask if anyone knows of any other practice tests online anywhere - although, from what a lot of you have been saying, it seems that the old practice tests might not be representative of what's coming our way. 

Slipperydevil's post was very helpful, although I couldn't locate one of his links, and it seems that one of the other 2 is the practice test that's available on the ETS website currently, which I'd already been looking at. 

Ideally I'd like to sit 2 practice tests start to finish - one this coming week, and one the week before the exam. It seems ridiculous to me that there aren't more available, but I guess ETS doesn't really care whether one passes or fails. 

Anyway, any more tips hugely appreciated, thanks! 

[BooksCoffeeBeards]

Ok guys - this is a last ditch attempt to ask if anyone knows of any other practice tests online anywhere - although, from what a lot of you have been saying, it seems that the old practice tests might not be representative of what's coming our way. 

Slipperydevil's post was very helpful, although I couldn't locate one of his links, and it seems that one of the other 2 is the practice test that's available on the ETS website currently, which I'd already been looking at. 

Ideally I'd like to sit 2 practice tests start to finish - one this coming week, and one the week before the exam. It seems ridiculous to me that there aren't more available, but I guess ETS doesn't really care whether one passes or fails. 

Anyway, any more tips hugely appreciated, thanks! 

I ended up taking one of the older practice tests posted on here. It wasn't representative of what would come our way now (it was from 1994-95), but it is still good practice of knowing how the test is generally structured + how loooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnng and arduous it truly is. I feel that even though I performed as well on that test as I did the last time I took the Lit GRE (back in Sept. 2010), it was good practice just for the sake of mental preparation. So, if you tackle the older test, you can just use it as a way to wrap your mind around the actual test.

I'm planning to take the current ETS practice test about a week or two before I take the real test (my test date is Oct. 24th). I'm hoping that will give me an idea of what the contemporary content will be like, without completely freaking myself out over the length/monstrous nature of the test.

[Waco-Waco]

Great advice. Yeah, think I screwed up a bit on that front. I've being using the current ETS test for 'practice'; reading over the questions, scrolling through to see the content. Wish I'd saved it for sitting the actual practice test... guess I'm left with the old, out-of-date tests. Ah well. You're right though - it will be good practice in the art of endurance, if nothing else. 

[maxined93]

Just took it this May, and my advice is threefold: read the Romantic poets, relearn poetic/rhetorical terminology (anapests, ect.), and make as many educated guesses on authorship as you can. Being widely-read has its benefits; I was able to recognize one writer simply by the tone of his work, which I'd been reading since I was small. If I had been more experienced in the above areas, I would have done better.

[othersamantha]

I want to second vade mecum as a good source- a good brief overview of many authors, like someone above mentioned, my knowledge base is primarily British literature, so it have been very helpful in getting a refresher/introduction on those. https://vademecumgre.wordpress.com

Additionally, I've used hapax legomena http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/alison/hapaxlegomena/WhatYouNeed.html which has an alphabetized list of "flashcards" to supplement vade mecum and others. It also has a good list of resources, one of which is a break down of which authors and works were mentioned most frequently on select exams from 2000-2008. http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng215/recommended_GRE_list_copy.htm

Does anyone have advice for brushing up on the more technical rather than knowledge-based portions of the exam? I.e. a good review of poetic form, meter, etc?

[Ramus]

I want to second vade mecum as a good source- a good brief overview of many authors, like someone above mentioned, my knowledge base is primarily British literature, so it have been very helpful in getting a refresher/introduction on those. https://vademecumgre.wordpress.com

Additionally, I've used hapax legomena http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/alison/hapaxlegomena/WhatYouNeed.html which has an alphabetized list of "flashcards" to supplement vade mecum and others. It also has a good list of resources, one of which is a break down of which authors and works were mentioned most frequently on select exams from 2000-2008. http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng215/recommended_GRE_list_copy.htm

Does anyone have advice for brushing up on the more technical rather than knowledge-based portions of the exam? I.e. a good review of poetic form, meter, etc?

You might check out Paul Fussell's Poetic Form & Poetic Meter. It's a quaint old work in the New Critical vein, the first text that I used for learning form. I remember liking it a lot when I first read it, though I admit I haven't returned to it in some time. It isn't quite the concise, bulleted-list I think you're looking for, but it covers almost all of the formal stuff the GRE will test you on. 

[BooksCoffeeBeards]

You might check out Paul Fussell's Poetic Form & Poetic Meter. It's a quaint old work in the New Critical vein, the first text that I used for learning form. I remember liking it a lot when I first read it, though I admit I haven't returned to it in some time. It isn't quite the concise, bulleted-list I think you're looking for, but it covers almost all of the formal stuff the GRE will test you on. 

I've been digging up older texts re: poetry and poetic form, solely because the test has a very New Criticism approach to questions on poetry and poetic form. So, thanks for this recommendation!

While I did cover those things several times in undergrad and graduate school, they were not the focus. I have to keep reminding myself as I prepare for this test to think about how the test is structured, and less about my own experiences and perspectives regarding each significant area of study/author/work/yadda yadda.

 

[Waco-Waco]

Okay, so anyone sitting the exam soon (like me, on Saturday... gulp) is probably way beyond this, but it's kind of cool/fun and helps with visualising stuff: 

http://www.bl.uk/englishtimeline

[biyutefulphlower]

It's the eve of the test and I'm trying to keep my freaking out to a minimum, lol. Good luck to everyone fighting the beast on Saturday!! 

[BooksCoffeeBeards]

Good luck to everyone!! Share your post-test freak-outs, frustrations, etc. They will not fall on deaf ears.

[Waco-Waco]

howdy - sat the test this morning (UK time). Phew. Think it went alright. Although, jeez, the GRE staff/centre wasn't exactly professional, it started an hour late and no one seemed to know about submitting scores... 

Anyway, what everyone's probably wondering - there were a lot, a LOT of mid-to-long reading comprehension questions, much more than in practice tests - others on this thread have mentioned this I think. There was also an uncomfortable amount of old/middle English stuff, which threw me. Something else which others have said - unlike the practice tests, there seemed to be very few identity questions. And actually, a few more world lit questions. 

I mean, by and large I'm sure most of the tests are the same - and, as you all know, they are difficult. It's all about timing, being smart enough to skip a question if you're having difficulty with it (something I'm not too good at...). I did have to rush at the end to fit everything in, all questions answered + going over some unanswered ones. By rushing, I mean that I had to forcibly speed-up my reading time - in some ways, this isn't dissimilar to the standard GRE verbal though. 

[Waco-Waco]

whoops - by which I mean, all questions READ, then going over some unanswered ones 

[1Q84]

Congrats on completing it, Waco-Waco! I made sure to drown my sorrows in tacos and horchata shortly after completing the test. Don't know if this is one of your compulsions, but don't obsess over the results (that is until you've estimated when the scores will come out and you're feverishly refreshing the GRE site... not that I'd know what that's all about :))

Any other test takers out there want to share their experiences? It was certainly one of the worst exam scenarios of my entire life so I'm curious to hear how this year went for folks.

[haltheincandescent]

I also took it this past Saturday, and felt relatively good about it--though I was also thrown by all of the middle English. The biggest thing I noticed that was different from the practice tests was that the amount of questions per passage was much higher. On the samples, it seemed that there'd usually be about 3-4, but on the real thing it was more like 6-9--though again, the passages are longer, so I guess it's about the same amount of reading per question. The biggest problem, then, is that if you struggle with one passage, that's a lot more possible points lost.

A recommendation I'd emphasize: if you're spending what feels like too long on a hard passage, skip it & come back. Not even necessarily because you're losing time, but because doing all the 'easier' questions first helped me (1) warm-up to the speed I needed to be reading and (2) keep from despairing about how hard the thing was. A lot of what I struggled with on the first pass ended up being clearer on the second go, after I had been reading for a while.

And now, yes, I am trying very hard to keep from obsessively trying to check answers to questions I was unsure about (and failing--but, hey, there are poems that I will never forget who wrote them, now, after missing them on the test.....)