November Lit GRE

[JennyFieldsOriginal]

anyone else feel like his or her brain was stomped on repeatedly, then put in a food processor, and fed to some kind of animal?

I DO.

but seriously...general impressions?

i didn't think the questions were anything wildly difficult, but i got really screwed on timing. i was furiously bubbling in answers up to the last second, and didn't get a chance to check anything over. i haven't a clue how many i left blank.

to add insult to injury, pretty much all the ones i looked up because i was unsure were wrong answers.

i've heard this is how most people feel, but i'm curious to know what other november literature subject test takers thought.

[glasses]

anyone else feel like his or her brain was stomped on repeatedly, then put in a food processor, and fed to some kind of animal?

I DO.

but seriously...general impressions?

i didn't think the questions were anything wildly difficult, but i got really screwed on timing. i was furiously bubbling in answers up to the last second, and didn't get a chance to check anything over. i haven't a clue how many i left blank.

to add insult to injury, pretty much all the ones i looked up because i was unsure were wrong answers.

i've heard this is how most people feel, but i'm curious to know what other november literature subject test takers thought.

I actually have absolutely no idea how I did. I think I left approx. 30 blank? And I'm fairly sure that I got the ones I answered correct (for the most part). That evens out to a decent raw score, yeah? (I mean, unless I totally tanked the 200 or so questions that I answered.) The major downside: I had a raging, raging cold. Made it through the whole week with no health snafus, and then yesterday, a big one -- I was up most of the night with a sore throat, a stuffed nose, and an unexpected bout of vomiting. I went in with no breakfast, having lost my entire dinner, and with two hours of sleep. Fun. I feel terribly bad for the folks that I might have infected with this thing today, but what on earth's a gal to do? Can't take a "sick day" from this thing without delaying the entire process by a year . . . (They really should do something about that, shouldn't they?)

Anyway, thanks to the violent sneezing, the kind proctor gave me a bathroom break -- but it took me some time to stockpile tissues and then come back and assure the proctor that there was nothing written on the tissues, etc. As a result, I was rushing, too. But that may have been a blessing for me: I have this ridiculous habit of second-guessing myself, even on questions that I know I have the right answer to. Perhaps having to blitz through worked in my favor.

Since the entire test is so fuzzy in my head, I'm now panicking about things I can't know and can't do anything about ("did I bubble correctly???"). And now the three-week waiting period begins . . .

[growing19]

I actually have absolutely no idea how I did. I think I left approx. 30 blank? And I'm fairly sure that I got the ones I answered correct (for the most part). That evens out to a decent raw score, yeah? (I mean, unless I totally tanked the 200 or so questions that I answered.) The major downside: I had a raging, raging cold. Made it through the whole week with no health snafus, and then yesterday, a big one -- I was up most of the night with a sore throat, a stuffed nose, and an unexpected bout of vomiting. I went in with no breakfast, having lost my entire dinner, and with two hours of sleep. Fun. I feel terribly bad for the folks that I might have infected with this thing today, but what on earth's a gal to do? Can't take a "sick day" from this thing without delaying the entire process by a year . . . (They really should do something about that, shouldn't they?)

Anyway, thanks to the violent sneezing, the kind proctor gave me a bathroom break -- but it took me some time to stockpile tissues and then come back and assure the proctor that there was nothing written on the tissues, etc. As a result, I was rushing, too. But that may have been a blessing for me: I have this ridiculous habit of second-guessing myself, even on questions that I know I have the right answer to. Perhaps having to blitz through worked in my favor.

Since the entire test is so fuzzy in my head, I'm now panicking about things I can't know and can't do anything about ("did I bubble correctly???"). And now the three-week waiting period begins . . .

Aw, I feel so bad for you, glasses! Good for you for powering through. Hope you feel better soon. I think I did fine, but the timing was tough, and some of the questions were surprising, in that they didn't seem to be asking about the most relevant or "literary" aspects of the passages. I was almost disappointed that I didn't get to use all of the information that I studied! Like, my mind is overflowing with incredible poetry, and they're asking me this? But at least we can celebrate our hard work and accomplishing another step in the process.

[glasses]

I was almost disappointed that I didn't get to use all of the information that I studied! Like, my mind is overflowing with incredible poetry, and they're asking me this?

THIS! Yes, me too. Where was all the Donne?

Edited November 7, 2009 by glasses

[absurd]

Dude, mine didn't have any "Paradise Lost" on it.

[callmelilyb]

My didn't have any "Paradise Lost" either. Nor do I recall Donne. Nor do I recall in Ulysses questions. And hardly any Shakespeare. Basically all of the things I thought for sure would be on there, weren't.

I took mine in October so I get my scores tomorrow morning by phone. I am pretty sure I tanked the damn thing. Felt completely demoralized after. I too, left about 30 blank (I think), but am not so sure that I got the ones I answered right. There was lots of intelligent guessing and POE.

But it's kind of nice to hear that other people feel dejected after the test, because we can't all have done poorly, right?