GRE LIE Test

[Anghellix]

Hello everybody,

I have joined this forum specifically to share my concerns and learn from your collective experiences.

I'm originally from India and I am hellbent on pursuing a PhD program in English Literature from a medium-ranking university in the US. I am presently preparing for the GRE General Test and intend to take the test in May this year.

Alongside, I have been literally and literarily soaking up my brain sponges by gathering bits and bytes of knowledge on the Literature in English Subject Test.

I am presently referring to The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Cracking The GRE Lit in Eng Sub Test by The Princeton Review, Teacher's Guides from Penguin, a plethora of audiobooks on renowned works, Poems Every Child Should Know (yes, I know how that must sound!), et al.

I have planned to take the GRE LIE Test in Fall this year, post which I shall begin to apply to universities for admission in Fall 2017.

I would highly appreciate if you could share your test-prep and/or test-taking experiences (GRE Gen+LIE Test) for everybody's benefit here.

Thank you and God bless!

Edited February 24, 2016 by Anghellix

[Tyler on The Road]

Hi, and good luck with your exams and applications. 

As far as I know, most of the students don't need GRE subject, but some recommend it.

I suggest that before starting the process, check the universities' website and gather the information you need.

[lousyconnection]

I read all of the period essays and author notes in the Norton Anthology of American Literature and the Norton Anthology of British Literature. I did this over about three weeks before the test. You want to be sure to have as much knowledge of prose as poetry. Also, so long as you have a good idea of authors' concerns, styles, movements—as well being able to tell about what period any excerpt comes from—you don't need to actually read the poetry or prose in the Nortons, just the editorial essays/contexts/etc.

Take a practice test and figure out what subjects are tripping you up and what time periods you don't know about. Go back and read those sections in the Norton again.

Also, on test day, *do not panic* when you hit very weird questions. If they're weird for you, they're weird for everybody. The GRE is graded on a curve.

Good luck!

[Anghellix]

Thank you both for your two cents. It will definitely add up to my dollar dream!

[Anghellix]

Are there (m)any foreign nationals or Indians here on this forum who pursue a MA/PhD in Eng from a US univ? Please advise.

[cyborgchild]

Just now, Anghellix said:

Are there (m)any foreign nationals or Indians here on this forum who pursue a MA/PhD in Eng from a US univ? Please advise.

Hi Anghellix,

I applaud your efforts! I am from Sri Lanka and graduated from CSU Channel Islands in December. I applied to 12 Ph.D. programs (some very prestigious), all of which did not need the Lit GRE. I simply could not afford the test, the anthologies, the prep books, or the time to cover the traditional canon (CSU Channel Islands is a very non-traditional program; they don't focus much on traditional Brit/American literature). I have been accepted into UC Riverside, and am waiting to hear back from 6 remaining schools.

Feel free to write to me if you have questions about applying, etc. Good luck with your prep!

 

 

[cyborgchild]

Whoops, I realize you asked about the GRE as well.

I did not pay much attention to the GRE, to be honest. I took a six week prep course offered at my undergraduate campus (the classes were four hours/week) during the summer. Then I completely stopped prepping once my semester started, and started again about a month before my exam last October. I ran out of time to study much math so I completely ditched it and scored a 150. I kept getting consistently low (<160) on Verbal in my practice tests, but got a 164 on test day, and got a 5.5 on Writing. I bought two test prep books (Princeton Review and ETS).

Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

[Anghellix]

Thank you for your inputs cyborgchild. 

I was led to understand that a good score on the GRE LIE subject test is a prerequisite for the PhD in Eng.

[Anghellix]

12 hours ago, lousyconnection said:

I read all of the period essays and author notes in the Norton Anthology of American Literature and the Norton Anthology of British Literature. I did this over about three weeks before the test. You want to be sure to have as much knowledge of prose as poetry. Also, so long as you have a good idea of authors' concerns, styles, movements—as well being able to tell about what period any excerpt comes from—you don't need to actually read the poetry or prose in the Nortons, just the editorial essays/contexts/etc.

I've discovered that my comprehension via listening is somewhat better than my reading. So, to maximize learning, (among other audiobooks on poems, GRE wordlists, Word Smart, etcetera) I have been listening to the "Eighty-One Famous Poems - An Audio Companion to the Norton Anthology of Poetry" every night while I sleep!

What fuddles me is the kind of questions I've encountered on the LIE practice tests!! I agree that I am expected to identify the innuendos and recognize the authors/poets by their writing styles and I am working on it studiously. I am already an ardent fan of Poe!  

I am wondering if there are any other resourceful test-prep videos/guides (apart from the Nortons and The Princeton Review) that could possibly give me the confidence and comfort I desperately need in order to score well on the subject test?

... my mind keeps returning to the famous apothegm by Rabindranath Tagore (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore)

"The small wisdom is like water in a glass: clear, transparent, pure. The great wisdom is like water in the sea: dark, mysterious, impenetrable."

[ExponentialDecay]

Even though you're an international applicant, the GREs are far from the most important aspects of your application, especially if you're not applying for top programs. If you have the time to read a dozen textbooks, by all means, but listening to poetry while you sleep is maybe a little... excessive? Programs are more interested in your ability to interpret than in your ability to memorize. I think all that time and stress will be better spent honing your writing sample or some such.

[Anghellix]

2 hours ago, ExponentialDecay said:

Even though you're an international applicant, the GREs are far from the most important aspects of your application, especially if you're not applying for top programs. If you have the time to read a dozen textbooks, by all means, but listening to poetry while you sleep is maybe a little... excessive? Programs are more interested in your ability to interpret than in your ability to memorize. I think all that time and stress will be better spent honing your writing sample or some such.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You're absolutely right! I do need to channel my energy toward the other aspects of my application as well. As a matter of fact, I have been sparing an hour or so over the weekends to edit and proof-read the SOP and write-ups.

By the way, what's the acceptable score on the Lit in Eng Subject Test for the PhD program in the university you're attending? Please advise. Thank you.

[Anghellix]

20 hours ago, cyborgchild said:

Whoops, I realize you asked about the GRE as well.

I did not pay much attention to the GRE, to be honest. I took a six week prep course offered at my undergraduate campus (the classes were four hours/week) during the summer. Then I completely stopped prepping once my semester started, and started again about a month before my exam last October. I ran out of time to study much math so I completely ditched it and scored a 150. I kept getting consistently low (<160) on Verbal in my practice tests, but got a 164 on test day, and got a 5.5 on Writing. I bought two test prep books (Princeton Review and ETS).

Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

I read on your other post that you got through to UCR.  {Congratulations!}  

I went through their website and observed that they did NOT require the subject test for PhD applications.

[cyborgchild]

11 hours ago, Anghellix said:

Thank you for your inputs cyborgchild. 

I was led to understand that a good score on the GRE LIE subject test is a prerequisite for the PhD in Eng.

 

1 hour ago, Anghellix said:

I read on your other post that you got through to UCR.  {Congratulations!}  

I went through their website and observed that they did NOT require the subject test for PhD applications.

@Anghellix, thanks! That's exactly right - not all programs require it.

I would second what ExponentialDecay said about other aspects of your application as well. If I had the time and resources, I would have paid more attention to my GRE prep, but instead I did the best I could and worked on the rest of my application. Mainly, I chose schools with professors whose work honestly got my heart racing, and who could support the project I outlined in my statement of purpose. If your application does not show that you are a good fit with the specific program, meaning that your interests are not something the program specializes in, or there are no professors who could advise you on your project, then your GRE scores may matter very little.

[jillcicle]

For Lit in English test:

I prepped with the Princeton review book (which made me feel calmer and more secure, but seemed totally irrelevant come test day), flashcards of authors and works with distinctive lines from said works, and found some free audiobooks that I listened to during my commute. I'll see if I can dig those up.

On test day, I showed up almost late, ran through the rain to get there, and spent the first 2 hours in a painful fog because I thought we weren't allowed to take bathroom breaks and was this close to peeing my pants. (They phrased it weird, but we totally were. I cannot emphasize that enough. BATHROOM BREAKS ARE ALLOWED - at least in US testing centers.) Felt like I knew the the answers to nothing, and afterward everyone was chatting about the right answers to questions, none of which I had known. I cried in the car on the way home. Then, scores came in, and I got a 700. *shrug*

Basically, the curve is a nightmare, and even if you feel like you missed half the questions (or literally do) it means nothing about your score. I only did about a month and a half of prep. I don't know if more or less would have changed things that much. I think studying is much more for your peace of mind than its impact on the test, although there were some things on the test that I specifically remembered studying.

Found the audiobooks!
Peter Whitfield's Introductions to World Literature. Don't listen when tired, cause this guy will put you out.

Henry Beers' Brief History of English and American Literature. This doesn't cover anything modern, because it's entertainingly old. Also, there's a faint high-pitched feedback noise on some of the tracks. Still, very helpful for studying on a budget.

For the General:

This was so much easier and less stressful! I recommend Vocabulary.com, and Khan Academy to brush up on your math if it's been a while. For the essays, go in with a game-plan and don't stress too much about picking a side on the issue analysis. Grab one and go with it, even if you don't hold the belief you're arguing for.

Edited March 7, 2016 by jillcicle
added audiobooks

[mightysparrow]

Hi Anghellix,

On 24/2/2016 at 1:30 PM, Anghellix said:

Are there (m)any foreign nationals or Indians here on this forum who pursue a MA/PhD in Eng from a US univ? Please advise.

I'm from India, and I'm currently in the first year of the PhD program at Ohio State. Although my experiences of applying to grad school here are atypical (I applied to just the one school), I know that the application and admissions process can seem particularly difficult to navigate from so far away, so feel free to message me if you have any specific questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

I didn't take the GRE Lit, so I can't answer your questions on that front. I do want to second what ExponentialDecay says about working on other aspects of your application--from what I've been told, your writing sample and SoP are by far the most important parts of your application. (Good GRE scores are important, but they will be read in light of other parts of your application.) Competition for PhD programs here is keen, and admissions committees will primarily use your writing sample to judge how prepared you are for a research degree. In my experience, Indian colleges don't emphasize writing and argumentation in the same way as colleges here, so you'll want to devote as much time as possible to working on your sample. I would also recommend familiarizing yourself with how American universities demarcate literary/cultural periods, as applications are often evaluated by faculty in the period you apply to research in (yet another thing that's different from the Indian system). It might also be worthwhile to look up the most recent issues of an influential journal in your period in order to get a sense of what debates and issues are current in the American academy. Often, these debates are very different from those in the Indian academy, and are not reflected in the syllabi back home.

Good luck!

Edited March 7, 2016 by mightysparrow

[hello_kitty]

On 2/24/2016 at 0:16 AM, cyborgchild said:

On 2/24/2016 at 0:07 AM, cyborgchild said:

Hi Anghellix,

I applaud your efforts! I am from Sri Lanka and graduated from CSU Channel Islands in December. I applied to 12 Ph.D. programs (some very prestigious), all of which did not need the Lit GRE. I simply could not afford the test, the anthologies, the prep books, or the time to cover the traditional canon (CSU Channel Islands is a very non-traditional program; they don't focus much on traditional Brit/American literature). I have been accepted into UC Riverside, and am waiting to hear back from 6 remaining schools.

Feel free to write to me if you have questions about applying, etc. Good luck with your prep!

 

 

Hello cyborgchild! I'm from Sri Lanka as well...Graduated from a SL uni..I applied to a wide range of programs (just a couple of top ones) and got several masters offers and a couple of Phd offers..Probably going to accept Uni of Florida's offer...Just wanted to say hi to a fellow Sri Lankan! good to stumble on you in this place! :-)

 

[cyborgchild]

5 hours ago, hello_kitty said:

 

Hi and congratulations!

I came to the US after high school and did my BA here. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. I've had one open house, and will visit another one in a couple of weeks. Then it's decision time, unless I get taken off the one wait list I'm one. I haven't made a decision yet, but it's great to hear that you might already know where you're going.

[hello_kitty]

12 hours ago, cyborgchild said:

Hi and congratulations!

I came to the US after high school and did my BA here. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. I've had one open house, and will visit another one in a couple of weeks. Then it's decision time, unless I get taken off the one wait list I'm one. I haven't made a decision yet, but it's great to hear that you might already know where you're going.

Congrats on your acceptances!

I'm also on one waitlist, its my top choice! But  no saying how it'll go..So I'm trying to moderate my wild, frantic, desperate hopes...Anyway, hope you'll get into the school you love best!

[hello_kitty]

On 2016 පෙබරවාරි 24 at 9:25 PM, Anghellix said:

Hello everybody,

I have joined this forum specifically to share my concerns and learn from your collective experiences.

I'm originally from India and I am hellbent on pursuing a PhD program in English Literature from a medium-ranking university in the US. I am presently preparing for the GRE General Test and intend to take the test in May this year.

Alongside, I have been literally and literarily soaking up my brain sponges by gathering bits and bytes of knowledge on the Literature in English Subject Test.

I am presently referring to The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Cracking The GRE Lit in Eng Sub Test by The Princeton Review, Teacher's Guides from Penguin, a plethora of audiobooks on renowned works, Poems Every Child Should Know (yes, I know how that must sound!), et al.

I have planned to take the GRE LIE Test in Fall this year, post which I shall begin to apply to universities for admission in Fall 2017.

I would highly appreciate if you could share your test-prep and/or test-taking experiences (GRE Gen+LIE Test) for everybody's benefit here.

Thank you and God bless!

Hi Anghellix,

I took the horrid test last year...I only had the Norton anthologies to study from..I read them dilligently (if you're an compulsive reader, you'll actually enjoy studying for the test! Answering the paper is a nightmare! It's basically a race against time!)..I also used internet resources; read lots of summaries, so that I can get an idea about the characters and settings...The test passages give you certain clues so sometimes you can make an educated guess...

During the test,I gave up most of the identification questions but answered the interpretation ones. Even if you cant identify the passage and its author, you can still answer many of the other questions on the passage just by reading the passage..The questions I hated were the Middle english ones ( time consuming to read), the anglo saxon ones ( cant read anglo saxon at all!) and the horrible grammar questions ( for some reason ETS is very fond of grammar/linguistics related questions!)...

Just give up the questions you dont know and focus on the ones you do know...Most people cant answer every question in that paper; so it's not only you...

Also most of the mid tier unis don't require the test...so before you waste your money on this, plz check if the schools you like require this test...

The GRE general is basically a pressure test..You need to keep your cool at all times...keep calm and be focused or it'll be a train wreck! I used the free stuff available in the internet and scored in the 90s...(magoosh is pretty great! But I couldnt afford the paid help..However they have great free resources...Get your hands on the 5lb practice question book if you can..The best help come from the ETS free practice tests..You need some practice for this but always trust in your own abilities...you're an english major so your language skills are already quite good!

 

Good luck!

 

[KappaRoss]

I thought this thread was about how the GRE was a lie. =]