GRE Literature in English Subject Test

[Daenerys]

Hey all you experienced GC'ers--  a question for you.  I am ready to register for the GRE Lit in English subject test, but when I went to the website, the fall dates were not up yet.  They usually offer it in April, September, and October, right?  Does anyone have any idea as to when the new dates will be up?  Or, better yet, can I take this as a sign that they are phasing out the test?    

I am currently in an MA program, with a teaching assistantship.  My fall coursework and teaching schedule is set so it's time to register for the general GRE, the Lit in English test, and to think about the time frame for my fall applications.  Any insights would be appreciated!  Thanks!

 

[positivitize]

32 minutes ago, Daenerys said:

Hey all you experienced GC'ers--  a question for you.  I am ready to register for the GRE Lit in English subject test, but when I went to the website, the fall dates were not up yet.  They usually offer it in April, September, and October, right?  Does anyone have any idea as to when the new dates will be up?  Or, better yet, can I take this as a sign that they are phasing out the test?    

I am currently in an MA program, with a teaching assistantship.  My fall coursework and teaching schedule is set so it's time to register for the general GRE, the Lit in English test, and to think about the time frame for my fall applications.  Any insights would be appreciated!  Thanks!

 

 

 

I'm not exactly sure when they offer it, so I won't speak to that. I will say that I took it in October in 2016 and that it was the last literature subject test available before applications were due. I lucked out to get a spot.

To study for it, I looked at all the notes from my old survey courses, re-read the intro to each critical period from my Norton anthology, took the practice tests multiple times and watched Thug Notes for texts that I hadn't read yet. I'm not sure how much good it did. The whole test is comprised of 230(?) 5-option multiple-choice questions that cover everything from Caedmon to Raymond Carver. I only knew the answer to maybe 40% of the questions, but I had 1/3 or 1/2 guesses for most of them. I answered every single question, which apparently is a bad idea. The way it's scored is that it adds one point for each correct answer and subtracts 1.25 points for each incorrect answer, so it can be worth it to guess if you can eliminate enough incorrect answers. I finished somewhere around the 56th percentile, which wasn't great but was good enough to get me into a strong Ph.D program. If I retook it, I would guess on fewer questions and leave some blank--I think that would help my score a lot.

I was also surprised by how many questions there were about bible passages and masculine vs feminine rhyme--but I'm sure each test will be different year to year.

Edited April 6, 2017 by positivitize

[Zeromus1337]

From my experience, they usually put up the dates and the form to register for it in the summer, around late July. 

Most PhD programs are phasing out the subject test thankfully. Most DGS tell me those scores are less significant now.

[orphic_mel528]

On 4/6/2017 at 2:56 PM, positivitize said:

I'm not exactly sure when they offer it, so I won't speak to that. I will say that I took it in October in 2016 and that it was the last literature subject test available before applications were due. I lucked out to get a spot.

To study for it, I looked at all the notes from my old survey courses, re-read the intro to each critical period from my Norton anthology, took the practice tests multiple times and watched Thug Notes for texts that I hadn't read yet. I'm not sure how much good it did. The whole test is comprised of 230(?) 5-option multiple-choice questions that cover everything from Caedmon to Raymond Carver. I only knew the answer to maybe 40% of the questions, but I had 1/3 or 1/2 guesses for most of them. I answered every single question, which apparently is a bad idea. The way it's scored is that it adds one point for each correct answer and subtracts 1.25 points for each incorrect answer, so it can be worth it to guess if you can eliminate enough incorrect answers. I finished somewhere around the 56th percentile, which wasn't great but was good enough to get me into a strong Ph.D program. If I retook it, I would guess on fewer questions and leave some blank--I think that would help my score a lot.

I was also surprised by how many questions there were about bible passages and masculine vs feminine rhyme--but I'm sure each test will be different year to year.

I had a ton of Milton on mine, and a lot of contemporary poetry. 

[positivitize]

11 minutes ago, orphic_mel528 said:

I had a ton of Milton on mine, and a lot of contemporary poetry. 

I wish I had Milton... mine was all random obscure bible verses (seriously, like 11 questions about the bible), some Chaucer, some Old English, and some Melville. I had a question about the play adaptation of Billy Budd. I really think the subject test is ridiculous. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Budd_(opera)  What the heck. You've got all of Melville's works and you make BILLY STINKIN BUDD into an Opera? Melville =/= Pirates of Penzance

Edited April 8, 2017 by positivitize

[t67]

It seems like a hard test to prepare for. Really, I think that the best preparation is a good, generalist program in English literature. Like, taking a broad range of classes. There's also a bit of luck involved, in that if you're a Romanticist and there's a lot of Romanticism questions, then you're golden. If not, it's harder to get a good grade. 

I didn't prepare at all, but took the test in the same year that I took Medieval, Romanticism, Theory, 19th-c. American, and Shakespeare grad courses and I got a 75th percentile, which isn't great or anything, but it's better than my 59th percentile the first time I took it after studying and flash carding, but being out of undergrad for four years. YMMV.

There's also some strategy involved, in that you should try to get to the end of the booklet, answering all the questions that you're sure of. I also used the strategy of running through that first round by only answering the questions with short- to medium-length passages to read. I then went back to the beginning and spent the rest of the time considering as many other questions as I could, and I left any answer blank that I couldn't narrow down to 2-3 potentially correct answers, because of the penalty for wrong answers. I think I left like 30 or 40 blank. 

[Daenerys]

Thanks for all the advice.  I intend to study for it this summer, focusing on British Lit (I dug out all my Norton Anthologies from undergrad).  I am focused on 20th Century American Lit so, while I do love Chaucer, Milton, and Shakespeare, they are not forefront in my knowledge base.  Only two of the programs to which I am applying required it last year, so a phase out of the test would be VERY welcome from my perspective. 

 

 

[chellyfish_]

Agreed that it's a very hard test to study for.  It's almost one of those texts where....anything you've already done in your whole undergrad (possibly masters if you're applying to PhDs from there) is your 'studying'.

One thing I wasn't expecting was so many questions on this past year's test about various types of meter.  Like...A LOT.  I didn't do any studying on meter so I was vastly underprepared for that.  I definitely regret not using more strategy in mine like @t67 mentioned above! I sort of just plowed through linearly, only leaving the ones I had absolutely no clue about, but wound up lingering longer than I ought so there were like ~10 at the end I rushed through and ~7 I didn't see at all, which could have been gimme answers!

[Dr. Old Bill]

My additional two cents is to hone your "skim" skills. This test does not favor slow readers, and downright discourages the kind of critical reading that we're expected to do in our day-to-day coursework and research. You need to be able to skim long passages and glean the pertinent information as quickly as possible. If you're already a fast reader, you have an advantage. Otherwise, you could know literally every single passage and still do poorly if you can't extract the necessary information swiftly. Remember: you have 160 minutes to answer 230 questions, and you don't need to be a math major to know that that means roughly 40 seconds per question. Completely filling in a bubble on the scoresheet takes 4-5 seconds alone. 

In other words, it's best if you approach the test not as you would a standard literature exam, or even as you would a standard multiple choice quiz; approach it like speed trivia, but with a broad literary bent. 

For what it's worth, I've taken the test twice. I actually enjoyed the content of the test itself, because I like literary trivia...but timing is the real beast, and when you remember that the test costs a couple hundred dollars to take, and is highly valued by a few key programs, it's not nearly as "fun."

ETA: Also for what it's worth, the Princeton book is almost worthless at this point. The test has changed enough so that the advice provided in that book is only slightly relevant, and some of the strategies they discuss will actually hurt you with how the test is administered these days.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Old Bill

[Daenerys]

2 hours ago, Old Bill said:

In other words, it's best if you approach the test not as you would a standard literature exam, or even as you would a standard multiple choice quiz; approach it like speed trivia, but with a broad literary bent. 

ETA: Also for what it's worth, the Princeton book is almost worthless at this point. The test has changed enough so that the advice provided in that book is only slightly relevant, and some of the strategies they discuss will actually hurt you with how the test is administered these days.

I think these two bits of advice will prove quite invaluable.  THANK YOU!

 

[Dr. Old Bill]

5 minutes ago, Daenerys said:

I think these two bits of advice will prove quite invaluable.  THANK YOU!

 

Happy to be of help, Khaleesi.