I ordered this book yesterday after registering earlier in the week for the April 4th test. I read the entirety of the book, but I did not take the practice exam yet, as reading the book took most of the day (I have a lot of distractions at my place). It was very interesting. I've never used a book to help me study for a test before, and this one really confirmed my suspicions that these books put a lot of emphasis on test taking strategies rather than learning content. However, when one is faced with the whole of Western literature from Beowulf on...The book is divided into five parts. I read the first three today. The fourth is the practice test, and the fifth is the answer key with explanations. I will take those tomorrow (when I'm fresh--haha), and I'll edit the blog if my opinions change drastically.
I learned in the first part "The Big Picture" that the GRE Literature in English Subject Test is actually designed for students just finishing their undergraduate degree in English. This should be a comforting fact for me, given the fact that I have just finished my Masters degree, but I can't help but feel that there were entire periods of English Literature that I avoided all together. And this is true, but I didn't realize which ones until the third part, so I'll save it. Over all, the test has three types of question (all multiple choice--good news for me as I am not a good writer on tests---maybe I'm never a good writer, but whatever). Only a very few questions are not attached to a passage and are merely identification. There is some grammar on the test, but it's minimal and easy. The three types of questions are standard form, variations on standard form, and super process of elimination questions. It's nice to think of the format that way, as it demystifies the process for people like me who tend to make things harder than they really are.
The second part "Cracking the System" explains how the test is scored. Only 78% of the questions need to be answered correctly to score in the 90th percentile, for example. It also explains their "two pass"system, which involves going through the test at least twice. This second section also emphasizes the limitations the test makers have for creating a test that should conceivably cover what most undergraduates should have learned. Obviously impossible. Anyone who has worked in an English department knows that politics and factions abound, and that they have their effects on reading lists.
The third part contained the actual reading lists. They have an A list, a B list, and a C list. Thankfully I was at least mostly familiar with all the works on all the lists; however, this is where I found my gaps immediately. I know almost nothing about Victorian Literature. Everything after Milton and prior to the Romantics is a big gap for me. It's a mess. I have a lot of surface level reading to do before I go to Winston for the test in six weeks.
I found the summaries of the books I had read to be entertaining. Fun refreshers is what I will call them. I also found the summaries of books I had not read to be very enlightening: I have been reading Pope wrong for YEARS. Haha. Anyway, I will definitely edit to explain how helpful the book was after I take the test and receive my scores. Scores that I hopefully will not need, but alas, that's a blog for another day....
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I took the practice test, and (not that I'm likely to forget this humiliating score) I thought I would post before I forget. I got 83 out of 230 questions wrong! My raw score was 126.25, and my scale score was a 530 (YIKES!). This puts me in the 45th percentile. So, I am dejected, obviously. I am going to try to study for the next six weeks, and this blog will probably turn into a GRE Subject Test review :(. However, if I am not doing considerably better by the end of it, I'll call in sick on test day and choose a new career :).
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Just an update: I did not do much other studying for this test, and I scored in the 81st percentile. :)
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