Cracking the GRE Literature Test, 5th Edition (Graduate Test Prep)
Cracking the GRE Literature Test, 5th Edition (Graduate Test Prep) The GRE subject tests are among the most difficult standardized exams. Rather than testing general problem-solving skills, they require highly specialized knowledge.
The experts at The Princeton Review have thoroughly research each subject test to provide students with the most thorough, up-to-date information available. Students don’t need to relearn the entire histories of their fields—just what they need to know to earn high scores on the exams.
Each guide includes one full-length practice exam, complete with comprehensive explanations for every solution.
Customer Review: Useful for a plan of attack….
I must admit that I was intially skeptical about how much a Literature GRE prep book could help me; it seems almost common sense to think you cannot possibly study for such a broad topic. The book dispells this myth right away, and uses a convincing argument: the fact that literature in English covers such a broad area is something to the test maker’s detriment, not the test taker’s. It is the GRE subject test maker’s responsibility to create a test that is multiculturaly sound; one that needs a represntative of English literature that a student of English at a college in India could recognize as easily as a student of English at Harvard. Therefore, there are ways to study for this broad topic: by looking at the barest essentials; the canonical pieces of poetry and fiction that a discernible person might guess an English major might have studied. Which leads to the next myth: that once you have a list of likely works that you must read every single one, from Beowulf to the Modern era. This isn’t true, (the book makes the point here that one shouldn’t bother going to grad school if s/he’s already read most of the important works in English; it would surely be worth a degree or two by that point) in fact you need only skim the important details of these works by 1.reading a summary; 2. reading an author’s bio or an intro section to the work in the Norton anthology; or 3. if you’ve already read the work, quickly reviewing the plot and characters by skimming a few passages to jog your memory. The goal is to get points, and luckily most of those points are easily taken if you can recognize a certain passage, which most likely contains key elements from a work or author and not a vaugue obscurity that no one has read except the most fervent of an author’s scholar.
Oh, and if you’re like me and weren’t an English major, I highly recommend that you buy this book as a favor to yourself. As you’re already disadvantaged by your skim study in comparison to the English majors you’ll be competing against in grad school, you need all the advantages you can get. It starts with this one. The book has major and minor lists of works and authors that scrupulous research of previous tests deems you should know, so I suggest you take advantage of it. Luckily I was an English minor, and was fairly well versed by reading in my spare time. If you aren’t either of this things however, I’d suggest not only getting this book, but hiring a tutor.
In summary, if you like the large, cumbersome expanses of a huge discipline attempting to be shoved into a small peanut shell, then this book is for you. You’ll be getting just a snippet, but this snippet may indeed be worth your money and effort. Just remember though: it’s a guide or an outline, not the end all and be all of your studying efforts. Treat it as such, and keep your Norton anthology handy.
Customer Review: Excellent resource for how to take the test
If you are looking for a last minute study session, this is not the place to turn. They give you excellent advice on how the test is scored and methods of marking answers but there are few passages in it. They do provide an excellent list of authors you should know and quick overviews of some classic literature but nothing extreamely specific. I used this book in conjunction with my own study program and found the book really worth my while. It’s a little light on Lit theory though, so you may want to brush up on that part of the test. Overall I would buy it again. It’s written with a dry sense of humor and a drive to see the student do well
Tags: Literature and Fiction book, Cheap Fiction book, Cheap Literature book, Fiction book, Literature book
