I spent roughly 9 or 10 weeks reviewing for the GRE Literature. I didn't study every night, but I tried to get at least 3 or 4 hours of review in each week. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. Before studying I was scoring in approximately the 40th percentile; on my real GRE I scored in the 84th percentile. Not bad for someone who's never read Paradise Lost.
This site is a way to share my experience and help other future grad students find a way to prepare without getting overwhelmed. I hope this information helps you as much as it did me.
Cracking the GRE Literature - I swear this is the best study guide on the market. Another study guide includes a 7 page reading list - don't even go there! It will waste your time. This book has the most useful (short) study lists, a full assessment of the GRE Literature and what's really on it, summaries of some major works and a seriously beneficial practice test. Do not proceed without it.
GRE: Practicing to Take the Literature in English Test - Test yourself and pick up some common questions that you'll probably see on the real test. I learned the opening line of One Hundred Years of Solitude from this practice book, and used it on my GRE. Just don't pay attention to their study guide or what they tell you about the test - they lie! This book appears to be out of print, and a newer version is not available. Check your local library or used bookstore for a copy.
Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 1 & Volume 2 complete. You'll need these (or similar anthologies) to review important poems and stories for the test. If you know absolutely nothing about American lit - if you can't even recognize an Emily Dickenson poem - you may need an American anthology as well. But British questions outnumber American questions 3 to 1 on the test, so focus on your English lit anthologies.
Bullfinch's Mythology - Daphne, Ariadne, Dido, Clymenestra, Philomelia, Ulysses, and Medea were all on my test. Get comfy with ancient Greek mythology, plus the stories in the Illiad, Odyssey, and Oedipal cycle. Cracking the GRE offers some summaries, but there was a LOT of mythology on the test I took.
When I began, the subjects I knew best were novels, American literature (including African-American lit) and modern/contemporary fiction. I had little knowledge about anything British pre-1910 (except Shakespeare), the form and study of poetry or drama. I had a smattering of mythology and even less grammar.
Before you begin studying, assess your strengths and weaknesses. Just looking through a practice test will show you the areas where you're lacking, though you probably know already based on those classes which you fervantly avoided in college.
Using Cracking the GRE, decide which of your weaknesses are most critical and which can be left alone. You won't be able to master every period and every genre. Prioritize!
I reviewed this list, and made a reading list of important stuff I needed to cover. I began reading plays and epic poems 9 or 10 weeks in advance, working down to the poetry.
I read Cracking the GRE forwards and backwards. Using the A, B and C lists, I revised my original list, adding a lot of poems and taking away stuff that wasn't as relevant as I'd thought it would be.
I glossed the entire Norton English Anthology, Volume One. 'Gloss' means skim. I didn't read cover to cover. I read the important biographies and reviewed the major works. Not only did this familiarize me with major authors, it also helped me learn the timeline of English literature. Everything I read was on the A, B or C list, and this was my major weak spot. It sounds extreme, but it built up my confidence a lot.
I used the internet to review some basic English grammar and prosody terms.
Begin preparing far enough in advance, but not too far. I started 10 weeks ahead of the test, and by the time I got to the GRE some of the stuff I'd read in the first weeks was already becoming fuzzy. 12 weeks is probably the maximum useful study time for most people, 3 or 4 weeks a minimum.
Start with plays, stories or an epic poem that you're only familiarizing yourself with. Unless you have an incredible memory for poetry, save the stuff you'll have to identify line by line for last.
Read broad, not deep. You're better off being able to recognize a poet's style than a specific line of a poem, with only a few exceptions. Know the famous lines of the 6 or 7 "A-list" poems and just be familiar with the rest.
Skip the Shakespeare. There's really not much on the test, maybe 2 or 3 questions max. Don't bother.
Skip the Bible too. There will be more of the Odyssey on the test than the Bible, I guarantee it.
Don't sweat the Old English. There will always be one or two Old English questions - get familiar with the ones on the practice tests and do the best you can.
Recognize your African-American authors - Fredrick Douglass, WEB DuBois, Booker T. Washington, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston. Know a bit of biography on each and their major works.
Know your prosody and scantion - you'll count a lot of syllables on the GRE. Trochee, anapestic, iambic, terza rima - you'd better know what they mean and how to spot them.
Use the two-pass technique described by The Princeton Review. Go through and do the easy ones first, then come back and do the time-consuming questions.
Do not be afraid to skip questions! A wrong answer is minus 1/4 point, an empty question has no affect on your score, and a correct answer earns you one point. If you are in the dark, please skip it. It will help your score. I left 19 questions blank.
Don't be afraid to guess if you can, with certainty, eliminate one answer choice. If you can reduce your choices from 5 to 4, it is statistically in your favor to guess. You'll earn more points than you'll lose.
Pace yourself. Don't spend a lot of time on one question or set of questions - save those for last. Most people can finish the test, but you have to use your time wisely.
Seven
suggestions for GRE Literature preparation
by Skylar Burris.
The Tongue Untied: Grammar Review
All content © 2002 Wren
Lanier.
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author
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