My SAT Literature Subject Test Journey

drorthoman

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I plan to take the Literature Subject Test either in October or November (the latter being more probable) and after a couple of weeks of just perusing through the book, I have decided that I have to step up my game. I've heard that Literature is the hardest Subject Test and, frankly, I'm a little daunted by that, but nonetheless, I've deciding to carry on. In this thread, I will (hopefully) write what I've learned about Literature every day, the terms that I've memorized, etc... So wish me luck and here it goes:

Materials:

Barron's SAT Subject Test: Literature, 5th Edition

Kaplan SAT Subject Test Literature 2011-2012

AP Literary Terms

Steps to a 5: AP English Literature



I took the official Literature test from the Collegeboard book and scored a 680. (I took it completely cold and I'm really hoping that with a couple of months of hard work, I can raise it up to a 750+).

I've copied all of the terms from the Barron's book and am in the process of memorizing them. I'd say I probably know 1/4 of the terms. I plan to memorize 20 more today.

I don't really like the Barron's book too much since all it seems is in there is literary terms and that's about it. I'm hoping the 5 or 6 tests in the book will prove to be very helpful in explaining to me how I should be taking when I take the test, but so far it's pretty bad, IMHO.

I plan to get the Kaplan book today and either start it today or tomorrow, as I've heard Kaplan is great for the Literature test.

If any of you guys have taken the Literature test, what's your advice and what books did you use?

#hardworkftw

#Nothingcanstopme

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I personally never found Barron's to be of any help besides its practice tests. In my opinion, The Princeton Review was the best for me for all subject tests or any standardized tests for that matter. But it seems like you are definitely on the right track with studying and everything so good luck :)
 
Literature is a difficult subject test. It is far harder than the language tests (which are a joke), and I'd say it's even surprisingly difficult compared to parts of the AP English exams. I took it in 2007, so I don't know if anything has changed. But if your vocabulary and reading comprehension skills are reasonably good, you should be fine. I honestly don't think you need that many books.
 
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Terms I Know:

Soliloquy
Anastrophe
Stanza
Comedy
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Oxymoron
Parody
Ode
Foil
Synecdoche
Monologue
Setting
Parable
First-Person Point of View
Symbol
Rhetorical Question
Figures of Speech (Similes, metaphors, personification)
Concrete Poems

Hyperbole
Narrative
Protagonist
Alliteration
Simile
Theme
Onomatopoeia
Plot
Couplet
Tone (Formal, solemn, playful, somber, etc...)
Allusion
Paradox
Metaphor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know 34 terms

Terms I Need to Memorize:

Sonnet
Blank Verse
Iambic Pentameter
Rhythm
Diction
Rhyme
Irony (Verbal, Dramatic, Situational)
Free Verse
Heroic Couplet

Ballad
Pathos
Tragedy
Satire
Sprung Rhythm
Satire
Farce
Elegy
Anthropomorphism
Third person (limited omniscient, omniscient)
Allegory
Perspective and Voice
Assonance
Theater of the Absurd and Surrealism
Setting and Pastoral
Antithesis
Antihero or tragic hero
Fable
Metonymy
Style
The aside
Apostrophe
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I need to memorize 31 terms

I'm actually pretty happy that I only have to memorize 31 terms. They don't seem to be too hard and maybe I can finish 'em today? :soexcited:


I'm really having trouble with the types of poetry, how to identify what type of poem a poem is, its meter, rhyme, and other stuff like that. If anyone here is good with poetry, could you please exaplin to me Iambic Pentameter, and just poetry in general?
 
Literature is a difficult subject test. It is far harder than the language tests (which are a joke), and I'd say it's even surprisingly difficult compared to parts of the AP English exams. I took it in 2007, so I don't know if anything has changed. But if your vocabulary and reading comprehension skills are reasonably good, you should be fine. I honestly don't think you need that many books.

I've heard everyone say that the language subject test are very hard- especially the Spanish one...which language test did you take?
 
I took Latin and it was relatively easy compared to the tests from my teacher. I don't know about Spanish, but I heard the Chinese, Korean, and a few others were incredibly basic material.
 
So, I bought the Kaplan book and looking through it, it seems to be much better than Barron's in terms of how it's layed out (it's very appealing to the eye) and is shows you how to deal with every kind of poetry and has 8-full length practice tests inside the book. I've skipped the diagnostic test in both Barron's and Kapln because I took the official test from CollegeBoard (and as stated before, I got a 680), so I don't see it too necessary for me to take them.

I'm currently going through the book page-by-page and all of the terms are almost identical with the terms Barron's had, but they explain each term in much more detail and it's much more easier to comprehend than Barron's. I'm also highlighting everything I deem important so I can go back easily and memorize the information.

#Hopingforthebest
#Studysmartnothard
 
Good luck! In my case, I did not feel prepared to take the Chem Subject Test and so on test day at the last minute I switched it to Lit. Riskiest thing I ever did and I felt like I had no idea what I had read (I heard it was the only subject test that required no preparation so I was like eh why not). Got my score back and it was 730. It's a crapshoot!
 
Literature is a tough test, but I wish you luck. Why are you taking Literature? Why not take one that is easier, which will allow you to get a higher score and spend more time on other parts of your application. Biology is pretty easy.
 
Wow, it's been a long time since I last updated this. Anyways, I've finally finished the Kaplan SAT Subject Test Literature book (not the tests though). If anyone else is studying for this test, I've created notes for myself that I've decided to put into a PDF file and post here. Here it is: http://min.us/mkJe2v7Az .

On the other hand, I took a practice test from the Kaplan book, and I failed abysmally. Out of the 35 questions I did, I got about 16 wrong (I didn't even complete the entire test, because I was so frustrated. I still think it's a **** of a test though). Complete and epic failure. I feel like the tests in the Kaplan book are much harder than the test in the Official SAT Subject Test book by College Board (in which I got 14 wrong, netting a score of 680). I mean a lot harder. The poems were incomprehensible to me. I may even post some of the questions from the test on here, so you guys can try 'em.

So my plan starting from today, is to do the tests question by question, take a picture of the questions I get wrong, print them out, paste them in a notebook, and review and understand the questions from there. I feel like that's the most effective way or me to understand and learn. Do you guys have any suggestions on how you would study for Lit.? I feel really disadvantaged though, since my school offers no AP's and the English class is a joke. I have to self-study a sh*it load of stuff this year... :(
 
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