<p>How hard is the test compared to the critical reading section of the SAT Reasoning? Or compared to the AP English Lang test? What review book would you guys recommend?</p>
<p>it is way harder. idk about ap lang and comp since im taking it next wednesday but there probably different since lang and comp has more to do with the actual structure of passages. i took the lit test in may and some of the poems are pretty confusing. its pretty different from cr passages since you have to analyze more deeply.</p>
<p>The SAT subject lit is very different from SAT 1 reading. Lit is all about doing literary analysis - understanding poetry forms, recognizing symbolism and the like. SAT reasoning is about understanding the content of a passage. If you have had an English course that focused on literary analysis, the SAT subject lit is doable, but if not, you will have trouble.</p>
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<p>I found it to be significantly more difficult.</p>
<p>Ickk. So you would have to tackle the passages in a different way? Now, I definitely need a review book…</p>
<p>Yes - you need to be comfortable with literary analysis to do well. As a VERY rough guide - if I ask you “what is a sonnet” and you say:
- It’s , like, a poem. - Don’t take the lit test
- It’s a 14 line poem. Shakespeare wrote some - you may be fine
- A lyric poetry form, 14 lines, iambic pentameter, with a strict rhyme scheme - you’ll do well
- Lyric poetry form, 14 lines, iambic pentamter, the most common forms being Italian (aka Petrachaen) and English (Shakespearean or the common alternative - Spencerean)
(and you can tell the differences), you’ll do very well, possibly without breaking a sweat.</p>
<p>^ When I took the test, no knowledge of poetic form, literary history, or meter was required for any of the questions.</p>
<p>As I clearly noted - that was a very rough guide. Although I presume that the lit test doesn’t ask questions like " Is this sonnet Italian/Shakespearean/Spenceran/otheer?", I have no doubt that having sufficent understanding of poetry forms to answer that question would generally give one the background to do well on the test.
Similarly, being well read in both the classic canon (aka old dead white men) and modern classics would serve one well - not because there are questions asking you to identify passages by author/style/period, but because being well read will likely lead to the sort of understanding of literature that the test covers.
Finally, the date for each passage is given. Knowledge of history (general and literary) would help in understanding that passage.</p>
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<p>Although I do not agree with your guidelines, I was merely attempting to explicate that, despite the impression that your post gave, those aspects were not assessed on the Literature test I took.</p>
<p>Ah, Silverturtle, I was not attempting to post a strict and precise set of guidelines, but rather to give an impression, quickly and, with a certain degree of humor, of the feel of the lit test.
Understanding, or at the least, recognizing common forms of verse may not be required on any given version of the lit test, however, one cannot conclude that such is never required.<br>
My point, which apparently, I failed to make perfectly clear, is that a broad understanding of literature from a somewhat technical viewpoint will certainly allow you to do well on this test. It’s not that knowing one form of sonnet from another is crucial (although it might be useful) - it’s that the understanding that comes with such knowledge is likely to be useful. (Ignoring, however, the case of pure memorization of terms.)</p>
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<p>Yes, I agree. But saying that those with but a superficial understanding of the sonnet should not take the test does not make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>(On a side note, I want to make it clear that our high frequency of disagreements lately is not intentional.)</p>
<p>What do you think the best things are to read from now until the June 5th test? Old poets, flowery prose of the 19th century, etc? I’m running out of practice tests in my study book and still have about 20 days till the test…</p>
<p>I haven’t picked up a review book yet and will be taking this test in June. If I got 9/10 on the practice questions on the College Board’s site (not the ones in the pdf file, but I’m going to do those as well), is that a sign that I could do well? I haven’t done really well on the SAT Reading section. If I’ve never gotten >700 on that, what are my chances of getting >750 on the Lit test?</p>
<p>Also, I plan on getting the Barron’s book. Anybody used it?</p>
<p>I studied for about a month and a half (approximately) before it and actually the score was 70 points better than the critical reading (which I kind of bummed compared to the rest of my SAT I).
If you prepare for it there’s nothing you cannot do so don’t take it to hard (:</p>