How to actually ace the SAT Literature subject test!!!

Hi! I got a 780 on the literature subject test (yes, not an 800) but since I was about two questions off from a perfect score I thought I would share some tips and recommendations about the content you need to know. There are other threads about general study hacks, but none focus on content recommendations.

Also, before I begin, this thread is very helpful: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/sat-subject-tests-preparation/585615-how-to-ace-literature-p1.html This focuses more on generals tips, but mine focuses on specific content related things you need to know.

1.) First and foremost, be aware that the lit subject test is one of the hardest tests (based on percentiles) and is NOTORIOUSLY the MOST difficult subject test to prepare for. The test measures your reading skills that are built over the years and cannot be suddenly increased in a matter of weeks. However, as somebody who scored a 700 and then a month later a 780, I do have some tips to maximize your scoring potential.

FYI: I used the Barrons, Kaplan, and Princeton Review lit books. Frankly, none of the tips/recommendations in any of these books were helpful; however, they are absolutely necessary for practice tests bc there is only one officially released CB practice test. It’s obvious, but because we live in a capitalist society, people who can afford test prep books will do better.

2.) Learn the structure and format of the test. There are almost always 7 passages, and the breakdown (at least for the 3 times I took it) is: 2 sonnets, 1 longer poem, 1 play, and 2 narratives/character descriptions. There is a common assumption that the test includes MOSTLY poems and sonnets and that all of the pieces are from the 17th century. This is FALSE. Recently, as of 2019 fall, I’ve noticed that the test has been shifting away from archaic, esoteric poems and now includes more recent stuff. I took 3 literature tests in total, and all of them had ONLY 1 sonnet from the 17th century and one narrative piece from the 17th century. The remaining pieces were modern (19th century to even late 20th century) short stories, poems, etc. This is important to know because it means that you do NOT need to practice reading only Shakespeare and his counterparts (unless that is a time period you struggle with).

Also, the test makers always include passage by female and POC authors (which is awesome!); however, these passages will most likely NOT be about specific female or POC topics (feminism, slavery, racism, suffrage, etc.). In the 3 tests I took, I never had a passage about explicitly feminist themes (suffrage, women’s rights) or about explicitly POC topics (slavery, abolitionism, cultural identity). I am bringing this up because I would recommend NOT to practice reading feminist manifestos or accounts of slavery (tho both are very significant and are worth reading) because they will not be on the test. On the test, the pieces by female authors were about love or their creativity (read: Emily Dickenson, Anne Bradstreet, etc.), and those written by POC authors were about poverty or hardships (read: James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, etc).

3.) Memorize literary terms and definitions. All of the prep books include literary term lists, but none of them are very comprehensive. Here are the difficult literary terms I memorized: Refrain, acrostic, aside, anaphora, foot, enjambment, litote, balanced sentence, metonymy, malapropism, elegy, aside, paean, meiosis, iamb vs. trochee, free verse, blank verse, participle phrases, aubade, antonomasia, indirect speech. Also, for more common literary terms, you need to pick up on the nuances. You probably know that hyperbole is “exaggeration,” but did you know it is also present when “all” or “always” or “never” is used? Similarly, you probably know that alliteration is the repetition of the same letter at the start of a word, but did you know that alliteration can be present when just 2 words start with the same letter? These are nuances that you can only pick up by taking practice tests. Also, most people focus only on literary terms and forget that you ALSO need to know some common vocab words from the 17th century and other Old English words, such as: hark, anon, pine, ere (the test LOVES this), tempests, lark, wary, weary, sullen, impudent, fie, knave, etc.

4.) How to study? Take all of the practice tests you can find in the review/study prep books. Start preparing about a month before the test date; if you start too early you will run out of practice tests too soon and honestly forget any nuances you have picked up on. In addition to starting practice tests, begin reading poetry and short story pieces from online. This will help you become more familiar with passages. Two weeks before the test data, you should have about 8 practice tests left; do 4 each week, and continue reading poetry/passages. If you run out of tests take the AP literature tests available online (one is from 2012 and the other is 1999 or 1997–I forget).

POETRY: The only way you can better understand poetry is by reading more poetry. I struggled with 18th/19th-century poetry, so I picked up books at the library by the following authors: Keats, Yeates, Poe, Frost, Bryon, Donne, Milton, Shelley, Dickinson, Emerson, Longfellow, Whitman, Whittier, etc. I basically read most of their works; I didn’t understand everything, but I think reading them helped me become more familiar with their poetry styles and also the general themes of poetry. Common topics of poetry are love, old age, virtues, vices of greed/youth, death, etc.

SONNETS (deserve their own category): I personally HATE old English sonnets bc they do not make any sense to me, so to practice I read 100 of Shakespeare’s sonnets. I would first read the sonnet by myself and try to come up with a general idea of what it is about, and then I would compare it to Spark Notes (which has every Shakespear sonnet explained)–I think this allowed me to better understand how word structure contributes to meaning. Also, almost ALL (not just Shakespeare’s) sonnets are about love–about losing a loved one, about the way a loved one makes a person feel, about how consumed a lover is, about the death of a loved one, etc. Usually, metaphor is used to describe the love; autumn imagery is very commonly used (leaves falling represent the death of a loved one, the arrival of the cold represents the onset of sadness, the rush of a stream represents fast-flowing emotions, etc.). I mentioned this already, but the test will include one old English sonnet and then one more modern sonnet (refer for practice to the authors in POETRY).

SHORT STORY excerpts: These, for me, are the easiest part of the test, but the questions are always worded strangely. Most short story excerpts are character descriptions or disagreements between characters–you really have dig into the passage to pick up on nuances about characters or disagreements. To practice, I read short stories online. I noticed the test makers love to include pieces by James Joyce for whatever reason: on 2 out of the 3 tests I took, his works were featured (read: Araby, Sonny’s Blues–both pdfs are available online). Also, pieces written by dystopian authors like Orwell and Bradbury are common; I recommend reading their short stories (pdfs available online).

PLAYS: I did not specifically practice for plays. I think all of the practice from the other sections helped me to better understand plays.

5.) Here are some more passages to read. From the August 2019 test: Thou Art not False, But Thou Art Fickle, by Lord Byron; Sonnet 98, Final Interview, by Edna St. Vincent Millay; The Wish, by Abraham Cowley; Sonny’s Blues, by James Joyce; A Clergyman’s Daughter (excerpt), by George Orwell; Mr. Heartfree, by Henry Fielding.

Summary: Maximize your LIT score by doing practice tests and reading poetry and short stories.

Specific tips for actually taking the test:

  1. BEWARE THE WRONG ANSWER THEME. This is always present on the test, and there will be 3-5 questions in a row that have answers that fit an incorrect interpretation of the passage. I actually used this to my advantage; it is pretty easy to pick up on the wrong answers theme, and once you do you can use it to cross out answer choices in other questions. For example, if a passage is actually about heartbreak but the wrong answer theme is about betrayal, I can eliminate answer choices in other questions that relate to betrayal and NOT the correct theme, heartbreak. IMPORTANT: You might be thinking that there is not much difference between heartbreak and betrayal; you are right, but on the test there will be very slight nuances that you have to find and pick up on while reading the passage.
  2. MARK QUESTIONS YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT. Because time is SO limited, I would speed through the test the first time, but mark with a star all of the questions I am unsure about. Once I answer all of the other Qs, I would then refer back to the starred questions. Normally, I would end up having about 10 questions that I am struggling with. I can normally narrow them down pretty easily to 2 answer choices, so my final minutes on the test are spent picking between the two. This is the hardest part, and I don't have much advice about how to pick one final answer when both are tricky or vague; most of the time, I stick with my gut. There will always be one question that you can't decide it--if after focusing on it for a minute you still don't know the answer, leave it blank. That's what I did.
  3. LEAVE HARDEST PASSAGE(s) UNTIL END. The first passage on all three tests I took was always a poem or sonnet. The test makers (I speculate) do this to challenge you, bc you will struggle (like I did) if you are going from doing nothing to reading and analyzing complex poetry. You really need to warm up before you can dissect a poem well; so, I would always skip the first poem and instead begin with a short story excerpt, which is probably the easiest type of section on the test. Sometimes I would then go back to the poem or other times I would leave it until the end--do whatever suits you the best. You are less likely to make dumb mistakes on a poem if your brain is warmed up (by reading something else first).
  4. DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO TO FOCUS. After taking like 10 SATs, I developed an almost bizarre routine that worked best for me. I would wake up 2 hours before the test and drink 2 Mountain Dews and eat eggs before 8 (start time). I would also pack Mountain Dews in my bag. At around 7 I would read a poetry piece I found online or article in the NYT to warm up my brain. On the way to the test center, I would get a Starbuck's Ice coffee (no milk) with a shot of espresso--it is absolutely disgusting but the caffeine rush is amazing. Once in the test room, I would down another Mountain Dew and chew on a Cliff Bar. Thus, when I actually start the test, I am fully alert. While taking the test, I get easily distracted by noises, so I would plug my ears with my fingers (commercial earplugs are banned). Also, bc I'm super ADHD, the sight of other test takes would also distract me, so I would hunch over my test book and shield my eyes with my hand; thus, the only thing I would be looking at is the test book. This worked for me--and now I have a 1570 and 800m2 and 780lit. No matter how strange, do whatever you need to do to focus!!!!!!!