<p>What study book would you recommend for this subject test? Everyone speaks of it as if it's like the test equivalent of death. I scored 33 on the ACT reading portion but still want to make sure I'm well prepared. Suggestions anyone?</p>
<p>I can’t help you with a study book, but I just want to warn you against feeling confident based on a 33 on ACT Reading. The two tests are like night and day. The ACT is simple retrieval from the text; the subject test is very, very analysis heavy. I got a 36 on the ACT Reading twice, but only got a 660 on the SAT II Lit (Albeit I was really off my game that day, but still…).</p>
<p>It’s good that you are planning on preparing though. Trust me, going in blind is not fun.</p>
<p>Oh god okay well thanks for the warning and hopefully my preparation will prevent this whole experience ending in SAT induced tears</p>
<p>I have to disagree. I got an 800 on the SAT critical reading, and a 790 on the SAT Subject Test in Literature. I never studied for either test, and it turned out all right. I read a lot. I think that reading classic books is the best preparation, because that is what the Lit. test is about. If you do that, and make sure that you don’t overthink it, it should be really easy. I actually thought that the Lit. was much more fun than the critical reading on the sat. The SAT has three basic reading passages: 1. A sob story about the regrets of a minority female who alienates her mother by pursuing a career and rejecting her cultural heritage, 2. a scientific journal type article, and 3. Another scientific journal type article, except this one is about some environmental danger instead of geology or physics. What could be more boring than those three?
The SAT lit is an even balance of poetry and literature. It is much more interesting, and easier. I did 10 points better on the cr section, but that was just because I took the cr section twice, and the lit test once.</p>
<p>@Austerity: You are really over-generalizing. I also agree that the SAT Literature is much more fun that SAT Cr, but really, you cannot expect everyone to have the same opinion. Not to mention the SAT Literature is very hard if one is not used to reading a lot of samples of obscure and esoteric texts of old English starting from Shakespeare’s time. Please do not make the mistake of thinking your experience with it should be applicable to everyone.</p>
<p>@mylifeisastrug: I think the most important first step is taking the official Literature test in CB’s blue book for the SAT II’s. There is now a version which also provides answers, so if you can get hold of that, use it to see if you find that the explanations to questions you got wrong are such that you are positively sure that after practice you would/would not be able to deal with the test.</p>
<p>@Austerity: Erm ,re-reading my previous post it hit me that it sounds quite acrid, even though that was certainly not my intention. Sorry about that.</p>