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Title: Cracking the GRE Literature Test, 4th Edition by Jr. Doug McMullen ISBN: 0-375-76268-X Publisher: Princeton Review Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Half of What You Need
Comment: Unfortunately, this is the only study guide for the GRE Literature Test that I know of (the other is just a collection of practice tests). While I felt it helped me prepare for the GRE, I think it needs updated, especially the literary theory. There were numerous questions about literary critics and their books not mentioned even in passing in this book. Many of the older writers are barely on the test, like Chaucer. Urging students to review their Norton is a helpful suggestion and the practice test along with the one supplied by the GRE is also some help in getting ready. Hopefully this book will be updated soon or the test will be discontinued, good luck!!
Rating: 1
Summary: go to the source - crack the nortons
Comment: Why waste your time with this secondhand method of test prep when what you need is in the splendid Norton Anthologies? Testimonial: I am a grad school applicant to programs in English literature who took no English literature courses as an undergrad (I satisfied lit req's by taking courses in lit in translation). By reading the Nortons for a few hours a night for several weeks - concentrating my efforts on the major authors - I was able to get a very good score on the GRE Lit exam. To do well on the exam you need to have spent time reading the authors; I can't imagine Princeton Review's tricks for spotting distinctive styles being sufficient. If you're like I was - in the 600s, trying to get up into the 700s - this book will not be helpful. Maybe it will help you get into the 600s, but it seems to me that's as far as you could possibly go without spending serious time with the Nortons.
None of the explanatory material in the Princeton Review book is better than that found in the Nortons. It is neither more thorough nor more enjoyable (the Nortons' pithy bios are delightful). Even if you're so short on time that you'd still consider purchacing this book as an expedient study aid, don't bother: your time would be better spent with the notes in the Nortons. Better to invest your time and money in the worlds of Milton, Chaucer and others so nicely introduced in those volumes.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not perfect, but then what study guide CAN be?
Comment: Contrary to the previous two reviewers, I did find that using the Princeton Study guide helped me in my preparation for and approach to the GRE Subject test. It is true that many of the emphasized texts did not appear on the version I took (no "Ulysses" or "Second Coming", "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" or Herrick's Julia poems), but quite a few were there, and the clues this book offered to spot such works (e.g. Pepys' diary, the distinctions between J.S. Mill and Cardinal Newman) helped me rack up more points than I otherwise would have.
I will not argue with the others on the issue of modern lit: the book is much too light on 20th century stuff, which did appear substantially on my test. Princeton Review NEEDS to update this aspect of their book; however, I was prepared for such questions based on my reviewing of Norton Anthologies, a suggestion that this book stresses highly. No 20th century author who appeared on the test is absent from the Nortons.
I dont know about anyone else, but the fact that the sample test in this book was more difficult than the actual test made me feel better about my performance last week. Also, my test featured a comparable amount of questions matching authors to novels and short passages to titles.
I still think that a test-taker who does not utilize this book will be at a serious disadvantage when test-day comes; in addition to purchasing this book, I also recommend using Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" to solidify your knowledge of Greek/Roman stories (it helped me to retain the names of characters, which I often have a problem with when reading plot summaries), and, if your library has it, the Martin S. Day series on the history of English Literature, in three volumes. It's out of print, but a great study tools. Masterplots, if you can check them out or access them in a library, are good for Victorian mega novels and Continental Lit (Goethe, Ibsen, Mann, Balzac, Brecht, etc), though you shouldn't focus too much here. As for the 20th century stuff, focus on any Noble Prize winner, look over Nortons, and possibly through Salon.Com's Guide to Contemporary Authors, but realize that, especially with the last 50 years of lit, it's anybody's guess who they might pick. Good luck!
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Title: The Best Test Preparation for the Gre: Literature in English by James S. Malek, Thomas C. Kennedy, Pauline Beard, Robert Liftig, Bernadette Brick ISBN: 0878913467 Publisher: Research & Education Assn Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature (Oxford Paperback Reference) by Margaret Drabble, Jenny Stringer ISBN: 0192800396 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature by James David Hart ISBN: 0195047710 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: November, 1988 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J. A. Cuddon, Claire Preston ISBN: 0140513639 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Kaplan GRE Exam 2004 with CD-ROM by Kaplan ISBN: 0743241428 Publisher: Kaplan Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $33.00 |
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