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What did you guys think of this test? Did you need to prep for it or is it more like a test where you need to have skills you have developed over time? What prep books, if any, would you guys recommend? Thanks!

By Flachica412 (Flachica412) on Monday, July 05, 2004 - 10:04 am: Edit

anyone?

By Jess13 (Jess13) on Monday, July 05, 2004 - 12:47 pm: Edit

it's actually pretty hard...it's more of a test you develop skills over time. You need a little prep, but all the prep books were ridiculously hard compared with the actual test. You need to know how to interpret some very ambiguous passages, and that's the majority of the test. For some comparison, I took the AP eng lang test, and the SAT II was much harder than the AP.

By Flachica412 (Flachica412) on Monday, July 05, 2004 - 01:55 pm: Edit

Thanks for the info.

By Elizabeth22 (Elizabeth22) on Monday, July 05, 2004 - 03:22 pm: Edit

I thought it was pretty tough too, but I did fairly well anyway (750). Jess is right, you can't really prep for it- but know the basic literary terminology (nothing fancy). It's not like math, where you can learn rules and theorums and stuff. You need skills that you've been developing since you started to read. You need to be able to analyze quickly and well and understand some pretty vague passages. I wouldn't recommend taking it unless you scored 700+ on your SAT I verbal. It's also helpful if you've taken the AP Language exam.

By Flachica412 (Flachica412) on Monday, July 05, 2004 - 04:10 pm: Edit

I got a 770 on verbal and a 4 on Lang exam (I had a really bad teacher and the extent of preparing for the test was me buying a prep book and reading it the week before the exam) so I am probably going to take the Literature test. I have always been an avid reader so I think I have a pretty good chance. Thanks a bunch for the info!!

By Moops (Moops) on Monday, July 05, 2004 - 08:21 pm: Edit

Literature's an interesting test. It's hard in the sense that there's no way to "prep" for it, but easy in the sense that since there isn't any way to prep for it, you can just go in and take it and not stress about it (not like how the math SAT II was for me.. ugh...).

The test is basically just dependent on your reading skills. It helps to have read harder, classic-y type books. I scored a lot higher than my friend, and while she reads all the time, it's mostly just young adult type fiction. I think that makes the difference. If you got a 770 on the verbal, you should do well. Just so you know how they compare: I got a 790 on the verbal and 800 on the literature. It seemed harder than the AP language test to me, but I haven't gotten my AP scores back so it's hard to say, lol.

Anyway, don't worry about it. I was debating between taking the US history and the literature, and I picked the lit. because I figured in history, if you don't know the answer, you just don't know it... but in literature, you have the passages in front of you and you can figure out the answers as you go.

Good luck!

By Julians (Julians) on Tuesday, July 06, 2004 - 04:10 pm: Edit

It was the easiest one I took. I'm a lit guy, though. No study or AP course. 800

By Flachica412 (Flachica412) on Tuesday, July 06, 2004 - 04:14 pm: Edit

Thanks everybody. For the record, I am going to take Literature along with Math IIC in October. Any more info though from other people is strongly valued.

By Elizabeth22 (Elizabeth22) on Tuesday, July 06, 2004 - 05:05 pm: Edit

It sounds like a good choice for you, Flachica. Your verbal score is 20 points higher than mine, and your AP Lang. score is the same, so I'm sure you'll do great. It really is low stress, like Moops said, since no matter how you do, you can't beat yourself up over not studying harder. Good Luck!