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how many of you guys felt that the lit. was harder than expected. i thought today's test leaned a bit more on the DIFFICULT side - even Barron's with their notoriously hard practice tests couldn't have prepared you for today's lit...at least that's my 2c.

By Missgrapes (Missgrapes) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 07:46 am: Edit

i thought it was hard when i went through it the first time. however i finished early and went back over my answers and felt a lot more sure about them than i had initially... one of the passages (the stich over stitch one) was a bit ambiguous but the rest were ok.
i thought these were about the standard of barrons which is surprising as they are usually harder thanthe real test.

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 08:26 am: Edit

you're lucky you got a chance to go back over them - i didn't even have enough time to finish - i left about 3 questions out...and i was SERIOUSLY guessing on some of the others. The test was like a barrons, but like a hard barrons. i have to agree with you though, the 'kudzu' poem (was that the stich over stich one?) wasn't that hard in itself, but the answer choices were hard to choose from because most of them didn't even sound accurate...The second-last passage was the one that threw me though - i couldn't tell if it was more political or religious - help! how did you find it?

By Missgrapes (Missgrapes) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 08:31 am: Edit

which one was the second to last one...? the sleep one?

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 08:34 am: Edit

no, it was the one about the "humanity" of whats-his-name. You know, the one about how he tried to compromise, was never truly devout. was he a clergy-man or a politician? one.

By Missgrapes (Missgrapes) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 08:44 am: Edit

i think he was a politician as it said that he would never jeopardise his "seat" .. i assumed this meant a political seat. i found that passage fairly hard. In the first passage, did the "stratagems" mean that they were suspicious of eachother? i was torn between this and "being aware of eachothers schemes" but settled for the suspicious one...

By Sevenblackitten (Sevenblackitten) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 11:15 am: Edit

Yeah I settle for the "suspicious" one too, coz I thought all the others were even less accurate. Oh well. I think I completely screwed up on the second passage (the poem about the garden). Gah.

By Cognitio (Cognitio) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 12:39 pm: Edit

I went for suspicious as well.

I'm good at this kind of thing, and I thought that this test was *hard* (not because the reading was particularly difficult, but there were a number of tricky and/or ambiguous questions).

What did everyone put for the one in the poem about expressing emotion at partings (I think it might've been the last question even) that asked which of the listed things WASN'T standard practice when parting? Given the excerpt, i didn't think anything listed there fit this category...

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 12:53 pm: Edit

oh, yah, that one...i put "the deep" ---> because the poet compared the shallow floods (superficial but conventional) to deep waters (true grief) being still. But yah, it was tricky. And on that same parting poem, what did you guys put for the speaker's description in the beginning - was he describing things a typical lover would do, but that he didn't do...or was he describing his surpise at his lack of emotion at the woman's leaving?

THEN: for the slave prose piece, i put the statagem was that they each viewed each other with suspicion...but i wasn't sure if it should have been mutual antagonism/both unaware of each's schemes.
Also: Was the tone question "bitter irony"?

What did you guys put for the EXCEPT question about slavery (newspapers?). And the one about human nature (essentially evil?)

And in the last passage how is Mrs. Hodd/whatever's character revealed: through narrator's description or through her own words? What did she mean by that funny line with lots of dialectual lingo: something like :"look'd ...eyes...heart..." ??? I really can't remember the line but what was she saying about her love for the man?

Gosh, i know this is a lot - but that last question was really killing me! The lit was hard - end of story. Difficult pieces, yes, but difficult questions, maybe, but DIFFICULT answers to choose from. They all seemed wrong!!!

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 02:48 pm: Edit

This test sucked...

"the deep" was correct...

Wilberforce was a politician

By Worthfightingfo (Worthfightingfo) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 02:57 pm: Edit

i should have chosen the deep i was thinking it.

the test was hard, it definitely was.

the SLEEP one...oh my. I thought this was SO ambiguous! I couldn't decide whether the person was thinking about committing suicide or if he was just thinking about the past day and the problems in it. i really did not like the sleep one.

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 03:20 pm: Edit

Is the curve determined by the scores that people get on the test, or is it predetermined?

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 03:40 pm: Edit

I didn't think the sleep one was about suicide. And that dude was a politician.

The slave prose piece was from "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," which I've read already, and that made it harder. What did you guys put for what he was not? I think the choices were "determined," "resourceful," "Devout," "fair-minded," and something else. Since I read the book, I knew they were ALL true...but I put devout, since the passage didn't really talk about religion. Also, I chose "suspicious" for the stratagems one, "newspapers" for the thing that's not true about slaves, and "naturally evil" for the human nature one.

For the parting poem, I don't think he was surprised at his lack of emotion...he felt deep sadness, but didn't show it through flowery goodbyes and dramatic weeping and all that, and he wanted to make sure his ladyfriend didn't think he was indifferent. He thought the flowery folks weren't truly grieving.

I had NO idea what was up with that question about Mrs. Hodd's heart. I put that it was "unchanging and out of her control."

I didn't think the selections were that difficult to understand, nor were the questions hard...it's just that so many answers were similar ("a useful thing has a certain beauty" "even being used is a wonder" ...i mean, come on) and poorly-worded or vague. it was harder than i expected, yeah, but i also didn't study at all...

By Cognitio (Cognitio) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 03:56 pm: Edit

I agree wholeheartedly Dotcommie - I put "even being used is a wonder" since the poem uses the word "astounding," which doesn't neccesarily imply that it's beautiful, but I agree that it was fairly ambiguous, as were many other answers.

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 03:57 pm: Edit

Can you guys post the questions and answers to as many questions as you can remember? I'm really interested in seeing how I did because i'm not sure whether i want to cancel my scores or not yet.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:10 pm: Edit

Yeah, I initially put the beauty answer but I changed it to "even being used is a thing of wonder" because it never talked about BEAUTY per se.

I liked that Twick'nam Garden poem.

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:26 pm: Edit

Sorry Dotcommie - you're on your own there!! The Garden poem was....yah. (coughs)I think the exam condition ruins the beauty of the poems - like the "Over and Over Stitch": any other place, any other time, and that poem would really have spoken to me. I liked it...but in an exam such a statement is incongruous! 2 each his own!

Hey, was the Twick'nam Garden related to the one about sleep - or am i getting them mixed up? For the sleep sonnet, did you put very calming or lulling? was the poppy poison or narcotic? Was the imagery night or garden? was he escaping conscious?

in the garden one - was it Eden and snake?

And then for the O&o Stitch, what is satisfaction: luck or accepting the unexpected?

Was the answer to the politician question about the clergy or something 'C'? (#53)?

Yah, well, thanks guys - it's comforting to be getting feedback from others who r in the same boat.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:30 pm: Edit

The Twicknam Garden one wasn't the one about sleep..but that poem was pretty, too. The Garden one was about frost and winter and feeling guilty for ruining the garden and all that. It was the one with the poppy question and eden...I think you got two poems mixed up

I put lulling, narcotic, (I don't remember this question - can you elaborate?), escaping, the garden was eden and his dissatisfaction was the snake, accepting what we have, and politician.

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:30 pm: Edit

Lol... I put the "most soothing" (or something), narcotic, and death imagery.

By Elizabeth22 (Elizabeth22) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:30 pm: Edit

This test was so much harder than the last time I took it (in June). Luckily, I did fairly well then (750), so it won't matter so much when I get a 500 this time.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:31 pm: Edit

Oh, oops, I put "most soothing," i think. Man, this test was so long ago..ha.

I remember the death/night question now. I put "death" because it talked about caskets and embalming.

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:35 pm: Edit

What do you guys think the curve will be like? How many can you miss to get a 700?


I was only planning on taking Writing and US history today, but i decided to take literature just for the hell of it. I think i made a huge mistake though, cause i haven't done AP lit yet, only AP lang/comp, so poetry wise, i was pretty confused alot of the time. I had no idea on the iambic pentameter and which words should have 2 syllabols, etc.

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:35 pm: Edit

For the imagery "night or garden" one I put death. Or...are we thinking of the same one? The one I'm thinking of they gave two lines with the imagery. One of them had to do with embalming, another a coffin.

The poppy one...I put memory. I probably should have left it blank, I had a funny feeling about it.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:38 pm: Edit

The iambic pentameter one was "oiled" and something.

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:50 pm: Edit

but wasn't the sleep one "very calming"? how did you come to "lulling" instead --> hey, Dotcommie -here's a perfect example of how silly the answer choices were: Who can honestly tell me the CLEAR DISTINCTION between sleep being calming and sleep being lulling...what do they honestly expect from us when they give us about 7 minutes to read and analyse a poem, then choose from AMBIGUOUSLY SIMILAR answers? Lit was such a joke. I hear you Moocow961 - Lit was more like my back-up lets-hope-it'll-give-me-a-great-score test. So much for that!

For the sonnet question on the Sleep poem, confirm the only thing that was unusal about the poem as a sonnet was that the last two lines weren't rhyming couplets? And hey you all got that one of the poems (either the Sleep or the Garden one - you're right Dotcommie ---> they're both just a blurr now!) was written in one line... or did anyone put the answer about the "accents".?? <--wtf!

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:53 pm: Edit

The "accents" answer was wrong, i think.

Yep..the rhyming couplets thing is right.

I really don't remember if I put "most soothing" or "lulling." I think I put "most soothing" because it sounded more like an epithet, which fit the tone of the poem.

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:55 pm: Edit

Yeah, there were a bunch of weird questions... I wish i could remember more of the test, though. Its pretty much all a blur now.

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 04:55 pm: Edit

For that lulling one, I put lulling because it talked about sleep's "hymn" which I thought was comparable to a lullaby.

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:03 pm: Edit

hey, i put oiled and somethingelse-ed for the pentameter one. See, that is also an example of why the test was hard. Fairly stright forward question - but you were required to spend about 2 1/2 minutes reading each bldy line and counting the beats and metres like a blimming idiot, inserting each answer choice until you heard a *click*! Lit was a big disappointment for me. (sighs). hey did you guys have melancholy for one of the answers to one of the questions --> the blur becomes a fog....!

Speculations about the curve are more than welcome. Especially speculations about a generous curve - let's keep everyone happy until the 23rd shall we?!

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:15 pm: Edit

Heh...i was tapping my pencil on the table to the beats of the poem like an idiot. Although, it was nice to have an easy question, even if it was time consuming. I also got melancholy on that one you're talking about.

RE: the curve...someone posted a curve from the 10 Real SATs for a 61-question test that was

61-55: 800
44+45: 700

maybe this one will be similar? P.S. don't make me wait another day - it's the 22nd, not the 23rd

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:16 pm: Edit

Haha...I think I put melancholy for something or another. One of the other choices was "bitterly ironic," which someone mentioned before, and I'm pretty sure that's wrong.

By Cognitio (Cognitio) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:18 pm: Edit

I think the answer was "most lulling" and not "very soothing" because the line from the poem is something like "soothest sleep" - The way I read that, the "-est" suffix implies that sleep is the *most* soothing thing possible, and since soothing and lulling are essentially synonymous, I chose the one that had "most" rather than "very".

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:23 pm: Edit

I put bitterly ironic for a question on the piece about the slave...but I'm pretty sure that my "melancholy" came from the one about the woman in the country whose husband died at sea.

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:30 pm: Edit

right Cognitio - nice logic there! Well, since no one else put "very calm" (which in retrospect does seem OBVIOUSLY wrong!) i guess i can say I have a maximum of around 57 right...

What did you get for the passage about Mrs. Hodd where they ask how her character is revealed? Is it through the narrator's comments on her love for pennygolds or whatever the flower was called, or was it through her own remeniscings, or was it through the narrators comments about her decisions? And what was the main topic of that passage: Mrs. Hodd's love for the flowers, her past, a special event that brought shared memories???

i agree that the prose passages were a nice break from the convoluted poems...you know: stuff written in ACTUAL ENGLISH!! . But how many people where shocked (to put it mildly) to see the length of the first passage. I mean, Barron's prose passages are hardly ever more than one side. So when i saw that first one going about 1 and 1/2 sides i was like wtf!! Then on to the abstract poetry ... it was downhill from there!

Smile - the 22nd is one day closer than the 23rd!

By Tula (Tula) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:32 pm: Edit

what was "the dream" - happiness that could never be realised?

By Moocow961 (Moocow961) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:45 pm: Edit

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was "most soothing" and "melancholy."

By Pupsingh (Pupsingh) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:46 pm: Edit

i put happiness that could never be realized.
phew i thought i was the only one who thought it was hard. does this mean the curve will be more lenient at all? predetermined??

By Worthfightingfo (Worthfightingfo) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 05:48 pm: Edit

and for the sleeping poem..."our eyes" what was the answer to that?

- I put most calming for the "soothest sleep" because lulling makes no sense..if its lulling, he would be asleep by now.
- no rhyming couplet
- iambic i chose like one of the last ones..I don't know why I chose it I have a feeling it was wrong anyways.
- bitter ironic and melancholy too.
- I chose one of the accents answers..the 1st of the two I think.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 06:11 pm: Edit

for "the dream," i put something about affections.

mrs. hodd's character was revealed by her reminiscings.

i put something about shared memories for one of the questions...

i can barely remember the "our eyes" one. can you elaborate?

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 06:17 pm: Edit

Yeah the "our eyes" one gave me fits. It was the first question of the sleep passage. Something like: what does the use of "our" in line 3 say about the meaning of lines 1-4? I put that he was generalizing his own feelings.

By Cognitio (Cognitio) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 06:32 pm: Edit

I put generalizing too...I don't think it's a very good answer, but the others were worse. That's ETS' questions for you, unfortunately.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Ah. yeah, I put "generalizing," too.

By Toomuch2say87 (Toomuch2say87) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 09:25 pm: Edit

whoops, put irony for that one..thats wat i get for doing 5 questions in 30 seconds haha. seems i got most of them right though ,i'm surprised i thought i sucked

By Superman53142 (Superman53142) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 11:06 pm: Edit

Does anyone know the name of the parting poem? I really liked that one but forgot what it was called

By Recordingwater (Recordingwater) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 11:21 pm: Edit

These were my answers for the ambiguous ones:

I put "lulling" for the sleep one, because I remember going back and reading it and the speaker said something like, "close my eyes right now in the middle of this rhyme" or something like that, so I figured he really wanted it to put him to sleep.

I put generalizing for "our eyes" because nothing else made sense.

No rhyming couplet

oilED

I said the strategems in the slave-reading piece were because the owner and slave had open hostility towards each other? I guess suspicious makes more sense though.

MY OWN QUESTIONS:

Why did the sleep poem person not welcome light/day? I put it was something like, he didn't want to deal with the troubles of the day or something. Or he didn't want to deal with SOME kind of thing.

Also, the Twicknam Garden poem.. There was a question regarding what the speaker compared the garden to. OBVIOUSLY it was Eden, but there were two "Eden" choices. One was that Satan was his ex-gf or love interest, and the other was that Satan was his own misery or something. I put that Satan was his own misery, what did you guys put?

I HATED the Over and Over Stitch passage. At first I saw the date (1980's) and I was like YES, A POEM IN REAL ENGLISH!!! and then it was all ambiguous and crap.

Ugh, just hoping for around a 750..

I'm honestly surprised I had time left over though. I had about 15 minutes to go back and check. In all my practice tests, I'd only have about 5 minutes to spare.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 11:22 pm: Edit

I dunno, but I liked it too :/ What's the name of the sleeping poem?

By Tula (Tula) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 03:24 am: Edit

Alright, all poetry lovers - here it is:

Keat's "Sonnet to Sleep" - http://www.raspberryworld.com/today/sleep.html

Graham's "Over and Over Stitch" -http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/279828

Donne's "Twicknam Garden" -http://www.bartleby.com/105/8.html

Superman53142 - which one was the parting poem...please elaborate?

By Rubbernecking (Rubbernecking) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 09:40 am: Edit

I got those same two answers that you got, recordingwater.

By Dotcommie (Dotcommie) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 11:31 am: Edit

Yeah, I put those same two answers for your questions, recordingwater.

By Superman53142 (Superman53142) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 03:30 pm: Edit

It was about how the author didn't show the usual exclamatory emotions on the parting of his beloved because they could not convey the depth of his desparity.