Welcome

[cridamour]

Hello everybody!!!!
... and welcome to our very own section in the GRE Subject Tests part of this forum!! I guess this officially means we are no longer considered to be weirdos! I'm feeling better already!
I hope this will be success! (a success in this case means that I find at least one other person planning to take the test, so we can exchange info on study material and can nag to each other when we're down , I am secretly hoping to find more people interested in the test, though...)
Anyhow, here we go!!!!

[aquariumdrinker]

you are not alone. i'm, it seems, the 3rd person studying for the GRE lit test to have stumbled onto this site. I'm currently in the process of obtaining the nortons i don't already have, and panicking about this little test (along with the standard GRE, my writing sample and my personal statement), so it's good to have a few people going through the same thing here. Where are you all looking to apply? and when? or have you decided those things yet?

[cridamour]

Hello and welcome!!!
You're actually number 4 in our select group of freaks going for a Lit degree in Graduate School!
I'm interested in Comparative Literature. I haven't made a final selection of schools yet, I'm still going through websites and checking out faculty research interests and stuff. A couple of universities I have decided I'll give a try are: Yale (I have to keep dreaming!), Cornell, UC Irvine, Indiana-Bloomington, Rutgers-New Brunswick, University of Iowa. But this list is still subject to change, and some more universities will still be added, 'cause I really want to go in 2006 (Fall) and will therefore apply to quite a large number of universities (around 15, I was thinking).
How about you? Maybe we can/should create a special thread (within the GRE Lit Test Forum) for our study plans and other things not really related to the GRE Lit Test...

[aspelt]

I am yet another lonely soul studying for the GRE Subject Test in Literature. It's good to know that I'm not the only one out there! I'll be taking it in the fall, so I'm spending the summer preparing. I have a question: Is there a good source for additional practice tests? I've taken the one at the ETS website, and I have The Princeton Rewiew's Cracking the GRE Literature Test, which has a practice test, but I'd like to get my hands on a few more!

[cridamour]

Welcome!!!
You'll need a lot of courage just to prepare for the GRE Lit Test, and that's what this Forum is for (among many other things!), to keep your morale up at all times, so that you don't lose time feeling miserable and feeling you can't do it, because you'll need that time to prepare, and you can do it!!!!
So, for a good pep-talk, or information on anything regarding the GRE or the application process, this is the place to be!!! (How about that for a rallying cry!) GOOD LUCK WITH THE STUDYING!

Now, down to business, Sonyalynne posted in another thread that the ETS study book has three practice tests but that it is out of print at the moment. So, you might try to find one second-hand somewhere. Unfortunately, practice tests are hard to come by, since ETS doesn't like making more tests than necessary (I'm sure it's a drag just coming up with 230 new questions every time...).

[GREatly_in_aGREement]

http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/e...asp?faqnum=1#5 says:


Does the English Graduate Program require the GRE English Literature Subject Test?All English graduate applicants must take the General GRE. The subject exam is not required. It is advisable to take the test as early as possible since no application can be considered complete without the results (which must be sent directly from Educational Testing Service).




What do you think about this??

[manusrat]

Hello!
It's good to know that there are many like me worried about a big exam! It is certainly going to inspire me. Probably I'm the only person writing this exam from Bangladesh. It does really take courage to want to do something different. No one here thinks it's worth writing a GRE in English Lit. But I'm happy to know some how I'm connected to other people around the globe by the same kind of dream.

[cridamour]

http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/e...asp?faqnum=1#5 says:


Does the English Graduate Program require the GRE English Literature Subject Test?All English graduate applicants must take the General GRE. The subject exam is not required. It is advisable to take the test as early as possible since no application can be considered complete without the results (which must be sent directly from Educational Testing Service).




What do you think about this??

Actually, I've come across a lot of similar statements at other universities' websites. It seems that (for Comparative Literature, which is what I'm focusing on) most universities do not mention the Subject Test and only refer to the general test, or tell you it is not necessary to take the Subject Test. Another group of universities seems to "recommend" students to take it. I haven't come across any university which actually requires you to take the Subject Test for a PhD in Comparative Literature... I am therefore doubting whether to take it at all, I'd probably benefit more from trying to get a paper published and getting my GRE General scores up, instead of wasting time studying the GRE general, which is not required anyhow, and seriously risking doing badly on it, maybe even deciding not to use it if it's bad, or using it and lowering my chances of getting into a good program!!!!! It really takes a lot of Internet-surfing to find out all of this stuff. I had already started studying! (And I did poorly on a test I tried...)
Definitely something to think about! I don't know how the situation is for English Lit PhDs though. In general, however, I think the quality of your writing sample and letter or recommendation are still more important than GRE scores, of course, if the university asks for them... you'll have to present them.

[manusrat]

Hello Cridamour and every one!
Long time no see. I liked your encouraging posts. How's your studying going on? We are supposed to post more information for each other. Haven't seen any for quite some time. Does any one know the date of the exam in Novemberber. Last time it was on the 13th. When will the ETS post the date? We need to register early.
What about your proposals? Some universities give word limits for writing proposals? What do they expect in this writeups? Suppose I am interested in Postcolonial literature. Do I have to make my proposals very scholarly or do they require it to be a critical writeup? Can any one advice? Is there any websites that can give us guidelines to write good personal statements? Is there any difference between personal statement and PhD proposals? Hope you guys are working hard for the GRE. Wish you all the best.

[cridamour]

Hi Manusrat! I see you've been working very hard to prepare for the tests! I have decided not to take the GRE subject, well, maybe I'll take it, but since most of the Comparative literature programs don't require it, I think it will be better for me to focus on other things instead. I think the new dates for the GRE subject will be announced somewhere in August or so, but I'm not sure. I haven't been able to study much for the GRE general lately, since it's exam time for my students, and I'm correcting hundreds and hundreds of exams at the moment! But I take about 30 minutes each day to study some words and to read an article in The Economist or so.

Now, about the Statement of Purpose (SOP), I would suggest www.essayedge.com . Every school has specific directions for your SOP, so it's important to select your programs first, and then see if they want you to focus on your background, or on your future plans, or something else. Of course, you can write a general SOP and just adapt it according to the specific wishes of the university. But make sure you do adapt it and you don't just write one SOP and use it for all the programs you are applying to...

GOOD LUCK!!!