Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the SAT II: Literature

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This is the best preparation for the Literature SAT II that one can hope for, given the nature of the test; that is, improving your score in Literature is not a simple matter of learning new vocabulary words or memorizing formulas.

It's very much akin to the Critical Reading Section of the SAT I, with a few key difference: Poetry makes up half of the test, Prose selections are usually shorter, and literary definitions beyond the ubiquitous "metaphor" and "similie" are (infrequently) required. Beyond learning the extra literary definitions needed for the test, there's not much you can do (short-term) to improve your score.

HOWEVER, to ensure you know all of these terms, Ms. Myers-Shaffer gives you all of them and more in this book. In fact, the number of literary concepts, and examples of these concepts in literature, make this book an invaluable resource for English courses. Not to mention the fact that the 2 Diagnostic tests and 7 practice tests give you TONS of practice, with a body of lit that is representative of what you'll see on the test.

Keep in mind that the questions on the sample tests are more difficult than the real thing (typical of Barron's)... I took it on 12/00 and got a 710 by answering only 50/60 questions, which is a Raw Score of about 44 according to "Real SAT II: Subject Tests." On the other hand, I got this book afterwards and consistently got a 40-42/60 while taking 70 minutes. For both tests I need to work on my speed, but you can tell that your scores in this book will tend to be 50-100 points lower when taken under test-like conditions.

And yes, without the extra familiarity with format and concepts you'll get from this book, the Literature test is hard.... that 710 came after I got an 800 on the Verbal SAT I and an 800 on the Writing SAT II.

Sure, being overprepared gives you a sense of confidence when entering the test room, but the extent that this book went was utterly impractical to the point of being innaccurate about what truly is on the test. For example, it bombards you with slews of obscure literary terms, tells you that you may have to read poetry in unitelligible local dialect, and oh, knowing 500+ years of the history of literature may help. After trying the practice problems on this test I was in a state of desperation (of course I procrastinated so this is the day before the test)and was prepared to just not show up on test day because it seemed so hopeless. However, after trying the Princeton Review book, I decided that if the problems were more like PR's the test actually might be doable. While the test was hard, it was no where near Barron's level; PR was much more accurate. I couldn't break 700 on Barrons and ended up getting a 780 on the real thing. Unless you have a ton of time to prepare, I really would not recommend Barrons. In the end though, what will prepare you the most for the SAT II Literature are the skills you've acquired over the years in English class and reading challenging poetry and prose on your own time.

The Barron's book wasn't that bad - it had a lot of extraneous information I didn't have to know, but its exercises and practice tests really got me into the mindset of what to look for in the real test. You should do all the exercises and practice tests in this book; coupled with the Kaplan book, you should be able to break a 700 =)

This book wasn't very helpful, and the organization was confusing. This book is only good for its practice tests - I did a couple of those and got a 750.