GRE Literature in English (REA) - The Best Test Prep for the GRE (Test Preps) (Paperback)

~ James S. Malek (Author), Thomas C. Kennedy (Author), Pauline Beard (Author), Robert Liftig (Author), Bernadette Brick (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This test preparation book includes six full-length exams with detailed explanations modeled after the actual GRE in Literature in English. Presents questions based on various works of English and American literature of all periods. Also includes a suggested reading list of literary works. For English students bound for graduate school.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Research & Education Association (December 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878913467
• ISBN-13: 978-0878913466
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #156,473 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Revised Version of an Inferior Test Prep Guide, August 19, 2004

By	Martin Asiner (jersey city, nj United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When REA (Research & Education Association) released its initial version of GRE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH in 1989, I bought it to prepare myself for that test. I was not particularly impressed with the organization or the lack of suggestion as to how to best make use of the material presented. Still, authors Beard, Kennedy, Liftig, and Malek included six full length exams with explanations. That was 230 x 6 or 1,380 test prep questions. I took the test and scored middlingly. Years later, I learned to "psyche" out the test and was surprised to discover a new and supposedly updated version. In this newer version, Malek cuts down the number of tests from 6 to 3. Nearly every one of the regurgitated questions is a reprint from nearly 15 years ago, thus ensuring that this text does not reflect any of the major changes in test content during that time. What Malek does try is to emulate the far more successful paradign put out by the Princeton Review's CRACKING THE GRE LITERATURE by codifying the vast array of western literature: genres, timelines, book and author lists, literary terms, schools of literary criticism, etc. The problem is that Malek did not do half as thorough a job as the Princeton Review did. Malek does little more than to use an overly broad brush to skim a distressingly long list of required readings without giving any hint as how to best do that. True, neither did the Princeton Review, but at least the latter presented a methodology that was reasonable. This is not to say that Malek's updated text is useless. Anything, no matter how scant, that prepares you for a mind-numbing test has its uses, but if you insist on using Malek, you might prefer to go to the library to find the 1989 version that gives more preparation than its more recent cousin. By the way, Malek's test questions themselves: many of them are so outlandish that one is amazed that he thinks ETS will ask such trivia.

You have been warned.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a more recent take, November 5, 2003

By	"ianwilson23" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

It seems the flurry of GRE prep book reviews were in 2001, but since ETS hasn't updated the test since then, none of the major publishers have come out with a new book. I've tried both this one and McMullen's Princeton Review book, and Princeton's is far superior. I usually don't write reviews, but I feel morally compelled to prevent you from spending your money on this book.

Comparisons aside, even if I had never laid eyes on any test prep book before, I would recognize REA's book for the shoddy and unprofessional publication it is. A good example is the exact same question that appeared twice in the same practice exam. Most publishers prefer to edit their books before publication, but clearly REA has their own awful way of doing things.

Half of the practice exams more closely resemble the AP English Literature test than the GRE, with questions that test high school favorites, distracter choices that border on satire to the extent that they are incorrect, and (IMHO) more obvious references to Satan (in Paradise Lost) than an Ozzfest concert. Honestly, I half-expected to see a John Grisham quotation on their practice exams. The other half of the questions test material only specialists would be expected to know. Many questions focus on knowing obscure vocabulary (NOT literary terms) and plot details that would never appear on a real test. (Can you remember if King Arthur gave his sword to Sir Bedivere or Sir Galahad? You think ETS cares?) Also, in a surprising twist, these practice tests were even MORE Eurocentric than the ETS-authored sample tests I've taken. (One question asks you to identify Frederick Douglass not as a memoirist or author, but simply as "an escaped slave.")

If you're like me, and you think maybe you'll just get the book for the practice exams because the ETS book is out of print, think again! Honestly, you'd be better off with Norton anthology flashcards. (If they made them.)

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is completely out of date!, November 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best Test Preparation for the Gre: Literature in English (Graduate Record Examination in Literature in English) (Paperback)

I just took the 1998 Subject test last week, and I can tell you it does not at all resemble the practice tests in this book. Although this book has a 1997 copyright date, I discovered after months of studying and stressing out that it contains practice tests which are clearly extremely out of date. I took four of the six tests in the book and scored in the 50-60th percentile each time. This surprised me since I have quite a good background in English lit. So I set to work cramming all kinds of obscure authors and literary terms. Then I got the official practice book from the ETS, and surprise! It contained a very different practice test, with much more contemporary questions on literary theory, non-canonical writers, etc. I sat down and took that practice test and scored in the 99th percentile! All that pain for nothing...Don't make the mistake I made! Find another practice book, and make sure it contains test questions similar to those in the official ETS book.