01-21-2010, 08:34 AM
Hi,
Yesterday I took the Clep test for American Literature and passed! I studied for about a week before I took the test. Here are the resources that I used:
Idiot's Guide to American Lit: I read through this book once and I read a couple parts of it twice through. It is very helpful for familiarity.
Petersons Tests: These were a pretty good resource. In fact, some of the quotes used on these practice exams were actually on the real test. They do get a little too detailed with the lives of certain authors and time period questions, though.
Flashcards: This is a "resource" I made. I made flashcards of each author, his/her major works, and the time period they were in. The Idiot's Guide has 100 of the most famous authors in the front of the book which is a good guide to know what authors to use. I actually had 109 in all! A bit more information than I needed, perhaps, but it REALLY helped!!
As far as the test went...analyzing plays a fairly good part of the test (although there wasn't quite as much as English Lit. has). Knowing some famous authors, their major works, and what those works were about is pretty important. Some major works I would highly encourage knowing (and that I answered questions about on the test) are: The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, The Sun Also Rises, Huck Finn, Sleepy Hollow, The Awakening...I didn't have a time-cram at all for this test, but finished with plenty of time to review. Some of the questions that were on the test are:
What is "Brook Farm"
What is Amy Tan's "Joy's Luck Club" about
An exterp when a guy approaches a house and is "spooked" by it (The House of Seven Gables, I think)
What is the message of "The Scarlet Letter"
What is the reason Thoreau gave for going to Walden pond
Be able to recognize some Regional authors from non
I think there was a question asking me about free verse poets
There was a question on Transcendentalism
A question did have me put three different magazines with the author that worked/published there (ie Margaret Fuller worked for The Dial)
What book created the character "Compson"
This test was a bit more challenging than English Lit. but memorization is what got me through with a passing score in somewhat short amount of study time. Good luck to anyone that is going to be taking this test in the future!!
`Dakota
Yesterday I took the Clep test for American Literature and passed! I studied for about a week before I took the test. Here are the resources that I used:
Idiot's Guide to American Lit: I read through this book once and I read a couple parts of it twice through. It is very helpful for familiarity.
Petersons Tests: These were a pretty good resource. In fact, some of the quotes used on these practice exams were actually on the real test. They do get a little too detailed with the lives of certain authors and time period questions, though.
Flashcards: This is a "resource" I made. I made flashcards of each author, his/her major works, and the time period they were in. The Idiot's Guide has 100 of the most famous authors in the front of the book which is a good guide to know what authors to use. I actually had 109 in all! A bit more information than I needed, perhaps, but it REALLY helped!!
As far as the test went...analyzing plays a fairly good part of the test (although there wasn't quite as much as English Lit. has). Knowing some famous authors, their major works, and what those works were about is pretty important. Some major works I would highly encourage knowing (and that I answered questions about on the test) are: The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, The Sun Also Rises, Huck Finn, Sleepy Hollow, The Awakening...I didn't have a time-cram at all for this test, but finished with plenty of time to review. Some of the questions that were on the test are:
What is "Brook Farm"
What is Amy Tan's "Joy's Luck Club" about
An exterp when a guy approaches a house and is "spooked" by it (The House of Seven Gables, I think)
What is the message of "The Scarlet Letter"
What is the reason Thoreau gave for going to Walden pond
Be able to recognize some Regional authors from non
I think there was a question asking me about free verse poets
There was a question on Transcendentalism
A question did have me put three different magazines with the author that worked/published there (ie Margaret Fuller worked for The Dial)
What book created the character "Compson"
This test was a bit more challenging than English Lit. but memorization is what got me through with a passing score in somewhat short amount of study time. Good luck to anyone that is going to be taking this test in the future!!
`Dakota
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