How do I tackle Lit?

[UCaliGirl9]

<p>I got a 710 Writing, but for some reason I just cannot succeed at this test. I took it on 10.9 and got a 560 because I was sick, but I just took it today and feel like I showed minimal improvement. The thing is, I bought the Real SAT Book to prep on and I got a 700 on the practice test! The test today just had a lot more deep, metaphorical poetry than prose...and that is my weakness. I have one more shot in Dec. and I really don't want to blow it. I'm applying to the UC's and I know they weight the SAT II's heavily so I'm afraid this score could kill my chances. </p>

<p>I need to practice:
1.) Finishing in the time constraints
2.) Analyzing poetry (esp. Old English)
3.) Learning more useful Lit vocab
Do you guys know of some good prep books for this?</p>

<p>Like I said I own the Real SAT II practice book and I also have the PR book but it hasn't seemed to help much :/</p>

<p>Thanks for reading all of this and for helping me out! :)</p>

[heefar7]

<p>UCaliGirl9, I wouldn't worry about getting into UCSB as long is your SAT I score is decent, like 1200 something, and your gpa is around 3.8. For UCSB, the mean SAT II composite score (all three added together) is 1753. This was for the 2003 Freshman class, so it probably was a little higher this year. With your to scores you only need to get a 550 on lit and you'd be well over 100 points higher than the average. UCSD is harder though, and I don't know the mean SAT II composite score.</p>

<p>By the way, I also took lit in october and got the same score as you and I took it today and thought it was much easier. I figure I improved by at least 40 points. Anyway, hopefully we both did better. To be honest, I know they weight the SAT II's a lot, but the third one has minimal importance. I know a bunch of people with high 600's and 700's on math and writing who got bad scores on the third one and still got into places like UCD, UCB, and UCSB. Good luck.</p>

[elizabeth22]

<p>If you didn't do well on Lit the first time, I wouldn't recommend retaking it. There's really no way to effectively prep for it. It's ridiculously hard, and it's based on skills that you've been developing since you learned to read- nothing you can get out of a prep book. I'd suggest a different test, one that's easier to prep for in a fairly short amount of time.</p>

[UCaliGirl9]

<p>Thanks for the comments. I will stick with the lit test, and hopefully I can improve a little bit at least. Elizabeth - I agree, but since I was sick when I took it and I've taken practice tests where I score SIGNFICANTLY higher I'm going to have to disagree with you that I can't do better.</p>

[elizabeth22]

<p>I never said you couldn't do better :). I said that it's hard to bring up based on studying. If you were sick the first time, then by all means give it another try.</p>