The test contained 230 questions, grouped in four broad categories. Since many students who apply to graduate programs in English do so during the first half of their fourth year, the scope of most questions was largely that of the first three years of a standard American undergraduate English curriculum. A sampling of test item content is given below:
Literary analysis (40-55%) • Conventions and genres • Allusions and references • Meaning and tone • Grammar and
rhetoric • Literary techniques
Identification (15-20%) This section tested the ability of examinees to perform recognition of date, author or work by style and/or content. The literary-historical scope of the test is as follows: • Continental, classical and comparative literature through 1925 (5-10%) • British literature through 1660 (including
John Milton) (25-30%) • British literature from 1660 to 1925 (25-30%) • American literature through 1925 (15-25%) • Literature in English after 1925 (20-30%)
Cultural and historical contexts (20-25%) • Literary history • Cultural history • Identification of details in a work
Literary criticism (10-15%) Identification and analysis of the characteristics and methods of various critical and theoretical approaches. ==See also==