Results!

Success stories from people who have used Vade Mecum:

From Samantha:

I just wanted to thank you for creating and maintaining the Vade Mecum for the English lit GRE. I didn't realize how much one had to study for the test and ended up stranded in Japan (where I'm currently working), where I was informed that the princeton review book "did not exist in the country." Without Vade Mecum I would have been completely busted, but studying with your site I actually ended up doing 93rd percentile.

From Andrew:

I was terrified when I first learned that this test was a gateway into English graduate school. Totally overwhelmed despite having a great background in Literature. My first practice tests were uncannily poor (I'm talking 50th percentile). I've taken some time off (not because of the test), did some extra reading, and focused heavily on your site. My scores steadily rose, and just today I got the November 3rd exam scores: 720, 98th Percentile. I'm ridiculously happy and just felt that you deserved some thanks for the amount of effort you put in.

From James in Oregon:

I was not an English major. I took only three English classes in my entire undergraduate career. I decided that I was going to apply to graduate programs in English Literature on September 4th of this year, and registered for the Lit in Eng subject test the next day. I really only began studying for the test on October 19th (the day after my General GRE test) for the November 8th test. In those three weeks, I crammed everything from your site that I could. I ended up with a 640/ 81st percentile. Though not stratospheric, it is all I need as a non-English major to demonstrate to admissions committees that I will be competitive with the English majors.

From Katharine:

"I used your website to study for the Lit. in English test in November, and I just got my scores back: 710/97th percentile! . . . I had a printout of some of your site’s pages that I took with me to the test (to read beforehand), and the guy behind me, looking over my shoulder, said, 'Oh, hey, I used that site too! Wasn’t it great?'"

From Alice

"In late October, I found myself approaching the GRE Lit Subject Test and wasn't feeling confident at all. I had "studied" for about 3 or 4 months, but not in an organized way. A few days before the test, I found Vade Mecum (last minute I know!) It was so helpful to have the entire English canon organized into approachable chunks. I used these sections to focus on areas that I was weakest in. During the test, I found several questions that I would never had known if I hadn't reviewd with Vade Mecum (the name of the stories the Bronte children wrote...). Anyway, I just called in my scores and I scored in the 85th percentile-- this is was great news for me!. As a senior undergrad student who didn't study as early or as often as I should, Vade Mecum was a great resource. Thanks!!!"

From Sara

During the 3 months before the April test your Vade Mecum had become
my homepage- when I wasn't eating, sleeping, or at work, I was
programed in to every corner of the site. I tested myself pre-Vade
Mecum- an unsettling 38%. 2 weeks before the test I tried again, 76
%. I just called my scores in and got a final score of 78%. I can
safely say that thanks to your site, my score improved by a whopping
40 percentile points. And though the test is over, and I am NOT
taking it ever again, I still pay homage to your site frequently.
It's not just a study resource for the GRE, but also helpful as a
quick refresher for any other literature purpose. I wanted to commend
you on the layout- rather than making the authors alphabetical, the
movement and era grouping is so much more logical. Being in a
non-English speaking country, I had no libraries to turn to, so
without your study guide, I would have been limited to only Italian
texts.