The GRE Literature in English Test was a standardized test administered by the Educational Testing Service. It was intended to evaluate applicants seeking admission to a graduate program in English Studies. The test surveyed a wide range of topics related to literature in English, but the focus was mainly on works long accepted as part of the canon. Scores were scaled and then reported as a number between 200 and 800; however, in recent versions of the test, the maximum and minimum reported scores had been 760 (corresponding to the 99 percentile) and 320 (1 percentile) respectively. The mean score for all test takers from July, 2009, to July, 2012, was 549 with a standard deviation of 99. ETS decided to discontinue the test after April 2021.

Content specification

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%)

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:

Cultural and historical contexts (20-25%)

Literary criticism (10-15%)

Identification and analysis of the characteristics and methods of various critical and theoretical approaches.