Response to Petersen's Diagnostic Test

When I first took the test, I was rather surprised to start off with a name I recognized from my Brit Lit class, John Donne.  Even with this little confidence boost, however, I ended up getting many questions in this section wrong, which was a little annoying.  I think that I got bogged down in details of the piece rather than trying to go for the big picture.  For example, on question 6, which asked about the major conceit of the text, I chose "lovers as a compass," but the real answer was "earthquakes and celestial movement."  The reasoning behind my answer choice was that Donne seemed to refer to the love in his poem as a journey, which I extrapolated to mean a direction for life.

I also found myself falling into that wonderful trap of self-doubt, which led me to choose the "safer" answer choice on some questions that I was a little iffy on.  On number 12, I was choosing between choices d and e because I knew Austen often poked fun at the gentry.  However, I decided to go with the idea that she glorified the middle class because I thought that was her message, rather than the simple choice that she "finds the Bennets ridiculous."

Even with these mistakes, I was still very happy to see a lot of familiar names and concepts, especially in the last set of questions, which I remembered learning about in my American Lit class.  I also think that because that section was nonfiction, it was easier to understand, as opposed to the other narrative, which was from the middle of a story.  

All in all, I'd say the diagnostic experience was very enlightening, and I have a clearer idea of things to focus on for this year.