Literature is one of the largest pieces of the LET English Major exam. You'll see questions on Philippine, American, British, and world literature — authors, characters, themes, and literary devices. Strong literature scores often decide whether examinees clear the English Major cut-off.
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Sample questions with answers and explanations
Sample 1
Which literary genre is characterized by a long narrative poem that recounts the adventures of a heroic figure whose actions reflect the values and traditions of a culture?
ASonnet
BEpic✓
CElegy
DBallad
Answer: B
An epic is a long narrative poem (sometimes thousands of lines) celebrating the adventures and heroic deeds of a central figure. The hero's actions embody the values and history of their culture. Homer's 'Iliad' chronicles the Trojan War. Virgil's 'Aeneid' recounts Aeneas's founding of Rome. Milton's 'Paradise Lost' retells the fall of humanity in epic form. Epics typically include supernatural elements, grand battles, and lofty language. They're foundational texts in many cultures' literary canons and teach historical and cultural values. A sonnet is a 14-line poem, an elegy mourns the dead, and a ballad is a narrative song—all much shorter and different in purpose from an epic.
Why the other choices are wrong
A. A sonnet is a 14-line poem with strict rhyme; it's not a long narrative.
C. An elegy is a poem of mourning, typically lyric (not narrative), and much shorter than an epic.
D. A ballad is a narrative song often of folk origin; it's much shorter and simpler than the formal, elevated epic.
Sample 2
Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' serves as a critical response to which Joseph Conrad novel that depicted Africans as 'savages'?
ALord Jim
BNostromo
CThe Secret Agent
DHeart of Darkness✓
Answer: D
Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel 'Things Fall Apart' directly counters Joseph Conrad's 1899 'Heart of Darkness,' which portrayed Africans as primitive savages serving as a backdrop to a white man's moral crisis. Achebe tells an Igbo story from the inside, showing a complex, functioning society before and after colonialism. His novel reclaims African agency and dignity from Conrad's Eurocentric gaze. This is a landmark example of postcolonial literature—writing that responds to or subverts colonial narratives. For ESL/ELT in the Philippines, this matters because it models how formerly colonized nations' writers use English to tell their own stories and challenge Western literary dominance. Achebe wrote 'in English' but for anti-colonial purposes.
Why the other choices are wrong
A. In 'Lord Jim,' Conrad focuses on a European man's moral failings in an Asian colonial setting, not African stereotyping.
B. In 'Nostromo,' Conrad depicts South American colonialism and greed, not African representations.
C. In 'The Secret Agent,' Conrad explores anarchism and terrorism in London, with no African content.
Sample 3
Which philosophical concept, often found in Modernist literature, suggests that the world is inherently meaningless and that individuals must create their own purpose?
AAbsurdism✓
BTranscendentalism
CUtilitarianism
DStoicism
Answer: A
Absurdism says the universe is fundamentally meaningless and indifferent to human attempts to find purpose — humans search for meaning, the universe stays silent, and the gap between the two is what's 'absurd.' Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett are the canonical absurdist writers; Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' dramatizes the absurd directly — characters wait for someone who may never arrive. Absurdism is close to existentialism (both confront meaninglessness), but existentialism is more hopeful: it argues humans can build meaning through choice and action. Absurdism is more pessimistic — the search itself is doomed, and the most you can do is laugh at the situation.
Why the other choices are wrong
B. Transcendentalism celebrates spiritual insight and human potential, the opposite of absurdism's cosmic indifference.
C. Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy about maximizing happiness, unrelated to modernist literature's absurdism.
D. Stoicism teaches acceptance of fate and emotional control, not the absurdist confrontation with meaninglessness.
