Armenian Language and Literature
Language core
Know the seven Armenian cases (ուղղական, սեռական, տրական, հայցական, բացառական, գործիական, ներգոյական) and be able to name the case of any noun in a sentence. Verbs carry mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive), tense and person, and the ending must agree with the subject. In spelling, watch the ligature և, the instrumental ending -ով, and words where a vowel drops or appears when a suffix is added. In syntax, identify the grammatical base (ենթակա and ստորոգյալ) and decide whether the sentence is simple or complex; subordinate clauses are set off with commas on both sides.
Literature
The syllabus runs from Movses Khorenatsi and Grigor Narekatsi (Book of Lamentations, 1002) through Sayat-Nova, Khachatur Abovyan (Wounds of Armenia, 1841, the first Armenian novel), Mikael Nalbandyan, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Avetik Isahakyan, Yeghishe Charents and Paruyr Sevak. For each work be ready to state the theme, the idea, the genre and one or two artistic devices.
Traps
Questions routinely mix up author and title, ask you to separate a simile (համեմատություն, built with պես, նման) from a metaphor, and offer lines that sound poetic but contain no device at all. In grammar items, distractors exploit the difference between a simple sentence with homogeneous parts and a genuine compound sentence.
Rule of thumb and worked example
When a device question asks what is used, locate the comparison word first. In «Նա արևի պես պայծառ էր» the word պես makes it a simile, not a metaphor, although the image is the same. For punctuation, if a group of words has its own subject and predicate and cannot stand alone, it is subordinate - put commas on both sides.