Customer Reviews

GRE Vocabulary AudioLearn

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Not the best, most innovative product out there, but it is a good companion due to its audio format. This is no ExamKrackers with Jordan and Jon for MCAT, where two hosts have interesting special effects and stories to tell. There are no anecdotal stories...

All it consists of is a computerized voice reading off vocabulary words mechanistically. Although the voice is pretty high quality, it makes pronunciation errors. For example, they pronounce epitome as 'epi tomb', instead of 'eh pih to mi' (unofficial transcriptions).

Anyway, another thing is that Amazon/Borders sells this product for 10 dollars more than the original AudioLearn website.

I thought that because these discs were mp3s that I'd be able to load them on to my iPod or have them playing on my computer, or in the car so I could have repeat exposure. Instead you have to click through each word individually and mark them as "correct" or not on top of it. The word itself and the definition are on separate tabs. This product was a huge disappointment and a waste of money.

I bought this a while ago thinking that it would be a good supplementary study aide for the GREs. Yet in no time it became my primary study aide for the vocab section. It's so easy studying with this because you can listen to it anywhere. I would listen to it in the car, on campus and during any downtime I had at work. I also really like that the vocab is broken down into sections so it's easy to go back and find specific words to review. I would recommend that if you are listening to it on an iPod to put it on shuffle or random on a CD so that you don't memorize the sequence of words but rather learn the maning. The shuffle idea works especially well with this product because the sections are broken up into smaller sections. All in all a great buy!

I haven't actually used it yet, but there is an MP3 download for $20 less at the Audio learn site.

There are two very obvious giveaways that the woman reading the words and sentances is not the one that wrote the study material:

(1) The spelling, definitions, and contextual sentances are fantastic. The use of the words in sentances makes them so much easier to memorize.

(2) The pronunciation is horrible!!! I have already counted eighteen mispronunciations on disk 3. Luckily, the GRE does not grade you on pronunciation.

So, all in all, this is great studying material--very annoying, but great. I have learned hundreds of words while doing everything else I need to do in my life.

Tip: buy this directly from audiolearn's website for $49 and you can download it immediately and put it on your ipod.

A perfect solution for a long commute that was taking away my study time. The voice tends to become monotonous after a while and when driving late at night, I limit my listening so I don't fall asleep at the wheel. At first the plethora of discs can be daunting. I've found that if I listen to one cd until I've mastered all of the words and then move on, my retention is much greater. I wish technology allowed for a way to remove words as we master them. Sometimes I zone out on words I already know and miss a few that I don't. Unfortunately, you can't skip one word at a time. The discs are set up in sections of multiple words. Overall, a good value for reclaiming my lost study time and lessening my resentment of my commute.

The Software is useless. It gives an interactive quiz where you can say it is the correct meaning or the wrong meaning... unfortunately, the answer is ALWAYS "correct meaning". not more for a quiz if the answer is predictably the same.

The CD is decent. The CD is clear. Some unnecessary statements. I don't need to know what number that word is in the list. I don't need to know that I will be given the definition or sentence example everytime.

I expected a lot more from a such an expensive CD. Don't waste your money on this product.

As the other reviewers noted, the audio format is a great way to study vocabulary. I have found it to be very beneficial, playing it in the car, at work, and at home even in the background. HOWEVER, it is filled with a plethora of pronunciation errors. I am surprised that the publisher doesn't have some sort of quality control in place to prevent this. When learning a foreign language the experts recommend that you NEVER pronounce words incorrectly. I think that suggestion is applicable for learning new vocabulary as well. So although I do recommend the study format, I definitely recommend verifying the pronunciation.

This is an excellent resource for studying vocabulary for the GRE's. I have purchased almost every audio vocabulary tool for studying vocabulary and I like this one the best. It has no cutsey stories but lots of words that are spelled then used. This tool gets more words in and includes spelling which other tools do not include in their format.
Its only drawback is the mechanized voice that mispronounces a few words here and there.

Don't waist you money on this item. I tried several audio products and this one was the worst. There are much more efficient products which are also cheaper. For instance McGraw-Hill's PodClass GRE.

Cons
- The words are organised in an alphabetical order and are not divided in to sub groups, so the learning is really boring.
- The words are spelled letter by letter, so most of the time it feels like you are learning to spell the words instead of learning new words - again boring experience
- The words are not divided in to sub groups, which is the most important disadvantage. Learning words by context/groups is much more fun and effective.
- The words for each letter are in the same mp3 file. Therefore if you already know the word you will hear it over and over again. - horrible. For instance, McGraw-Hill's PodClass allows you to delete the words that you already know, because the words are recorded in separate files.
- The words are pronounced by the same person, over and over again.
- The item's cost is too high for no reason what so ever.

Pros:
- In my opinion, there are no pros for this product - comparing to what you can get today from other sources for a cheaper price - which are in addition well know brands.