Customer Reviews

The Princeton Review Word Smart II CD: Building an Even More Educated Vocabulary (The Princeton Review on Audio)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This sets contains 5 CDs, and goes over about 230 words. Good number of the words on these recordings seem to be on a high-school level.

The first CD covers the vocabulary related to: The Raw and The Cooked; Stop and Go; Crime and Punishment.

The second CD coverts the vocabulary related to: At Home and Abroad; Hide and Seek; War and Peace.

The third CD covers the vocabulary related to: The Fiendish and The Friendly; Body and Soul; Chaos and Control.

The fourth CD covers the vocabulary related to: Old News; Rich Man, Poor Man; The Rise and Fall.

The fifth CD covers the vocabulary related to: Church and State; Franks and Beans.

The recordings are very entertaining to listen to. After defining the words, they are dramatized, often in a humorous way, adding fun to the learning process.

I bought volume 1 & 2 together. Here's my review of volume 1 which also applies to volume 2:

I bought this product with hopes of a more enjoyable way to expand my vocabulary. I tried to like this product (especially since it's a good chunk of money) and I gave it a fair amount of my time. In the end, I found it to be ineffective for these reasons:
- The script is boring. It tries to be witty, but really comes of as cheesy/corny
- I found myself constantly rewinding. The material just doesn't sink in. The stories and dialogue aren't memorable. Perhaps this is so because of the pace. I'd rather have fewer words and actually learn those words, than sweep through many words and have to backtrack. I'd say on average the amount of time spent listening to the material was TRIPLED because of rewinding.
- The voices are a bit stuffy and robotic to me

In the end I stopped listening to Word Smart. It was just too laborious.

I truly love this series. I wish they would record the entire dictionary the same way. If you want to listen to a super enjoyable vocabulary, this is it. The words might not be as advanced as you are looking for, but the fun in listening is worth the few dollars spent: five stars.

This is a wonderful program, I really do enjoy the way that it is structured. It is designed to both educate and entertain you, it is phenomenol by all means. I highly recommend it.

I bought this CD thinking that it would be a productive way to spend my commutes in the morning. It was however only mildly more productive than listening to idiot DJs on the radio. I think that I knew 80% of the words by 15 years of age. The only benefit gained was hearing them pronouced but being British I had grave suspicions concerning the US pronounciations! The two presenters are funny and quite listenable. I would recommend these CDs to high school students who do not read books but still hope to master thre English language well enough to pass exams.