Customer Reviews

Tooth and Nail: A Novel Approach to the New SAT

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Tooth and Nail is a fun mystery story that contains many SAT-level words in boldface and has a glossary in the back. I found this to be an effective way of increasing my vocabulary, because I got to see each word used in context. In combination with studying word roots (etymology), reading this book helped me increase my SAT I verbal score about 170 points. Why aren't there more SAT preparation books like this?

The story itself is about two incoming college freshmen who gradually find out that strange things are going on around the campus. It's not the most enjoyable story, but it is interesting and relevant to people who are preparing for the SAT (and, as others have said, a whole lot more fun than memorizing word lists).

Learning words in context is a great idea. It's the only method that works. This book was released in 1994 and for several years was the only one of its kind. But there are three new additions in this format--from Barrons, Kaplan, and A. J. Cornell Publications. Some people have complained that with this book it's problematic to have all the words at the back, in a glossary--because you have to keep stopping to find them back there. I agree with that. At least one of the above-mentioned books--The Wizard of Oz Vocabulary Builder--places the definitions on the same page as the words, and it seems to work well. Perhaps the next edition of this book can be reformatted that way.

While I found the story in this book quite interesting, I do not think that it significantly improved my vocabulary. By using an "SAT Word" once in the book, I did not learn that word. The same words should have been repeated more than once, when possible. Perhaps, as another review suggested, the definitions should appear at the bottom of the page and not in the back - constantly flipping to the glossary was detrimental to my reading experience. I would not reccomend buying this book to learn vocabulary words, although I think the approach has some merit.

Better than a sharp stick in the eye....maybe

Although the concept seems like a good idea, in reality due to the lack of any real plot the only thing this "novel" managed to do was drone on and on and on while going absolutely nowhere. The cramming of three to four words in a single sentence was just annoying. The chapter on the radio talk show was so mind numbingly boring that I considered just blowing the assignment off and going to the beach. For example, "...I would like to ask our listeners to abandon for a moment the tedious insistence on objective fact and impartial analysis that tyrannizes so much scholarship and to indulge instead there powers of speculation." Seriously, is all that needed to get the thought across? Or are they just using a lot of words to fill up space (like most kids on their English essays). However because it was assigned reading and I will be graded on it I persevered.

Most of the words I am already familiar with. The ones I was not were not driven home, as it were, by this style of study. I think my time will be better spent in an SAT Prep class, and using practice tests. Certainly more time consuming but far less painful.

Really, reading a dictionary cover to cover would have been a better use of time. It probably would have also been a better read.

Again, the concept could have been a good one if the authors had given more thought to the audience that they were writing for. One sure way to impede the education process for my age group is to bore us to tears.

The question remains would I recommend this book. To the student that has grown up in an inarticulate environment with no real grasp of the English language well, yeah, maybe. For the rest of the overstressed, pre SAT crowd who have been exposed to the world at large, save your money.

Alright I can relate to a lot of you highschoolers who are pressured by the SAT. I, too, have a vast collection of SAT books preparing for my test later this year. Although the math section comes naturally to me, it is the verbal section that proved difficult for me. I have two verbal books: Word Smart and Tooth and Nail, and I can candidly say that Tooth and Nail easily tops Word Smart for several reasons. Firstly, Tooth and Nail provides the reader with contextual vocabulary practice -- which is a part of the verbal section -- whereas Wordsmart is simply a list of words memorize. Secondly, it Tooth and Nail is smartly presented in a novel. Yes, okay it is a cheesy novel but it is better than the insipid lists of WordSmart. Thirdly, I find it is easier for me to recall the words through the book because I can remember a part of the plot thus helping me remember the words. In sum, the SAT preparer is left with a choice: The never ending lists of vocab words or the smartly presented, slightly cheesy novel Tooth and Nail...though choice...

When I first saw this book, I was excited with this "novel" approach. My friend said it was good, so I started reading.
What I found, however, was that 95% of the words I already knew. I'm studying for my SATs, so I know a sizable amount of words. I was hoping to learn new and challenging words.
Some of the words are absurd. Words like biased, indifferent, spontaneous, captivating, articulate, tentative, convey, intiated, diverse (i just happened to flip to a random page (p.25) and am listing some bold-faced words) appear a billion times on the pages. Some of the words were new to me, like masquerade (which I doubt I will find on the SAT). Most of the words however were elementary and definately did not improve my vocabulary.

When I first read all those 3 star reviews I didn't want to believe them, so I tried the book anyway. Needless to say I am disapointed.
Aside from other problems that I won't mention (but other customers have, such as the lack of a plot or the flipping to the back, which you wont need to be doing very often if you're studying for the SATs), this book's vocabulary is very limited.

To sum it up, if you're looking to study for an examination and want to learn challenging words, try another book (personally I've been trying to memorize word lists and have ordered Kaplan's Ring of McAllister, another novel). If you don't know anything, don't want to study word lists, don't want to try other SAT vocabulary novels, or just want to review some basic vocabulary words such as adjacent, complex, nuture, diversity, bizarre, dominant............, well then this book is for you.

This book is definitely among the easiest ways for students to augment their vocabulary. During sophomore year, it is an especially daunting task to memorize so many words from those tediously long word lists offered by SAT preparatory books. This book allows you to enjoy an exciting story, while increasing your vocabulary and ultimately, raising your SAT score.

I just finished reading the book Tooth and Nail. The reason I've chosen to review it is to warn you of the annoyance to come. Yeah, the mystery story line is an Ok touch, but having to continue going to the back of the book to look up the boldfaced words is so stupid and time-wasting. When I first started reading the book, I was learning a couple words because the bold ones didn't appear so often. When there were as many as 5 or more boldfaced words on one page, I got sick of flipping to the back of the book, trying to find the word in the glossary. This really messed up the purpose of the book: to better your vocabulary skills. I think that the publisher should have put the definitions of the words at the bottom of each page that it had the words on. This would have been much more efficent. All in all, I'd say if you can't study your SAT words any other way, this book should be one of the last choices you turn to.

As a high school English teacher, I wanted to like this book. Sadly, as with many books that have an agenda, this one suffers from the story serving the message. My struggling readers do not relate at all to the main characters. They chose the book, and now they are begging to stop reading it-at chapter 8! Plus, there are paragraphs with 4 or 5 (or more) target words in them. That is way too many new words to be able to figure out what the words mean in context. (See others for the "looking up" problem.) Sorry, but I won't be offering it to other unsuspecting students on the pretext of its being an easy way to learn new vocabulary. I'd rather see someone be given permission to search more compelling pieces of literature that are or could be read in high school for SAT vocabulary and allow that researcher/writer to make up SAT workbooks that complement study of that novel.

I purchased this for my daughter, who is a 7th grader preparing to take the ACT through the gifted program. She used it in a study group at school. Not only was it helpful for the test, but she said the story was fun to read. Having read some of the less-favorable reviews, perhaps this worked for her because she is so young and hasn't been exposed to the more difficult vocabulary that a high school student might. I also think using it in a teacher-guided session made a big difference in helping her learn the vocabulary.