Word Smart: Building An Educated Vocabulary (Princeton Review) [Paperback]

Adam Robinson (Author), David Owen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0679745890 | ISBN-13: 978-0679745891 | Publication Date: June 29, 1993 | Edition: Revised

1) Do you know that to peruse a book is not to skim it?

2) Do you know the difference between enormous and enormity?

3) Do you know the adjective form of admonish, or the noun form of dubious?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you need Word Smart.

Improving your vocabulary is important, but where do you start? The English language has hundreds of thousands of words. To find out which words you absolutely need to know, The Princeton Review researched the vocabularies of educated adults. It analyzed newspapers from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, magazines from Time to Scientific American and books from current bestsellers to classics. It threw out the words that most people know and focused on the words that people misunderstand or misuse. From these, it selected 823 words that appeared most frequently.

And for students, The Princeton Review did the same thing. It analyzed the PSAT, the SAT, and GRE to determine which words are tested more frequently. Word Smart is the only vocabulary book you'll ever need.

(Answers:
1) Despite what most people think, peruse means to read carefully.

2) Enormity can refer to the state of being large, but it also means a wicked or depraved act.

3) Admonitory, dubiety.)

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

1) Do you know that to peruse a book is not to skim it?

2) Do you know the difference between enormous and enormity?

3) Do you know the adjective form of admonish, or the noun form of dubious?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you need Word Smart.

Improving your vocabulary is important, but where do you start? The English language has hundreds of thousands of words. To find out which words you absolutely need to know, The Princeton Review researched the vocabularies of educated adults. It analyzed newspapers from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, magazines from Time to Scientific American and books from current bestsellers to classics. It threw out the words that most people know and focused on the words that people misunderstand or misuse. From these, it selected 823 words that appeared most frequently.

And for students, The Princeton Review did the same thing. It analyzed the PSAT, the SAT, and GRE to determine which words are tested more frequently. Word Smart is the only vocabulary book you'll ever need.

(Answers:
1) Despite what most people think, peruse means to read carefully.

2) Enormity can refer to the state of being large, but it also means a wicked or depraved act.

3) Admonitory, dubiety.)

About the Author

The Princeton Review is the fastest-growing test-preparation company in the country, helping over a million students each year prepare for college, grad school, and professional licensing exams. Princeton Review classes are held in more than 500 locations in the US and abroad. Backing their courses, books and software is over two million dollars a year in training and research. No student is better prepared than a Princeton Review student.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Villard Books; Revised edition (June 29, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679745890
• ISBN-13: 978-0679745891
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Text, May 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Word Smart: Building An Educated Vocabulary (Princeton Review) (Paperback)

I have read many books throughout my life, but this by far has been the greatest and most helpful book I have EVER read. Mere words in this review can not begin to explain how immensely this book has affected my academic career. In high school, when I took the pre-SAT for the first time, I got a 340 on the verbal. YES, that's right! a 340! Since English is not my first language, my vocabulary was EXTREMELY limited. My goal was improvement, but knowing that I had read very little English when I was young, I had to figure out a QUICK way to raise my score. That's when I discovered Word Smart. After memorizing the definition of the words in this book, and many others, my score shot up to 710 on the verbal! Keep in mind I learned English in the third grade, but I still managed to score very high. Words in this book WILL appear on EVERY SAT and GRE, not to mention all major newspapers and books of ALL kind. You can count on that. After learning the words in this book, in a very twisted way I have yet to completely understand, my writing ability also dramatically improved. In conclusion, you are a COMPLETE FOOL if you take the SAT or the GRE without first extensively studying this book. Your future is very important, don't risk it.

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Complement., December 23, 2000

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Word Smart: Building An Educated Vocabulary (Princeton Review) (Paperback)

This is a book for the highly-motivated student who wants to know the most frequent words on the SAT and GRE exams and is willing to work his or her tail off to learn them. It has several other things going for it: the authors recognize the inseparability of language from thought; they caution against mistaking a large or esoteric vocabulary for knowledge; they provide some tips about etymology and the uses of Latin and Greek roots and affixes but they do not overrate this occasionally helpful tool (word meanings are dynamic and frequently arbitary, having little to do with the original word form).

The downside of the volume is that it doesn't provide a "programmed" approach capable of engaging the less-motivated reader in a progressive series of fun yet educational exercises. For this purpose, the Norman Lewis books are a better bet, even though the latter author tends to overemphasize esoteric words and overrate the importance of etymology.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as it gets., January 4, 2001

By 

Ryan Jones (Cos Cob, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Word Smart: Building An Educated Vocabulary (Princeton Review) (Paperback)

When you buy a reliable name, such as Princeton Review you are buying into the company. You are placing your faith that this company will continue to provide good products and satisfy its consumers. I will be honest, I bought Word Smart because of the name and publisher. The people at Princeton Review have belted out hundreds of books with an exceptional amount of educational value. Their review and study guides have helped me get through not only my SATs, but my GREs and SAT 2s. On my expansive book shelves I can be credited with owning probably a dozen Princeton Review books. Word Smart is no disappointment. In order to illustrate how effective these books are, I can not help but to reveal my scores on the SATs, humbly of course. My first time around, I scored a 1350. I was ecstatic to say the least. My verbal score was a 720, and this should be noted because on my next try, after mulling over Word Smart I missed a single question on the verbal section, resulting in a near perfect score. Word Smart's hit parade found in the back of the book was endlessly useful, and many of the words found there were, to my delight on the SATs. Buy this book, you won't be disappointed. No serious student should go without it.