Customer Reviews

Word Smart II, 2nd Edition (Smart Guides)

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

 

 

I'm an exchange student here in the US. In addition to the English lessons I take,this book helps me very well to improve my vocabulary as well as it helps me to explain things better. The alphabetic order of the words in this book supports the fast finding. This book is a must for all students as well as for those who like to improve their English vocabulary to a more educated level.

I bought this book to study for the GRE based on good reviews listed here, but I have to say I'm very disappointed. Just from skimming through the text book I've found that I already know at least two thirds of the words listed. I'm amazed that they included such simple words like: mode, consolidate, ethics, and access. The words are not sorted by difficulty, but alphabetically so it's not very useful for me to study from. Maybe if your vocabulary isn't so great and you are taking the SAT this book might be useful for you.

I would recommend Kaplan's Word Power Third Edition instead and skip to the 2nd section. You'll learn much more from this book.

This book presents 823 alphabetically arranged words with short definitions and sentence examples. The definitions tend to be too short to convey the full meaning of the word. The sentence examples, however, effectively illustrate common usage. The reading level of the words is neither excessively high or low. For example the "q" words are "qualify, qualitative, querulous, and quixotic." The layout is somewhat distracting with bullets, quick quizzes, and "notes" that appear in seemingly haphazard fashion. It's suprising too that Princeton Review editors don't realize, or care, that uppercase letters are more difficult to read, as all the vocabulary words are in uppercase.

If you are studying for a test, another book, "1000 Most Important Words" by Norman Schur is a much better choice. The "1000 Most Important Words" has more words and better definitions. The sentence examples used in "1000 Words" define the word while simulaneously illustrating common usage. The visual layout is also easy and appealing with lowercase bolded vocabulary, paragraph definitions, and sentence illustrations. The types of words are similar to the Princeton Review. For example "querulous" and "quixotic" also appear in "1000 Words." The other "q" words are "quaff, quagmire,quail, qualm, quandry, quarry, quash, quaver, quay, quell, query, queue, quiescent, quintessence, and quizzical." If you want to learn words for long term retention rather than test performance, however, the best study approach is to learn words in semantic groups. For a superb vocabulary book that uses semantic groups, see "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis.

The WordSmart series is excellent. I worked through WordSmart I and then I worked through this book. I can use more words and I can use words better since studying WordSmart II.

Get the third edition rather than this one.

But, as for the Word Smart series in general:

I used to work as a professional SAT Reading coach, making big bucks; the key issue for most of my students was vocabulary. Rather, VOCABULARY. (The other is slowing down and thinking as--not after--they read.)

Many questions on the SAT reading section amount to vocabulary questions.

What this means is that if you want to improve your SAT scores, if you are an ambitious student trying to get into one of the top schools, there is no two ways about it: you have to study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

You cannot study simply one book, or even one series of books. You have to study several series.

However, the Princeton Review Word Smart series is the best that I know of. You should start here. Even if you think you have a good vocabulary, start here just to be on the safe side, and you can move on later.

You would recommend studying any of the vocabulary books that I've ever seen--but I recommend mastering the Word Smart series. These really are by far the best--if you are shopping here, it probably means you need these books.

If you were one of my students, your parents paying lots of money, I would force you to master these books, and I would ride you like a horse until you did. And then your scores would come up, your parents would love me and tell all their friends, and I would get more jobs and more money. That's how it works.

Anyway, these are certainly the best vocabulary books on the market. Even if you're studying vocabulary for some other reason, these are probably still the best.

Good luck!

I bought the Word Smart II paperback to help me with GRE words. But, the "GRE Hit Parade" in the back of the book falls short of expectations. Most of the book contains vocabulary words each with a brief definition and a couple of sentences showing uses. But, many words on the GRE Hit Parade are not expanded upon. The GRE Hit Parade itself is merely a terse listing of definitions. Therefore, those studying for the GRE are much better off with a GRE review book rather than purchasing this one.The one good thing about the GRE Hit Parade was the advice to build 10 words a day. I used this technique and found it helpful. But more detailed explanations of these words with example sentences was needed.The publisher, The Princeton Review, has another book out: "Cracking the GRE" which also has a GRE Hit Parade. It is a slightly more concise listing, but it is about as useful. Vocabulary lists are only supplementary to regularly learning vocabulary words from readings anyway.

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate definition for 'implacable' is:

: not placable : not capable of being appeased, significantly changed, or mitigated

The corresponding Word Smart II definition is:

angry; really pissed off; unable to be pleased (p. 289)

Judge for yourself whether you want to rely on Word Smart II for building your vocabulary.

I hate memorizing lists of words and their respective definitions. Even though they have one or two sentences to show you how they are used. My favorite method is to read them in context. This will probably only be done by reading copiously. Reading the Princeton word (Junior) was fantastic. I wish they could make one like that, but at a higher level. The Junior book had great cute stories and the most amount of new word learning anyone can have from reading so little.

It is one of the most useful and most advantageous vocabulary books since I ever read, and very helpful for people who wanna communicate to the others more effectively. The given sentences are concise and it easy to understand the meaning of word,---you can easily recall and use them in dialy life