Learn Hundreds of SAT Words Fast with Easy Memory Techniques

This is such am awesome book. It explains the definition, shows you a picture , gives you several sentences, has a genius technique for remembering words and has reviews. It's a dictionary but better ! BUY IT NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best vocab book ever! Easy to use and understand. After a year, I still do recall the words and pictures =D I'm glad I bought this book. Other vocab books are only words, and definition, very much like a dictionary...

This is a fun way to teach vocabulary. I homeschool my kids and all of them love it. It doesn't take us long to review the words selected and I've been pleased with their retention so far. It's quick, simple to use and fun.

The book really works! I was able to remember more than 60 words in about 2 hours without getting bored. Before, I have tried doing it the original way, but it often took too long and repetitive. The book also builds up self esteem and makes you more motivated. The retention is also longer. I could remember more than 95% of the words after a year! It's almost impossible to forget! Memory aids are the best way to remember just about anything! There is even a question and answer section to test if you have learned anything from the chapter or if you should study more.

This book is very good , and their illustrations is perfect.
usually , you needn't know the words , just see illustrations you can understand the means. So I think this is good for the people whose language is not English

I teach humanities at a school for gifted students who are hungry for vocabulary, so I bought this book at a teacher conference, along with the second book. Erica Smeltzer, respected SAT tutor (according to Debbie Stier, author of The Perfect Score Project, who spent a year trying out different approaches to preparing for the SAT and took the test seven times in one year) and author of the Critical Reader blog, posted a list of the top SAT words based on ACTUAL SATs (i.e., SATs administered by the College Board). I cross-referenced her list with the first 50 words of the Word List in this book, and only 10 of them (20%) were a match (abhor, abstruse, affinity, alleviate, aloof, aptitude, assuage, astute, balm, and bucolic). Surprised, I read the front matter of the book, and found the authors talk about research indicating vocabulary improvement, but NOTHING about increasing actual SAT scores or using tests from the College Board to build the list. On page 11, it says, "Vocabulary Cartoons are designed for anyone wishing to build a stronger vocabulary. However, they are particularly recommended for students studying for Pre-Scholastic Aptitude Tests (PSAT), Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT), and Graduate Record Exams (GRE)..." Really? With words like "alternative" and "bizarre?" Another claim (p. 13): "The words selected in this book are those most frequently found in the SAT and GRE." Evidence?! The use of the word "SAT" in the title is misleading (and, apparently, made the author/publisher lots of money), and--frankly--I feel scammed. Is this a good way to learn words? Sure. SAT and GRE words? Nope. (As for the 2nd book, only 4 (<10%) of the first 50 words are a match: abate, ancillary, apex, and bombastic. Non-SAT words include "bland" and "animated" and "accountable.")

Revised and Updated Edition!

Unlike the second volume, the cartoons in the first volume are well drawn.

I have several gripes with this book. It barely achieves its purpose. Before giving it to someone who greatly appreciated it, I went through the book and made corrections, so that the learner would not learn incorrect English. One would expect the pronunciations to be consistent and correct. The example sentences sound like a 7th grader's first attempt to use the word in a sentence. The definitions seem to use more SAT words to clarify the meaning of the word.

I would think they would correct all the mistakes when they update the book.

Following are some embarrassing mistakes:

Comprise: The word "comprise" is never followed by the word "of." The authors knew this rule, but still made the mistake of writing, "was comprised of..." and later forgetting to erase the "was."

"It was not a pleasant surprise when the pirates discovered their treasure was comprised only party favors."
"The first aid kit was comprised a bottle of aspirin, two gauze pads, and a pair of scissors."

Fathom: (fa THUM) Have you ever heard this word pronounced with emphasis on the last syllable? I checked all my dictionaries and of course the word is (FATH um).

Vol. 2:

Terse: (terce) That is the helpful guide to pronunciation. First of all, who would use the letter "c" in guiding pronunciation? An "s" or a "k" will suffice. Secondly, even if the authors chose to use "c" to mean "s," the adjacent page has tenacious pronounced (teh NAY shus); the last "s" makes the appropriate sound. Be consistent!

Obtrude: (aub TROOD)

Obese: (oh BEECE) Again...the letter "c" is the least helpful letter for pronunciation, when "s" would work.

Malcontent: Some of you may think I am being overly strict with regard to proper English, but the reason I am being strict is because this is an educational book pretending to teach English. The example sentence reads, "We seem to always have one malcontent who can negatively impact team spirit." The word "impact," does not mean "affect" or "influence." To "have an impact on" is the way to write it. If you use "impact" as a verb, and some would only use it as a noun, then it means "slam into, collide, crush."

Bequest: link: GO WEST. Mnemonic device sentence: "Joe's last bequest was to go west." How on earth this mnemonic sentence has anything to do with the meaning of the word. If anything, it would only confuse the student.

One more annoyance with the book is this: readers get frustrated when two words, which have the same definition (beset, beleaguer), are in the same chapter, and in the same "matching" quiz. So they arbitrarily pick one or the other, or throw the book down.

(If anyone points out a misspelling or grammatical error in this review, I'm fine with that. After all, I am not publishing and selling a book to teach students English.)