Kaplan Word Power, Third Edition : Score Higher on the SAT, GRE, and Other Standardized Tests

This book has been a huge help for me for improving my vocabulary in preparation for the GREs. The stories may not always be Pulitzer prize quality, but they can still be helpful for remembering some of the more obscure words. I'm a big fan overall.

I have a two hour commute each day and I'm trying to utilize that time in some positive fashion. I'm studying for the GRE and was looking for something I could listen to that would contribute to this goal/project. This was a waste of money, since I knew 98% of the words. Also, a few words I thought were not very well described, and the sentances were contrived. The way they use two words with the same root in a sentance seems to be a sure fire way in my book to help someone confuse the two words' meaning. On the plus side, buying this CD set has now made me see the futility of this method of studying for the GRE, and saved me from investing in a more expensive CD set. If like me, you're studying for the GRE, my advice to you is to set aside time to read scholarly journals or essay collections, dictionary in hand.

I bought this book on the recommendation of the masters program administrator at a major university because my score on the verbal portion of my first GRE test was unacceptable (at least to me and I'm sure the university). I was somewhat leary about how a single book could select an accurate list of words from the thousands of potential choices and actually have the selected words appear on the test, but I had little time before my second test and I needed to prepare somehow.

The book is divided into 3 sections, 1) words you should know, 2) words for a good score on the test and 3) words for word geeks and a great score on the test. I studied with the book for 3 weeks before my second GRE test. The first section was truly words you should know and I spent little time on that section. The second section is where I spent 95% of my study time and the third section I merely glanced at as I'm not a word geek.

I'll let the results of my second test speak for the effectiveness of the book. During the entire verbal section of the test there were only one or two words I didn't recognize (I'm not saying I remembered the definitions of them all!!), but at least I recognized them and had something to work with. It's true that the verbal section has multiple components, only one of which relies heavily on knowing the definition of key words, but I raised my score on the overall verbal section 180 points from my first test. I credit the words in the second section of the book for most of this improvement. I don't know how the authors knew what words frequently appear on the test, but they were absolutely spot on, as I got a good score as advertised and the words in the second section of the book did indeed appear frequently on the test.

I admit that this book isn't a great deal of fun. It's pretty dry, but if you go over the words a few times, they'll stick. The book splits into 3 sections, so you can easily just choose to do the harder words or the easier ones.

It's definitely a must-buy book if you're looking to take the SAT I reasoning test. I'd say 95% of the words on the critical reading section were in this book, and it definitely helped me get my 800. This book is amazing, and I recommend it to anyone looking to improve their test scores or just vocabulary in general.

They really work at building your vocabulary. I buy them for my children and for everyone. I highly recommend them.