<p>Hello,</p>
<p>My daughter has been looking for a good way to learn vocabulary for the SAT. She is strong in math, but weaker on verbal. She has some friends who are using word-nerd.com and they think highly of it. I looked at the site and it seems pretty good to me, but I wanted to get an adult opinion before I sign her up.</p>
<p>So, what are people's opinions of word-nerd.com? Worth spending the money for?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Jennifer J.</p>
<p>Did you try this? :-)</p>
<p>[Top</a> 500 SAT Words Shower Curtain : Target](<a href=“http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/184-9421791-5340037?ASIN=B000UI8U68&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B000UI8U68|Top_500_SAT_Words_Shower_Curtain&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000UI8U68&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001]Top”>http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/184-9421791-5340037?ASIN=B000UI8U68&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B000UI8U68|Top_500_SAT_Words_Shower_Curtain&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000UI8U68&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001)</p>
<p>Wow, I love that shower curtain! Seems like pure genius to me. Too bad it’s out of stock!</p>
<p>Anyway, I just wanted to weigh in on [Word-Nerd:</a> vocabulary test prep for the SAT, PSAT and ACT](<a href=“http://www.word-nerd.com%5DWord-Nerd:”>http://www.word-nerd.com) - I’m an SAT tutor, and I’ve been referring all of my students to the site. I think it really fantastic, and makes so much sense from a learning standpoint. So yes, I think it’s worth the expense. The words selected are highly tested ones, and they’re organized into categories to make them easier to remember. Then the site tests you on your knowledge over time so you can track your progress. With my students, I take advantage of this feature and keep notes of how much work they’re doing - parents can do this, too, at home.</p>
<p>My experience is that students aren’t being given nearly enough vocab prep in school (or the wrong kind of vocab prep), and I also know from my previous employment with them that the big test prep companies are giving it short shrift, too. Yeah, vocab isn’t such a big part of the test anymore, but it’s big enough to give it some attention, particularly since so many students aren’t preparing sufficiently on vocab. If you do a little work on vocab, you’re likely to get points that the majority of other test takers just aren’t going to get because they haven’t prepared!</p>
<p>Hope that answers your question, and best of luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>This thread sounds like a big shill ad for that program. Initial poster is brand new, and swans004 has mentioned the program in at least a quarter of his/her 40 something posts.</p>
<p>Looked for what I purchased on Amazon a few years ago:</p>
<p>ISBN # 9-781883-055356 Red Hot Root Words Mastering Vocabulary with Prefixes, Suffixes and Root Words</p>
<p>I liked the introduction of the vocabulary words in a context that might help when faced with having to quickly decipher an unfamiliar word. Presented in a front-and-back of page workbook lesson format, which I also liked. A page could be pulled out of the book and worked on whenever time allowed.</p>
<p>Gee that shower curtain looks like it couldn’t hurt either - learning by osmosis. :)</p>
<p>Thanks Ignatius and Swans004. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. And I love the shower curtain!</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand ReadyToRoll’s point. I’m just trying to help my daughter.</p>
<p>Jennifer, lots of people advertise their wares by pretending to be interested in something and asking for opinions. Personally I advocated reading - lot’s of reading. We also had a box of SAT flashcards, we kept them on the dinner table and would pull out a few at dinnertime. We always had trouble finding words we didn’t all know though.</p>
<p>We used the “word a day” calendar for years. The word of the day was what we talked about at dinner. We talked about the word origin and other uses…
The very best was is to read, read, read.
D1 got an800 on the verbal section not once but twice although she was a math geek who took it the second time to get her math score up. Live a life that involves talking and learning about language evey day. What is the meaning of the word, what is it’s origin, Talk about words all the time. Play with thier meaning, celebrate language, become really educated about all the nuances with our wonderful way of communicating. (and please help stamp out the junk!)</p>
<p>It this thread is a scam for some prep service, go to the seach engine on this site and search the xiggi method for test prep. No parent has to pay for good test prep.</p>
<p>My S did a few hundred of these everyday: [url=<a href=“http://www.freerice.com/]FreeRice[/url”>http://www.freerice.com/]FreeRice[/url</a>]</p>
<p>In case a real parent reads this thread, I want to advocate an approach to vocabulary building I don’t really see suggested much here at CC.</p>
<p>You can’t wait until late high school to do this, but take foreign language classes in Western European languages, especially French, Latin and Ancient Greek, even if all you want to do is improve your standardized English test scores. German can be helpful, too, but many of the more sophisticated and less common words in English have Latinate or Greek roots, so studying the vocabulary and grammer of the languages which fed into modern English can give you insight into the English language that studying cards or other tricks won’t.</p>
<p>We watched our son go from a freshman who did not read enough to a junior who got perfect verbal test scores and we think studying French and Latin had a lot to do with the increase in his vocabulary. It was obvious sitting around the dinner table that even two years of these languages made a significant difference.</p>
<p>^I agree learning a foreign language is helpful too. Every year my sons’ Latin teacher would pass out info about studies that kids who take Latin tend to do better on the SATs. Personally, I think my kids SAT scores were probably more helped by all the sci-fi they read, but I’m sure the Latin didn’t hurt either. Like dragonmom, my math guy actually had a perfect verbal score and never did as well in math. My verbal kid has a not too shabby 790 on his first try. He enjoys the FreeRice site, though I don’t know how useful the vocabulary there is for SAT practice, but it’s nice to donate to a good cause while you’re at it!</p>
<p>D1 did very well with the Vocabulary Cartoons books since she is very visual, we kept the books for the next D…</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Vocabulary Cartoons: Sat Word Power (9780965242288): Sam Burchers, Max Burchers, Bryan Burchers: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Cartoons-Sat-Word-Power/dp/0965242285]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Vocabulary-Cartoons-Sat-Word-Power/dp/0965242285)</p>
<p>I too highly recommend reading. Not the kind of thing you can cram, but those that read a lot and widely over many years tend to do very well.</p>
<p>Google the shower curtain and you can find lots of other sources that seem to be in-stock. Rather fun…too bad the kids have glass shower doors :(</p>
<p>Reading challenging books on topics that interest you, as well as classic literature, NewYork Times, The New Yorker , The Atlantic, The Economist, Scientific American (less technical articles) -look up the words you don’t know.</p>
<p>starbright is right–read, read, read…</p>
<p>I didn’t find word-nerd or FreeRice to be particularly helpful SAT wise. (I still go on FreeRice practically everyday though. It’s such a neat concept)</p>
<p>Both sites are crammed with superfluous words that you won’t necessarily find on the actual SAT. </p>
<p>peywacket listed some great magazines that your daughter might be interested in. I’m partial to Scientific American :]</p>
<p>Also, check out Direct Hits. It’s all the rage in the SAT forums. It’s great despite swans004’s opinion on it in his/her last couple of posts…</p>
<p>Yes, in general the best way to improve vocab is to read, read, read. However, if you’ve got a kid whose taking the SATs this fall, there’s not a whole lot of time for reading to make an impact. S2’s tutor recommended getting Kaplan SAT flashcards in a box… I just purchased them, so I don’t have an opinion on them yet. They are, however, fairly inexpensive – I think I ordered mine off Amazon for like $9 plus shipping.</p>
<p>And of course get the “blue book” from SAt and take practice tests.</p>
<p>You can also look into the strategy my S followed - led with the ACT instead of the SAT. It has harder math which should play well with your D, a science component, and only one English component, which he felt was easier than the SAT. His SAT score was low 2000s with no low hanging fruit if he tried again, while ACT was 35. At the very least, just have her try a sample ACT test and use the conversion table to see if it’s easier than trying to get the SATs up.</p>