Has anyone here ever used Wordsmart or some other type of vocabulary building tool? I was thinking about purchasing the software as I believe it would be a useful tool for GMAT preparation as well as graduate level courses. Opinions?
Read a dictionary and read a variety of books to increase your vocabulary and reading comprehension skills.
For whatever it's worth . . . an Israeli friend, whose English is pretty good, was very happy with the Ultimate Vocabulary website and product. I have no personal knowledge or experience here. www.ultimatevocabulary.com/index2.html John Bear, who owns an "Eschew Obfuscation" tee shirt
I concur with sentinel - rather than using software to broaden your vocabulary, reading will do it naturally without much effort. ...a friend of mine in HS did indeed read a dictionary & thesaurus to increase his vocabulary (incidentally: he was in his early 20s when he completed his PhD in Physics and was a full tenured professor by his late 20s).
When German immigrant Dmitri Borgmann came to America, he was told that the best way to learn English was to read the dictionary. He got the first edition of the Merriam-Webster unabridged. When he got to "S" he believed the definition of "stalemate" was incorrect and wrote to the editors. They agreed, and said they'd correct it with their next edition. When the second edition came out many years later, Borgmann got one, and discovered that "stalemate" was still wrong. The editors apologized again. Meanwhile, Borgmann wrote two of the most extraordinary books ever on peculiarities and oddities of the English language. I love 'em. Language on Vacation and Beyond Language.
If you can afford it, why not. But as what the other said, I go for just the daily reading technique. Maybe subscribe to reader’s digest or other magazines that have great and useful articles. Good luck to your GMAT.
..another idea - whatever studies you intend to pursue,why not pick up related books / articles, etc. to build your vocabulary?
