List Price: $4.95
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Condition: New
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Release Date: 2008-10-21
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Lowest New Price: $0.01
| Features• 75 Pre-Set Vocabulary Lessons
• Study Zone for Each Lesson
• Quizzes for Each Lesson
• Ability to Print Each Lesson
• Build Your Own Custom Lessons
A very, very bad productThis is a bad, almost dangerously bad, product. The thought of its being used to try to expand the vocabulary of younger students -- or being bought by well-intentioned parents who want to help their children expand their vocabulary -- is enough to chill the blood.
The major problem is that frame sentences in the quiz sections are radically defective. Either they don't give enough context to permit the user to see how the word is used, or they quite misleadingly create a context into which the "correct" choice has to be inserted in violation of every convention governing its correct use. It's almost as though this were a program created by foreign speakers of English who were perfectly competent at designing software, but whose command of the language was so approximate that they had no idea how to design an actual teaching program. (If you remember the old Japanese and Chinese instruction manuals that came with electronic devices you'll have a pretty good idea of how this program sets about "teaching English vocabulary.")
When I said that the product is "dangerously bad," I meant this: a learning program is designed for people who have a genuine desire to improve. Anyone who tried to expand his or her English vocabulary by using this program would wind up either using common English words in a grotesquely wrong way or being just plain confused. That seems to me almost a betrayal: you not only don't teach the student -- a lot of products don't do what they say they're going to do -- but you wind up making him or her LESS educated than before.
Please believe that (1) I'm competent to make the judgment that I'm making here -- I've written a great deal about psychometrics, including the SAT Verbal and similar exams -- and (2) that I don't have some kind of unannounced animus against whoever designed this program. I have NO personal or hidden agenda. I sent away for this product only because I was looking for a learning program that I might give to my own students, and I've just installed and tried it on my own computer. It is a real disaster, just awful. Stay away.
Entertaining and educational softwareEnglish is not my first language and I was looking for software that can help me improve my vocabulary and spelling. I bought the High Achiever's spelling and vocabulary software. I love the vocabulary because it defines the word, puts in a sentence and tests your ability to spell it back. I find it entertaining.The vocabulary it uses is curiculam based (grade 9 - 12) and not too easy.
Inexpensive toolA decent tool to use as an aid. This isn't going to help ace the SATs but it's a start. There are enough words and pronunciations to help them advance but it's work, good luck getting them to be consistent. You can do as well with any vocab book but the pronunciation feature does give this one a leg up. For the price? You can't go wrong.
Excellent little product for the priceThe vocabulary program contains 1500 words. Not enough for SAT prep, but it is an excellent next step to the children's dictionary program from Macmillan that my 10 year old son is studying from right now. (I make him spell 30 words every Saturday before he can play his Xbox. He hates spelling, but he loves Xbox more.)
This program is probably at the early high school level, with words such as reconcile, mellifluous, quintessential. The wonderful thing is, it gives both definition and pronunciation, plus it has exercises and games to help learn the words and the spelling. So it is useful for people who know what the words mean but don't necessarily know how to pronounce them perfectly.
Unfortunately, in the custom lists, you can't put in your own pronunciations. Still, it's a neat little program to have, excellent teaching tool. Totally worth buying at this modest price.
Product DescriptionGreat for Collegiate Entrance Exam PrepProduct InformationHigh Achiever Vocabulary for Grades 9-12 is curriculum based software foracademic success. You will learn to pronounce spell and use wordscorrectly. You will also get to practice what you have learned withinteractive quizzes and Top of the World the multimedia vocabulary boardgame. You can even add your own words to the program making it thepersonalized study aid that grows with your needs. It is great practicefor college entrance exams.Skills Learned 75 Pre-Set Vocabulary Lessons Study Zone for Each Lesson Quizzes for Each Lesson Fun Learning Games for Each Lesson Ability to Print Each Lesson Build Your Own Custom Lessons Easy-to-Use SearchProduct Features Learn to pronounce spell and use words correctly Practice with interactive quizzes Add your own words to the program making a personalized study aidWindows Requirements Windows 98 Me XP Vista Pentium 233 MHz or higher processor 64 MB of RAM 50 MB or free Hard Drive space Internet Explorer version 4.01 or higher Netscape Navigator 4.04 or higher 800x600 (1024x768 recommended) Hi-color display CD-ROM Drive
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