Best College Dictionary That You Would Recommend

[SnYpaJY]

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To increase my vocabulary and overall comprehension of hard words, I have decided to learn ten new words a day. So I am looking for a good dictionary that I could use to supplement my studying for the Vocab section of the MCAT.

I'm trying to read more (economist, medical journals, good novels, news papers, etc). I am also writing more. I just hope this is the best way to increase my performance on the vocab section.

I'm thinking of buying Merriam-Webster or Oxford, but I don't know the difference. What do you guys recommend?

Also, what other habits/techniques could I use to do well on the MCAT? I am taking the MCAT in May of 2011, so I've got a while, but it's never to early to start improving.

Thanks

 

[wannabadr10]

Sparknotes has a box of 1000 vocabulary words which has been very helpful. They did a great job of giving you words that are used quit often in higher level literature, not just a bunch of crazy words that you'll see maybe once in your life. I never tried the dictionary approach, but it seems overwhelming and an inefficient way to boost your vocabulary. Many of the words in there aren't used that often in the english language. Maybe im off the mark but thats just my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

[SN2ed]

This won't help you on the MCAT whatsoever. It's better to read journals, newspapers, magazines, etc. Then, when you find a word you don't know, look it up. There usually aren't that many tough words in any of the above or on the MCAT. When there is a hard word on the MCAT, it's typically supposed to be hard. They purposefully pick a word not many would know so they can ask a question on it. Now a better skill to pick up would be quickly figuring out what an unknown word means through context. Even this wouldn't be too helpful on the MCAT. It could simply come in handy from time to time whenever you read.

 

[JasoniusUW]

I agree with SN2 there. You'll end up looking up words like esoteric that are never really used. The MCAT passage vocabulary isn't tough for the most part, you could get a **** passage though, just get a magazine like Harpers and look up any word you don't know in there. You learn better with context rather than shooting darts at a dictionary.

 

[dapmp91]

I urge you to get barron's 1100 words; they use big pimp 😎 words in paragraphs and then ask you questions on those words meaning, this won't help you directly on the MCAT, but it should help you indirectly, this will be much more helpful than randomly picking up words from a dictionary, I'm such a tool that I'll even put in a link http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...s&field-keywords=barron's++1100+words&x=0&y=0

ps ignore all those losers who say you don't need to learn big words, they make you sound smart and cool (not to mention sexy)

 

[SnYpaJY]

lol dapmp, thanks for the link. I'm gonna take into consideration what everyone is saying on here.

When I ment look up words in the dictionary, I ment look up words that I don't know from what I read elsewhere.

Thanks

 

[JasoniusUW]

If that's the case then www.dictionary.com suits my needs. Needs that are not unlike yours. Why spend money to flip through pages? Is it not easier to type in a browser?

 

[dapmp91]

oh oh buy the book, we need to "stimulate" the economy