How Our Vocabulary Program Works

Speed -- Speed -- Speed

→ Our goals in designing our vocabulary program?  Speed and efficiency.  We want to make it quick and easy for students and adults to learn thousands of vocabulary words.    

→ Here is how our program works: 

Manageable lists of words

We divide our 1400-word list of core words into manageable groups of 100 words.  Users focus on one group at a time; they can switch to a new group at any time.  

Our learning quizzes

Our program operates by quizzing the user on the 100 words in each group.  The learning quizzes are the essential learning tool of our program.  We also present major variants of the core words.  

Learning quizzes -- designed for speed

The quizzes proceed in rapid-fire fashion.   Each question has only three alternative answers:  the correct definition, an incorrect definition, and "I don't know this word."  (Users may want to select "I don't know this word," rather than guess, to be sure the quiz will repeat the question; repetition is explained below). 

The user can hit "1," "2," or "3" on the keyboard to choose an answer instantly and proceed rapidly through the quiz.   Our software is specially designed for speed.    

Quiz response

After the user makes the choice, the program instantly displays:

• the word, together with other common forms of the word 
• the correct definition
• a sentence showing the word in context
• similar words   

A click of the mouse or keyboard by the user immediately brings up the next question. 

Automatic repetition based on user-set parameters

The program keeps track of the user's answers and automatically repeats questions based on parameters set by the user.  For example, the user can set the program to repeat questions that the user answers incorrectly or answers with "I don't know this word."   

Removal of familiar words

At any time, a user who knows a word "cold" can mark it accordingly.  The word will then be excluded from the group of 100 words, both for the current quiz and for any retakes (the user can restore the word whenever desired, however). 

View word lists

At any time during a quiz, a student can view lists of words answered correctly, words missed, and words marked "cold." 

Efficiency

Our quizzes are designed for efficiency, from top to bottom: 

• We do not subject our users to multiple quiz questions on different forms of each core word.  Rather, we display those different forms on the response screen to the core-word quiz question.   By learning our core words and viewing the other forms of those words, our users can efficiently learn thousands of vocabulary words. 
   
• Also, we do not include anywhere on our word list obvious alternative forms of our core words, such as past tenses, participles, adverbs, opposites, etc.  By learning our core words, users will be able to recognize and define those other forms.   

Finishing a quiz

To learn a group of 100 words, the user simply works through the quiz  until all questions have been answered correctly and are no longer repeated; at that point, the quiz ends.  At any time, a user can start a quiz over for reinforcement.    

Review quizzes -- even faster

For even faster review of words already studied, our program offers review quizzes that do not display a response after the user selects an answer.  Rather, after a student answers a question, a new question appears instantly.  

View progress

At any time, users can assess their progress by viewing lists of words that they missed, answered correctly, or marked "cold." 

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The easiest way to see how our program works is to give it a try.  See for yourself how Intensive Vocab makes it quick and easy to learn vocabulary! 

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