A strong vocabulary is an absolute prerequisite for understanding and discussing the concepts, issues, and arguments that educated adults face on a daily basis. Like IQ (the proportion derived from your mental age divided by your chronological age), VQ is a measurement of your mental vocabulary age divided by your chronological age. Simply put, a high VQ implies that you read and speak with the vocabulary of a much older person. Higher VQ naturally opens doors for higher functional IQ and EQ (emotional quotient). Students are often discouraged by vocabulary books or programs because they involve endless lists of words and definitions that are to be memorized without involving much comprehension. But this is not how your brain works. Your brain absorbs information and retains it through repeated exposure to and experience with the concepts. When you consider all the thousands of words you already know, you would realize that you didn't need a dictionary to learn them-you learned them through experience, which is why older people tend to have much stronger vocabulary. And it is by remembering the context of the correct usage that you will be able to use the words correctly in your own speech or writing. This program is designed to simulate the process of repeated exposure and experience. You will focus more on the context of usage ("the phrase") rather than the words appearing in the definition. Don't try to memorize the words of the definition; instead, understand the definition and memorize the phrase that uses the definition. Repeatedly hearing, saying, writing, and reviewing "the phrase" will cause the word to be cemented in your mind naturally-in the same way you learned slang terms like awesome, epic fail, or dumped without ever using a dictionary. While this volume covers a modest set of 250 words, they are considered high-frequency words for standardized tests, such as the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT or TOEFL. These words are not important to you just because they appear on these tests; they appear on these tests precisely because they are important in the first place. Mastering these words thoroughly will be far more beneficial to you than vaguely memorizing just the definitions of a thousand words. If some of the exercises and reviews seem redundant, it's because that is the process required to make the words a part of your vocabulary. Repeated exposure to the words through simple questions allows you to engage the words naturally and casually, all while reinforcing your memory. You can feel assured that after going through this book, the words will be so well ingrained in your mind that you will not be able to forget the words even if you wanted to.