Power Vocabulary Builder

Power Vocabulary Builder Review, Word Smart Review, and Ultimate Vocabulary Review

In this review, we compare three vocabulary software packages:

1. Power Vocabulary Builder
2. Word Smart
3. Ultimate Vocabulary

When evaluating these programs, we considered three key points:

1. The number and selection of the words provided
2. The information available to help us learn the words
3. The interactive activities available to help us learn the words

Power Vocabulary Builder

Power Vocabulary Builder provides 2190 words. These words will certainly be beneficial to anyone who wants to improve their vocabulary. Although Power Vocabulary Builder provides a reasonable number of words, it fell short on other criteria. For example, it only provides one test and some flash cards as learning aids.

Also, there are only four usage examples for each word. Although this is a good start, we don't believe that reading four examples is sufficient to gain an understanding of a vocabulary word.

Word Smart

Word smart is a vocabulary program designed mainly for school children. It provides a number of exercises and a slightly primitive space invader game. We liked the Audio Discussion feature of Word Smart which provides more complete information than Power Vocabulary Builder.

The two main drawbacks of Word Smart are it's price and the number of words it provides. At $200, it provides the least value of any program we reviewed. Further, the version we reviewed contained only 400 core words - the least of any program we reviewed. For example, Power Vocabulary Builder has 2190 and Ultimate Vocabulary has more than 142,000.

Ultimate Vocabulary

Ultimate Vocabulary was by the far the best package we reviewed. We really like the Word Discover feature that provides a hugh amount of information on words. When you view a word, you can see 50 usage examples. This is much more than you get with Power Vocabulary Builder or Word Smart.

Ultimate Vocabulary also has a large number of excellent multimedia activities to help you learn words. It provides 6 different types of tests, 3 activities, and a Word Messenger feature that reminds you of words as you work.

Ultimate Vocabulary also has 142,647 words and predefined lists of great vocabulary building words.

On the down side, there is not yet a version for the Mac and Ultimate Vocabulary takes a few seconds to start the first time you run it. Other than these minor problems, however, Ultimate Vocabulary is definitely our pick. Ultimate Vocabulary also comes with a 90 day trial period so we strongly recommend that you test it out. Click here if you would like more informaion on Ultimate Vocabulary.