The Ring of McAllister: A Score-Raising Mystery Featuring 1,000 Must-Know SAT Vocabulary Words

This is an amazing story. I personally think people shouldn't just read this book for its educational value. I agree it serves its purpose rather well. It teached me the vocabulary and improved my skill of using context clues. The only problem was the glossary in the back. But what was the reason it was so helpful? The main reason was because of the amazing story. The only reason people would want to keep reading was because of its great plot. It has an amazing combination of horror and mystery. It expresses a great deal of problems a person could face in a life. Totally worth every penny I paid for it. I surely suggest this book to everyone not only looking to improve their vocabulary, but also trying to read a good book. I only hope that Mr. Marantz would write more books. Plain AMAZING!!!

I'll be taking the SAT over the summer and am dreading the vocab sections. My mom just got me the Ring, and I finished it in a day. I'm probably going to read it a few times to make sure the words stick in my head. But I'm already feeling better about my vocab.

My mom got me this book for Christmas. I would've preferred a gift certificate or something. Whatever. I read it over winter break and kinda got into it. By the way, I don't agree with Julia. Flipping back to the glossary was my way of testing myself. I'd guess what the word meant and then check to see if I was right. And gimme a break. We're already studying for the SAT by reading the book. Exercises at the end of every chapter would've been overkill. And broken up the story, which was good. I sort of related to Will and what he was feeling (being bored in a small town, etc). Anyway, I'd recommend this to people. It can't hurt. It works better than stupid memorization (I actually dropped a vocab word while talking to my mom--she was impressed...whatever). It's a better way for people (like me) who prefer trig, calc or chemistry over English class to study.

I orginally pick-up the Ring of McAllister to see if it would help my teenagers develop the vocabulary necessary to score well on the SAT. Now, having read the Ring, I know it will improve their vocabulary. Indeed, my vocabulary markedly improved, and I teach college English. And who would have guessed that an educational book could be such a great read! Once I started The Ring, I couldn't put it down. The improved vocabulary is a fringe benefit. My teenagers and I think the story is the real draw.I eagerly await Mr. Marantz's next book.

I bought this book for my daughter who is taking the SATs in a month. She loved it! Its a story which contains more than 1000 SAT vocabulary words. She said the story was interesting and it was much easier to learn and understand new vocabulary words in the context of a story as opposed to trying to memorize a list. I'm recommending this book to every high schooler I know. I can't believe this is the only book of its kind out there.