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I love Magoosh, it’s a great team with a lot of amazing material and best exam preparation sources. It has great content and I really enjoy its website . However, it has the worst Flashcards apps I have ever used. Both toefl and gre vocabulary Flashcards apps are disasters. Here are some reasons: 1. No back button: sometimes you tap ‘I knew this word’ or ‘I didn’t know this word’ unintentionally and since there is no return button you have to wait until you see that word again (if you tap ‘I knew this word’ by mistake you have to wait a a lot because that goes to the end of the list. 2. No word list: the best way to learn vocabulary is of course using Flashcards and not wordlists. However there are times when you need to have an overall view of all the words you have mastered, for example before an exam, to see if you have forgotten any of them. So a feature of wordlist is essential. 3. Stupid random words: the words don’t have a proper algorithm to be shown. When you don’t know a word and you tap on ‘I didn’t know this word’ after 1 additional Flashcards the app shows you the same word and then 1 additional word and then the same word until that word gets green. If you learn a word just now it must be some delay until the app shows you the word again. But the current algorithm causes the word to be green very soon and you don’t see the word again until you master all the words of the deck so that you can review green words.

This is, at best, a rudimentary starter lesson in advanced vocabulary. There are thousands of difficult words in the English language, and here we are presented with only 1200 of them. It is also limiting in that there is rarely more than one definition given, and, as others have noted, there is no context provided for any given word. “Betray” is but one example. Most of us use it to mean something entirely different than “reveal.” But in this program the word is given short shrift. A great many words are arcane or archaic, or might be found fourth on the list of definitions in any dictionary. If you’re into literary classics of old, you will benefit to some extent. The pronunciation icon rarely works on the first attempt. You will get not able to connect messages until your fourth or fifth attempt. The Merriam Webster app has no problem with this at all. I think this program is best for high school aged individuals aiming to lift their standardized test scores, and even then it won’t cover everything one needs to know. The best vocabulary builders remain only in printed volumes. This program is sloppily coded and hasn’t been updated in nearly a year. Doesn’t seem like the developer is keen on further improvements.

Many of the words only provide one at most two synonyms. I understand that for the most part is sufficient. I think I would like to see more synonyms and maybe even parts of speech and antonyms. I get how that could be information overload, but I personally remember things a little better when I have many different ways to access the information in my memory. I agree with another user that a lot of the definitions have a left leaning political bias. It’s not outrageous enough to make me not want to use the app but it isn’t very subtle. Overall the frequency with which you are shown cards seems adequate. I really enjoy playing the game but I wish there was a solo player option as I would much rather be able to play without having to wait for someone else to take their turn. It’s challenging enough just racing the clock.