Going to college can be challenging for many students. There are new rules to follow, but also the freedom to choose to not follow those rules. Instead of having parents help with homework and deadlines, students are left to themselves, fully responsible for doing their assignments on time. If you’ve helped your child develop good study habits throughout their secondary school years, they’ll enjoy an advantage once they get to college. A daily vocabulary study routine is a good way to introduce students to the concept of regular, focused study time – and a way to show them the rewards of their effort.

If you have a student going off to college this year (or if you’re a student yourself) we’d like to recommend these resources that will help improve vocabulary, writing, and general communication skills. The vast majority of university degree programs require students to pass at least one writing course in order to graduate or advance in the course sequence, and students will need to be prepared for this requirement.

Destinations 2: Grammar for Academic Success
Destinations 2: Writing for Academic Success
(Nancy Herzfeld-Pipkin)
These books are primarily designed for English teachers, but are valuable resources for students as well. The books focus on the essentials of English grammar and writing skills, and the accompanying workbooks allow the students to set their own pace. The books are written at an intermediate to advanced vocabulary level. We recommend these books because having the explanation of the exercise as it is presented to the teacher can be more of a help than experiencing it only as a student. The self-paced nature of these books will also give students practice in setting up their own study plans. We like the focus on writing skills in the second book; it’s only through actively practicing writing that we improve our skills, but it’s often hard to just sit down and write. The second book gives the students examples, tasks, and guidelines to provide structure.

College Vocabulary 1-4 (Houghton Mifflin English for Academic Success)
(various authors)
The Academic Word List (AWL) is an internationally-used set of vocabulary words that most frequently appear in a wide range of academic texts used in English-language universities and colleges around the world. These four books focus on AWL vocabulary, and teaches students how to identify the words, define them, and use them correctly in context. Specific time is devoted to giving guidelines on how to remember the correct spelling and pronunciation of each word. Note: Level 1 is “low intermediate” and Level 4 is “high intermediate to advanced.”

Programmed College Vocabulary (7th Edition)
(George Feinstein)
This is a general overview of intermediate to advanced English vocabulary related to all the fields a college student will be expected to be familiar with, including psychology, computer science, social sciences, and poetry. The emphasis in this book is on using the vocabulary in oral and written communication.