Master Math: Solving Word Problems (Master Math Series)

Description

First off, there's nothing impressive in here for anyone who has a modicum of reading comprehension. Interpreting word problems requires understanding the subject matter and what in the hell you're reading. For example, early in the book they cover phrases such as "At Least" and "At Most" with relation to inequalities. When someone says "More Than" you should immediately recognize this as "Greater than" or '>'; when someone says "At Least" you should understand English well enough to know that this does not mean it has to be bigger, and thus means "Greater Than or Equal To" or ">=" (or the single character sign).

Too bad most adults in the US have a 5th grade reading level.

I would strongly recommend studying reading comprehension instead of buying this book; however, since you don't have that kind of time if you're looking at this book at all, that's not really an option. The material presented in this book covers specific reading comprehension problems with regard to math problems extremely well, however, and is the next best thing.

In short, this book will improve your ability to deal with word problems, and hopefully your grasp on the English Language in general. Use it as a stop gap to get you through your math classes, and then go learn to understand whatever it is you're reading.