Ace My Language - Arabic Edition Paperback – August 1, 2006

A friend recommended this book to help me prepare for the Arabic DLPT in a few months. I have been thoroughly studying 1-2 passages a day and have been learning a lot in a relatively short period of time. It has a multitude of subjects in it, and the speaker is easy to understand in the audio files. Definitely recommended.

The book is an excellent resource for Arabic study, but the book arrived damaged. The cover was scratched and torn despite the fact that I paid over $70 for a new manual. I am very disappointed in the book's condition. I need it immediately for review, otherwise I'd return it.

The content of the book is fabulous, wonderful. The best book for studying for the DLPT, hands down. The physical book, the pages and the binding, that's a completely different matter. The pages actually fall out the FIRST TIME they are turned. But, the content is so good, I am keeping the pile of pages that used to be a book.

Very difficult text-I'd like to hear from other Arabic learners on this-Makes me feel dumb but I guess its only by being challenged do we improve

There are multiple choice questions (MCQ) with the letter answer and that's it. No translations. No explanation how the answer is obtained. I only did a few, but I disagreed with the answer of one question completely. If you are frustrated with other MCQs given in class, these will be the same. You act as your own teacher with this book. I'm not paying $50 to struggle through some crappy MCQs. I get ample material for free every day.To top it off, as soon as I opened the new book, the pages unglued. With every turn of the page, it fell out into my hand. This is one of the worst products I've ever received from amazon.

I've had a lot of people tell me to buy this book if I want to boost my score in the DLPT.There's no denying that it's a good resource but there are some issues I have:-If I spend $70 on a book, I expect it to be premium quality. I had it for only 3 days when the pages started falling out. Now every page I work on falls out when I turn it. I have to go spend more money to have a place rebind it. Not the quality I expect from such an expensive book.-Secondly, there are mistakes in some of the passages. Not many, but enough to annoy you. Even my native Arabic teachers say they agree that there are mistakes when I asked them to check for me.-Some of the English questions do not translate well with the Arabic passages. What may make sense to a native Arabic speaker would not to a native English speaker. Also, some of the answer options are so trivial that it it's obvious it is trying to trip the reader up and not actually test the readers ability. Native Arabic speakers even have sat and stared at a question because there is no "right" or "best" answer. Just answers that "might" be somewhat true.Even with some of the questions being sub-par there are many passages that are really really good. I don't regret buying it, I just wish for the price I paid the loose ends were cleaned up.I'll update this after I take my DLPT in August 2016 on the results.

I ordered this book to supplement my language listening and reading comprehension. The accompanying CD really makes this text more useful. Included are both MP3 and WMA audio files so I can choose how I prefer to listen to the passages. These can easily be transferred to a memory card for my Creative Zen or my Sony eReader Touch. The speaker pronounces clearly and his reading speed is not too fast-great for those of us who are just getting started.The book is broken into 3 sections: the Arabic passages with corresponding questions, the questions only to use with the audio, and the answer key.I ordered mine like new, so I got a great bargain. Highly recommended for beginners who want additional material for listening and reading comprehension and intermediate learners who want to brush up on their skills before testing.

Using this book to study for the DLPT is a bit like training for a 400-meter relay on a 350-meter track - you'll get a nasty surprise come race day.Simply put, the actual DLPT is considerably more difficult than the material found in Ace My Language. The passages are 2-3 times longer than the passages in the book and written with more complexity and variety of style (despite what the author claims in the introduction, all of the passages are written in pretty much the same style). Most importantly, the QUESTIONS after each passage do not challenge your comprehension of the material the way that DLPT questions do. Almost every question in Ace My Language asks little beyond, "what is this story about?" a question so simple that you are very unlikely to see it on the DLPT - where you are more likely to be asked what the author implied about something.Without giving away too much, I will also warn that the audio portion of the test is considerably tougher and more realistic than the slow recitations of each passage that come with the book in a CD.Ace My Language is useful in that it, like the DLPT, contains passages on a wide range of subjects (politics/arts/science/medicine/natural disasters/etc.) and is certain to broaden your vocabulary. However, considering that you'll be looking up unknown words on your own because the books provides no translations or vocabulary lists, you might as well just keep your $70, go to aljazeera.net and start reading and watching. In fact, that's what I recommend, scoring a 2+/2+ after a year out of the classroom.The DLI provides fairly representative examples of its DLPT questions on its site - Google "DLPT Guides."