The WKB method has been widely used in evaluating of the propagation characteristics of planar waveguides with graded-index profiles. This method, however, yields large errors when a turning point is near or at the discontinuity in the presence of the index discontinuity or index slope discontinuity. Especially, in the case of a truncated-index profile, this phenomenon appears more clearly in the low-order modes and near the cutoff regions. The MWKB method is introduced to reduce these inherent errors of the conventional WKB method. The MWKB method is based on both the linearization of the index profile from an index discontinuity and the introduction of a virtual turning point. It is noticed that the b-v curves obtained by the MWKB method agree well with those of the finite-difference method, and that the phase shift at a turning point depends on both the index profile and its propagation constant. (author). refs., figs.