#it's really good. super informative and the chapters are really specific and concise.

[racingliners]

Twixmas Sunday nights >>>>>>>>

[wouldnt-it-be-hilarious-if-i]

New additions to the Reading List (Judaism edition)

currently listening to: mirrorball by taylor swift

Okay.

So, I'm currently reading Woke Antisemitism by David L. Bernstein and definitely realizing I can't avoid reading about Israel and Zionism if I want to understand anything about this topic on a genuine level. The book is super interesting, and I think it's a great read with a lot of very hot takes that are definitely at times a bit...questionable at first but if you hear him out, the points do make a lot of sense. I'm not talking about the antisemitism points, which I already agreed with. But some of his takes on white privilege, black culture, and feminism are a bit interesting.

One topic does keep coming up in the book, likely because it's very important. While I understand the points that he's making about how anti-Zionism, while not inherently antisemitic (from what I understand, like I said, I still need to do research), is often used as a vehicle for pretty blatant antisemitism on the left. He also talks a lot about how the left allows antisemitism to run rampant because of some of the topics I named above, and I actually agree with him. I can definitely see how an oppressor/oppressed hierarchy leaves out a lot of grey areas that Jews would historically fall into. It's an interesting take, and I'm glad to read it and get closer to understanding a bit about what it must feel and be like to be Jewish today. Obviously, this is only one man's opinion, but I do value every opinion I read because it matters to me that I read about this from every angle that I possibly can so that I am well-informed on how to be a better ally. To add to that, this man isn't just some guy. He's extremely qualified to speak on these issues, not just because he's a Jewish person living in the world today experiencing these issues, but because of his education and experience as well.

In 2016, He was President and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), Executive Director of The David Project ( from August 2010 to September 2014, and held senior roles with the American Jewish Committee (AJC). During his undergrad at Ohio State studying Philosophy and Jewish studies (he later goes on to get his masters in International Relations), he served on the National Jewish Student Leadership Board and was a huge pro-Israel activist on campus. Just after undergrad, he worked with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. It goes on an on, and his work has been centrally about progressive values, diversity and inclusion. He has also written tons of articles about antisemitism in the left since at least the 80s, and did a 44 minute interview regarding his book with a talk show.

His book heavily focuses on antizionism being used as a way to be antisemitic in the left, so I'm not even more interested in reading more about this subject than I was before so that I can understand his arguments more critically. I can't really form an opinion on something that I am neither affected by or know very little about, but I can say that his book is an incredibly insightful starting point (so far, I'm only on chapter 5 of 16) for anyone that wants an idea of different things to look into and research independently in order to gain a better understanding of the issues he's discussing (not just Zionism and Israel, but also Jewish life in the United States specifically).

Anyway, online, I found a few videos that explained the Israeli-Palestinian conflict really concisely, but I'd rather read about it a bit more than just depend on a few videos and documentaries on YouTube. I asked my friend about any suggestions she may have, and she told me that Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi was a good one (but warned that it wasn't a great intro book to everything), so I've added it to my list.

With that, here are a few books I found that (tentatively) seem to explain some things. I really want to have a well-rounded view of this subject, so I'm looking for books that discuss Israel and Palestine from all sides of the conflict. In this list, I'll separate Zionist related books from books that have to do with Israel, because from what I understand the two get conflated often even though they aren't interchangeable (as in the terms 'Jew', 'Israeli' and 'Zionist' are not often used today to mean their respective definitions, but rather the same thing, which they are not).

These books are a mixture of like textbook explanations and narrative accounts, since I like to get an idea of both the academic aspect of sensitive issues like this and the personal accounts from real people who are experiencing these things or who believe in specific things.

Books about Israel/Palestine and the conflict

Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi

Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Hardcover by Ilan Pappe

Stealing the Atom Bomb: How Denial and Deception Armed Israel by Roger Mattson

Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace in Israel by Elias Chacour

Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby

Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict by Oren Kessler

Books about Zionism

My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit

Zionism: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Stanislawski

A Short History of Christian Zionism: From the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century by Donald M. Lewis

A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel by Walter Laqueur

Notes:

I mostly chose the Short History of Christian Zionism so that I can examine my own bias in regard to Israel. I come from a conservative-lite, Catholic/Baptist, German (and African)-immigrant family, so when I was growing up, the only thing I learned about Israel was that it rightfully belonged to the Jews and was given to them after the Holocaust because of their suffering. My mom really stressed to me as a child and teenager that this was promised land.

That being said, I never learned anything about Palestine, or the conflict. A large portion of this was explained to me when I was like ten. If I did learn anything about Palestine, I think it was usually along the lines of, "Well, some people don't believe that, and they're very mad about it." Very they can stay mad sort of energy.

Now, this was my family's opinion. If I'm being honest, I didn't care one way or the other when this was explained to me as a child. But I did think, since this was the only real contact I had with the subject, that it was nice that Jews got to have Israel after so much suffering, and that they were very deserving of it since the Holocaust was so horrific. So, this was my thinking for many years until, honestly, I think when I got to college and met actual Muslims and Jews. At that point, I was actually incredibly shocked to learn that there was a whole conflict, it wasn't half as simple as it had been explained to me, and that conservative families straight up do not prepare their children for any real world understanding of international relations.

Anyways, so now here I am playing catch up to the rest of the world, per usual.

The title for The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi interests me because of the use of the words "settler colonialism." In a quick google search, I found that one argument is that "Jewish Israelis are 'settlers' who want to conquer more and more Palestinian land." I have no idea if this is true, but the term used in the title is a big part of why it's on the list, because you can immediately tell what the author's stance is and how the book may be framed. I chose My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit for similar reasons.

As I've said many times, I know very little about this and have no personal opinions about it as a result (meaning that I literally am not neutral, for or against anything rn because I need to do more research. My goal is just to understand rn.), so any titles that I choose are purely because of the reviews, popularity of the books, and/or any possible bias that I can detect naturally rather than from any real understanding of the issue. That's also why I chose a book on Christian Zionism as well, because I'm interested in how Evangelists have affected this issue as well and want to make sure I fully understand the thinking behind what I was taught as a child. Quite a few of the books I've chosen written by Israelis appear to be rather biased as well, so I think I'll be learning a lot historically and politically about this topic in such a way that I'll be able to really understand a lot of it from many different points of view.

[citrinesparkles]

I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you have any tips for anyone starting their own x reader(s) blog/doing requests? If not, I hope you have a nice day either way. :)

hey lovely!! this is such an interesting question omg. i don't mind at all!!

i do have some thoughts based on my own personal experience (i, in true citrine fashion, went full babble mode on this so that'll be under the cut!) but i think the tl;dr of it is have fun and be willing to experiment. (also if any of you lovely folks reading along at home want to drop your two cents in the replies or otherwise add to the conversation please feel free! i can only offer my perspective and i love hearing others)

if you have any follow up questions or want more specific advice, feel free to shoot me a dm! i don't bite, i promise.

okay. hi.

first thing's first: starting an x readers blog!

right off the bat, my absolute most important advice is this: be gentle with yourself. you're trying something new. even if you've been writing your whole life and been on tumblr since it was founded, this is a new way to combine those things. new adventures have bumps and blocks and you'll have trial and error before you really find your way (and likely after you find your way, too!) and that is fine. take your time, try to enjoy the process, and be kind to yourself.

for me, a lot of finding my way- and i mean A Lot- was just looking at other imagines blogs and asking myself what i liked about them. for example, for me, i get inspired by angelz-dust's incredible dialogue and use of details in her writing, beautiful desktop theme, a super user friendly masterlist, and clear and concise rules page. i also love unmotivatedwrit3r's intro post with both masterlist and rules, grounded stories, and that their blog is super easy to navigate. (i could go on and on, but my point is, look at your favorite writers. why does their writing appeal to you? why does their blog appeal to you? how can you incorporate parts of how they run their blog into how you run yours (obviously without stealing other people's work, haha.))

shaping your blog takes time, but can be a really fun process if you let it!

some of the things i find most useful for my blog are a good desktop theme, a useful pinned post, a masterlist, a mobile masterlist, and a tagging system i'm very comfortable with.

(idk how tumblr savvy you are, anon, so if you would like advice on any of those things specifically please let me know!)

technical tidbits

something i've found super helpful as both a writer and a reader of imagines is when a fic has an intro. as an example, i'll use my fic cat. the section at the top tells the reader what they're getting into; in my case, i like to list any qualities i've written the reader with (in this case, the reader is not referred to by gender!) so the person reading knows if it's something they can relate to (or, if not, if it's something they're interested in anyway). i also include what character i'm writing about, how long the piece is, any fun facts or relevant information i think the audience should know (like thanking my darling angel for being my beta reader/enabler/cheerleader), and also any content warnings i think apply. in this case, i also linked the next chapter of the fic.

if the post is long, throw a read more/cut on there! (i do this for posts that are longer than 1000 words, but you can use any measurement.) it makes navigating your blog (and any tags you post in!) muchhhhh easier.

back up your work. no, seriously, save often, and save your fics in a secondary location. i use google docs, but you could use word, a private discord server, your notes app- just make sure to save it! and just a heads' up, tumblr drafts can be a bit of a gamble. i've had posts post themselves prematurely, posts disappear entirely, and formatting glitch. (also? be prepared to reformat your posts.)

(i also save drafts i hate or can't get to work. sometimes i find a way to recycle them later on!)

don't be afraid to use tags, but try to stick to relevant ones. tagging your fics with unrelated characters or fandoms is unlikely to get your work any extra attention- and if it does, it's not likely to be good. i use several different imagines tags (because people call imagines lots of different things- [character] imagine, [character] x reader, [character] x you, and [character] x y/n are my go to tags.).

i also find it really helpful to use consistent content warning tags (such as "fire cw" or "blood cw").

self reblogs are a great thing. i have a queue i maintain almost religiously, so i queue mine, but you don't have to! but don't be afraid to reblog your work. people follow you to read what you post, and they may not see it the first time around! (i usually post at night, reblog the following morning, and once again the following night.)

accepting requests.

disclaimer: requests aren't my main source of inspiration. i write from movies, music, things i see irl, my literal dreams- i say this because i've seen a lot of writers get discouraged by a lack of requests (especially early on) or frustrated because they can't complete requests as quickly as they'd like. i think it can be really refreshing to take a break from them occasionally and write from another source of inspiration, if you can.

that being said! to answer your actual question, the biggest suggestion i have is to set basic rules. if you are asking for requests, what are you willing to write? what's a hard no?

it's okay if those things take time to figure out- or if they change with time! but having some basics down can be a huge help for requesters.

also! you're more likely to get requests if you allow anonymous asks. (this was, last i checked, not allowed by default. i would recommend switching them on in your tumblr settings if you would like to take requests.)

i really hope some of this helps- and again, if you have any questions or would like any other input, please feel free to send another ask or dm me <3

[bookwyrminspiration]

hello! just curious, how do you plot out your stories? (for example, what have you done to plan out the wings au? do you have it all in your head? do you plan it out on paper or in a doc specifically for it? do you just go with the flow? sorry if this is a lot of questions lol i'm just trying to convey my point-)

hello, synonym!! lovely to see you again! I'd love to share my process!

as I explain my personal methods (again, personal, just how I do things!), I'll use the wings au as an example because i know you've read it and it'll just be easier over all. but essentially, yes to all of the above, just with different parts of the story!

my progression is: chaotic doc, background (as needed), basic written plot, expansion on the plot, any other details needed, and then just write things! but don't worry, I'll provide more detail, i say as if i'm capable of being concise

(putting below a readmore for simplicity)

chaotic doc: so, the very first thing I do when i have a story is open up a doc, and write down everything i know about it in little bullet points and rambling sentences, just basic information with no organization. the organizing can come later, right now I just want to get as much of what's in my head onto the paper as possible.

I type out the basic premise of the story or the few things I know about how I want it to go, the things I know I want to remember later, things I'd need to think about to set it up, etc. for the wings au, this was details like everyone's wings (things to remember later), how they got those wings and a sentence or two about what the world was like now (things I needed to think about to set it up), a little blurb about where the story would start. this is less writing details about the story, and more noting down the details I want to figure out later in the expansion. i find it works best to type this out because i'm a much faster typer than I am at physical writing, which allows me to follow the flow of my thoughts a lot better and go back and change things.

background: background prepares me for the next step, but the amount of effort I put into this section depends on how complex my story is. it basically means write down (we've moved to pencil and paper now, but this could be digital too if you prefer) anything you need to know in order to set up the rest of your story. what do you need to know in order to tell the story you need to and to get you where you want to be? for the wings au, the background was that the world had been overrun with monsters and everyone was living underground now. the neverseen had been defeated, or so they thought, coming back later. all these things that essentially prepared me to get to the plot. it told me where the story was happening and the emotional/physical environment everything else would happen under. if you have a more worldbuilding heavy world, this step might be a little more complex, or if there's something very specific with the characters you need as context beforehand.

sometimes the readers will be aware of pieces of the background, and it's even necessary for them to know--for example, you all knowing the elven world is in the middle of a monster apocalypse and living underground; if you didn't know, the rest of the story wouldn't make any sense. but there may be things you write down that are just for you to know, personal notes. for example, I have notes written about how the monsters came to be, more specifically, that you all haven't been made aware of and may never be. planning this out is for you, so if there's something you want to remind yourself to keep in mind while writing, this could be a good place. but now that we know the world we're writing in, we can move on

basic plot: for me, I struggle to figure out where to take a story, and if I don't have the basic concept laid out before I start writing, I ended up with really weird stories that completely deviate from what i wanted (I say this from experience). so I break it down into the bare essentials. literally as basic as I can be. there are five crucial parts of a plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. just those five. for each of those, i write--writing, because it takes more time (allows me to think) and feels more organized to me, but you can do it differently--just the general idea I have for each section. just as few words as possible. detail comes later. for the wings au I literally wrote "they get wings" for rising action. having read the wings au, you know just how simplified that is.

one things that might help is consider how you would explain this idea to someone in one or two sentences. you just want to make sure you have a beginning, middle, end, and the transition between them. from there you've got the skeleton of your story, and everything else can fit itself into this idea.

expansion: now that you have the skeleton, it's time to fill in some of the more essential anatomy. this is where you add the specifics. for me, i write this physically in bullet points in a journal of some kind. I take the first section, and write down how the story is going to start. where am I going to begin this journey. for the wings au I wrote "beginning: sneaking into breeding facility to destroy monsters. problem: caught/monster breaks loose." if you remember this is essentially the events of the first chapter but in two sentences. I'm giving enough detail that I know what I'm going to write, but not so much it's going to be stifling to follow my exact notes when I actually get to writing. this will be different for different people, so you may want more or less detail than I provided, I'm just giving an example of how I did it.

I continue this for the rest of the plot, but that doesn't mean every single little detail that will ever happen is planned out. I'm not patient enough to be super thorough with every little thing, so I go long enough until I have a solid understanding of what I'm going to start with when I'm writing, or just until I'm bored and can't deal with planning anymore. for me, that meant I was more detailed when planning from the mission in the facility to them getting to the abandoned gnomish village, as those would be some of the first things I would be writing about. after that, I got more vague and just touched on some of the key part of each of those five sections. I take those two/three words and turn them into two/three bullet points. I also didn't want to be too specific with the later details, because I knew i'd be influenced by things as I wrote and would be inspired to fill that out.

any other details: this is kind of any afterthoughts you might have or details you need to keep i mind that aren't necessarily plot. you may have a lot of these, or you may have none. for me, this was where I wrote down what kinds of wings and other animalistic traits each of the characters had (yes, I wrote them down again). it's not strictly plot, but it does affect the rest of the story. this is also where I write anything I forgot to when going through the first time, and then i can draw a little arrow pointing towards where it fits in to the rest of the story or is relevant (which is part of why I like the writing aspect, but this is entirely achievable on a doc). another example from the au is me writing "domestic" to the side and pointing it back to my notes about the gnomish village, because while it wasn't essential to moving the plot forward, i wanted to touch on some aspects of domestic live with the ten of them while they were there.

just write things: now that you have all this planning done (good job, you!) you can get into the writing aspect. you've already decided your beginning and know where you want to go, so this is the part where you just starting putting words on the page. it can be pretty daunting to just look at a blank page, so if you'd like, start a paragraph in. skip the first paragraph and just start in the middle of something else--you can add back what's missing later. I personally note things that I want to come back to inside [brackets like this], and that can be words, sentences, entire paragraphs. i use the square ones specifically because I don't use them in my writing unlike (these parentheses), and then I can search the document for them all at once and see all the places I need to go back.

this is also where the "just in my head" and "make it up as I go" part comes into place. you have a pretty good idea of what you're doing, but you're going to have ideas as you write, so sometimes you just follow the flow of your brain and write things you could've never even planned for. and if you're interacting with others as you're going (like I'm talking about theories with you all while writing future chapters) then you may be inspired by them to add things to the story. originally, I wasn't going to even have any messages from Bronte or Oralie, but now because I saw what some of the people reading it were picking up on, I realized the potential there and added them in on a whim

and sometimes when you get stuck, the best way to get yourself out of that is to just add something random, which can spiral off and affect the rest of the story. I've said it before, but the dragons were not planned. I'd actually seen a piece of writing advice months ago that if you're stuck, change the weather. so I was stuck and made a sudden rainstorm, but then I needed an explanation as to how things got so wet so fast because I'd mentioned clear skies earlier. so in my attempt to explain it, dragons came to exist. writing is a process, so don't limit yourself to everything you've written. you'll be inspired along the way, so try to take it in stride.

one final note: as much as you plan, this is not going to be a definite map for how the story will go. maybe something makes sense as you're planning it out, but when you get to actually writing it makes no sense as all and you need to change things. that's fine! this kind of a plan is just to get you prepared and keep you afloat amongst this ocean of words trapped in your head that you want to transcribe. if something isn't working, change it! in my original written plan for the wings au they weren't going to run away for a few weeks, instead sneaking out for an hour or two at a time over those few weeks because they couldn't stand being underground anymore, until Linh was actually the first one to make contact with a creature and realize it didn't immediately want to kill her. but because she's not the narrator of this story, I couldn't write it the way i wanted, so I gave that to sophie in the tree.

this is just my approach to my more complicated stories! for some of the really quick ones, I just open a doc and start going. this kind of thinking keeps me organized so that I'm doing the idea the most justice. but just because it works for me doesn't mean it'll work for everyone. if it does work for you, great! but if there are parts you need to modify for yourself, you are more than encouraged to do so. personally, if I could only chose one part of this process to rely on, it would be the basic plot. that's the key to everything for me, but for others it might be something different.

I hope this helps with whatever it is you're writing!! I wish you luck and look forward to seeing whatever it is (should you chose to share it, no pressure)!! if you'd like more of my process on how I write it consistently and update on a schedule, I'd be more than happy to talk about that too!

[twentytarot]

hi everyone! i’m here with something a little different from my usual pick a card readings to celebrate 100 followers on twentytarot! it’s been just 2 short months since i’ve embarked on this journey to learn about reading for others and i’m really grateful for the support that the community has shown me since day 1. so i thought i would write about the spread i usually use for pick-a-card readings and give everyone a few tips and tricks that will hopefully be useful for you when you read tarot. thanks again for all your support, and i’ll see you in my next PAC reading! 🥰 

the spread i use is a super simple 5-card spread with no fixed positions. i’ve seen people call this spread the intuitive spread or the storyboard spread, and reading it is pretty simple: you ask your question, determine the number of cards you will need (like i said, i use 5, but 2, 3 or 7 is also common), then pull your cards and line them up single file. then comes the hard part: actually understanding what the cards are saying, without having any real guides other than the question itself. i used to struggle with not knowing where to begin, how the cards linked or what each card meant when i was bombarded with so many different interpretations. these steps helped me become much more concise of a reader, and i hope they help you too! without further ado:

TIP ONE: COMMIT

and by commit, i mean: commit to your question and commit to your cards. you want your mind to be as uncluttered as possible when you ask your question so you can be sure when the cards show themselves they’re answering the question you had in mind. ask just one question per spread to avoid getting confused about which cards are answering which question. in this spread, your question is your guide, so you have to be extra clear and specific. if you intend to have 5 cards in your spread, then stick to 5 cards. especially in the beginning, don’t take extra cards just because they all fell out at the same time. if 7 cards dropped out of your hard at the same time, i encourage you to put them back and try again.

TIP TWO: COMMIT (again)

this tip is more on negative cards. don’t worry, i completely empathise with the panic that happens when the five of cups presents itself as the final card in the spread. i’ve seen people deal with this a few ways: some people pretend they didn’t see that and draw again. i really don’t recommend this. life is not always unicorns and butterflies, and redrawing a card is not going to change that. at best, your cards empathise and frame their answer more nicely, but at worst, you draw a meaningless card because of you’re panicking and not listening to your intuition, or your cards just straight up decide they’ve had enough. so commit to that negative card, and put it down on your spread.

the other way i’ve seen readers deal with this is to immediately draw clarifiers. i also don’t really advise this. for one, that’s not committing to the number of cards your spread was going to have, which is going to affect accuracy. for another, it’s going to clutter your mind. it’s going to cause you to want to zoom into the bad card and get to the bottom of it and you’re going to subconsciously neglect the other cards just because they didn’t worry you as much. a spread like this should be taken as a whole story, and you can’t just read one chapter and know everything about it, can you?

instead, i recommend that you leave that card alone first, and zoom out. there’s only one ten of swords card in the stack, buddy. i promise you, you’re not going to get fatally betrayed five times.

TIP THREE: ZOOM OUT

the best way to make sure you don’t leave any cards out while reading is to read them all at one go first. these are the things i pay attention to when i first look at a spread, in the order:

major arcana: are most cards major or minor arcana? are they generally positive or negative? what are the cards’ astrological equivalents, and do they link or hold any significance? for example, if your spread has temperance and the devil, then that suggests this prediction might come true towards the end of the year.

court cards: again, i’m looking for astrological significance here, and linking it to the major arcana if needed. i’m also looking for double counts (eg: queen of swords and justice) that would give hints about the people influencing the situation. there are also some cards that means certain people to me and my cards, so i’m also looking out for that.

dominant suit: i like to call this the “expectations vs reality” clue. for example, if i’m reading for romance and the spread is full of swords and pentacles, then unless i’m offset by some major arcana, i can be quite sure that romance isn’t really in my near future. of course, the cards can still be read for romance and i will, but it sets the scene. similarly, if i’m reading for work and i get cups all around, then the work itself is probably not going to be my main problem.

dominant number: this doesn’t give as much information as the previous steps, but it does help with setting the scene and vibe. for example, many 1s would suggest new, good beginnings, and 5s may hint towards tougher days in the future. for major arcana bigger than 10, add the digits together until you get a number 10 or less to get the representative number.

TIP FOUR: FIND THE “PARTITION”

this sometimes appears as a card, or an imaginary line. basically, it helps you zoom into sections of the spread and tie these sections together. “partition cards” are usually:

the only major arcana card in the spread

the one card with a completely different vibe / category than the cards surrounding it

the one court card in the spread

the one ace in the spread

and imaginary lines are usually:

between cards of two different suits

between patterns in cards (for example: page, minor arcana [break] page, minor arcana...)

between the last major arcana and first minor arcana card (or the other way around)

between sets of cards with different vibes

it’s not uncommon for more than one of these to show up in a spread, and sometimes they contradict themselves. sometimes there will be a tiebreaker. take this spread for example:

the king of swords is the only court card, but the ace of pentacles is also the only ace. where’s the partition? well, i’d personally place it at the ace of pentacles. notice how on the left of the ace if the four of cups: low in energy, lethargic. on the right are much more active cards. so the ace must be the game changer, making it the partition card!

the partition, depending on the question, means a lot of things. most commonly it points you to what causes a shift in energy for the querent. in the spread above, a new beginning will breathe new life into the querent and bring them out of their slump. other times, each side of the partition answers different parts of the question. either way, finding the partition will help you figure out where the querent is coming from, and where they’re headed. once you know this, then you can zoom into the individual cards and look for specific messages for your querent.

TIP FIVE: YOU AND YOUR CARDS KNOW EACH OTHER BEST

i try my best not to interpret others’ cards. sometimes i do, but usually it’s just for personal practice and i don’t tell them what i’m thinking, and other times i’m just trying to convince myself mark lee and i are meant to be. 😂 i kid, i kid. anyway, the point is that there are many ways to say the same thing in tarot, and the reason why your cards have chosen to say it the way they have is because they trust this is the way you will best understand. so don’t take that for granted! really take every card and stare at it until you know exactly what it’s trying to tell you. sometimes it’s instant, sometimes you only get it as you’re falling asleep, but you should trust that this message was written for you to understand, not for you to decipher. the more you trust your cards, the more they will trust you. 

and that’s all! have a good day and stay safe, everyone 💕

[macbetha]

hi! to nobody’s surprise, i went over the wordcount in curious cat to answer this question, so, i’m answering it here.

short answer: i'd love to. long answer (seriously, i've had this typed out for a while):

i hope that i've always been clear about my stance in regard to the system: how i've seen it, in multiple instance in my personal life and also in a broader sense, be self-serving. how i have personally and systematically been effected is something that i've always hoped to share because i'm not alone in that. i don't believe in the system and i want to make a statement of that through writing.

situations in all my stories come from my own awareness, and thus, transform into commentary on the predicaments i'm seeing around me. the situation in my country specifically, and its system, is not new. above all else, i always want to be respectful. even if i'm still writing graphic, explicit things, i want to be careful - not in terms of censoring, but in terms of having the awareness that these situations are real and the effects / damages of them are very, very real.

i take this respect so seriously that when i decided to go back to school this summer and i needed an elective, i chose criminology in order to better understand how i can transfer the information properly and with care in mind in my stories. seriously, i have really, really battled with this behind the scenes. of course i wanted to better understand the system in general, but giving commentary on it in my work was a big part of why i chose that elective.

with the state of the system and learning even more about it, i promise that i've never had more to say about it. i intend to always do so regardless of the medium, but of course, writing is a big outlet for me.

i have already changed a lot of the plot for chasing the dragon. what you think might have happened probably isn't what actually happened, but i looked over every single detail to ensure i could get the message across in an even more respectful and concise way. the changes don't censor / hide the original message; it's all in the name of hoping to be sensitive. it's hard to put into words, what i'm trying to say, but - having your readers be effected by angst is completely different than portraying a real-life situation that is so horrible, you can hardly believe it's real. that's just the state of the system.

i intend to get the same message across with intense awareness of care and thought, but onto the next thing -

ok like. i'm super anxious about sharing this and i’m about to start repeating myself a lot so, my bad. it feel stupid. please, please don’t get offended by this because i’m not referring to hits or kudos or comments or anything like that - only my own anxiousness. i know ewoatt is my most popular work but i'm just being honest when i say i'm not sure people even want it anymore. it's been a good while since the first installation of the series and i only posted two chapters of the sequel. i would LOVE to continue the series and i have been even though nothings been posted. i mean it when i say the series was ALL i thought about while i had covid because the thought of sharing new developments made me that happy. but ewoattverse takes a lot of work and it's hard to dig that deep. i'm sure it's a lot to keep up with as a reader. i don't know if people are willing to re-learn all that information and plot for the sake of the sequel. i've thought of many fun ways i can summarize and make it easier to cram everything lol but yeah.

so, i'd love to continue it, but i'm anxious because it's been so long. i've got so much ready that i've just been too nervous to share in the name of "do ppl still want this". i understand that might sound dumb and i'm repeating myself a lot but that's just because i'm like. super nervy about this lol. not the material of the work itself but whether or not it's something ppl still want. it's just something my brain has decided to be anxious about and i just have to deal with that.  thank you for reading all that, seriously. i hope everyone is well and staying safe.

[compositionbookstudy]

The Organic Chemistry Studying Masterpost

 Hey everyone! I’m pretty new to the studyblr community and this is my first “masterpost” ☺

Ochem can be super daunting and a scary course but it doesn’t have to be! I’m in my second (and last) semester of ochem & after getting an A in it last semester, I feel like I have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work (at least for me). I’m gonna start out with some pretty general study tips and then get into some stuff that’s more specific for success in ochem! There’s also some lil tips within the tips so keep a look out for those. Hope I’m not shouting into the void and someone out there reads this and enjoys!

READ THE BOOK & TAKE NOTES. I know there’s people out there who don’t read the dang book and let me tell you somethin’: you’re missing out! Organic chemistry books are DENSE AF, lowkey boring and there will be times where you will have to re-read a paragraph 12 times for it to make sense to you, and that’s ok, it’s worth the frustration. The more you read it and expose yourself to the *boring* scientific writing, the better and faster reader you will become! The book will probably explain things in a different way than your professor does, and just being exposed to a different wording is super helpful. And when you read don’t forget to take notes, preferably by hand. It usually takes longer but info tends to stick better. If you’re picky with pens and highlighters, find the ones that suit you best and stick with them (e.g. I like my pens with a bit of grip on the page - not too smooth - and absolutely cannot smear w/ highlighters!). They will make note taking so much more enjoyable. Be creative with your note taking and make things as easy to read and information as easy to find as possible. There’s A LOT of info with organic chemistry, and you want things to be clear and concise and easy to follow. 

HIGHLIGHT BETTER. I highlight my notes after I take them, not during, and I’ll do it either a few hours after taking them or the day after. This counts for both the notes I take in class AND the notes I take from the book. Either way, it’s best to review the material soon after you learned it. While I am highlighting I am reading over the material in a super engaged way and use this time to review the material. 

AN ORGANIZED NOTEBOOK WILL SAVE U 15% OR MORE ON CAR INSURANCE. No, but seriously, make tabs in your notebook for each chapter so they are easy to find. Or number your pages and create a table of contents at the beginning. This is super helpful when you just want to review a concept quickly. It makes everything 100x easier to find. 

HOMEWORK,HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK. Do all the homework. Do the homework that doesn’t get graded or collected. Do the problems you struggle with twice, but wait a day or two to redo them so you forget the answer.  No cheating! ;p A lot of your success in OCHEM will be through repetition and working out problems yourself. This is veryyyy different from watching your professor work out problems or someone online work ‘em out. As my math professor says, you can’t go to the gym and watch other people work out and expect to get buff. You got to put in the work yourself. 

ENGAGE IN LECTURE. Go to lecture awake and hella engaged. ANSWER QUESTIONS IN CLASS. You don’t even need to do this out loud if you’re shy or have a giant ass class, whisper to yourself or say it in your head!!!! Actually take in what your professor teaches, write THOROUGH notes, don’t just copy a slide or what they write on the board/projector. Reword stuff in your own words when you can. I like to throw in some cuss words to keep myself entertained. The most important information is usually what your professor says out loud and doesn’t write down, because it’s usually them elaborating really detailed about a certain mechanism or topic. I notice that a lot of students in my class won’t write these things down but these elaborations and details are SUPER IMPORTANT. They can make or break whether you understand a topic! TRUST ME: you won’t remember the shit your professor said once you step foot outside your class, even if it makes sense during the time. Write that shit down!! & A sidenote -- if your professor is gracious enough to blatantly tell you if something is gonna be on the exam, write that shit down too!

KNOW THE “WHY” AND CUT YOUR STUDY TIME IN HALF. Always always always understand the “why’s”. OCHEM will be miserable and almost impossible if you are simply memorizing information without actually understanding the why. It will be so much more work and more difficult to get an “A”. e.g ok yes we know a nitro group is going to be meta directing and deactivating on a benzene ring during electrophilic aromatic substitution, but why????? Knowing the why’s will make it so you don’t have to memorize any information.

READ THINGS OTHER THAN YOUR BOOK. Mastering organic chemistry(dot)com has super simple wording that’s usually funny and not as dense as your chem book. It is a fantastic supplemental reading source. It’s so important to read things other than your text because different resources explain things soooo differently and sometimes all you need is a rephrasing for the info to click!! There’s other resources other than the one mentioned, just do a google search of whatever topic and endless resources will come up, all eager to teach you some thangs. I also like to google certain topics and just hit “google images”. It doesn’t always work -- but sometimes you get a quick glance at a lot of screenshots of info and it can be super helpful and quick.

ONLINE VIDEOS FOR EXTRA PRACTICE AND BETTER EXPLANATIONS. Watch khan academy videos to understand a concept AND to practice a concept. Pause the video when they are about to solve a problem, solve it yourself first (STRUGGLE!! THINK!! This is the most important part of learning!! Work that brain!!) then once you’re finished, play the video and follow along and see if you did what they did. If you didn’t, don’t worry and don’t beat yourself up! It’s ok! It’s better to mess it up while studying than on the exam!

DO THE PRACTICE EXAM TWICE IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET ONE. If your professor is gracious enough to make you practice exams, do them as if you are doing a REAL EXAM. give yourself the same amount of time you would have if you were to do it in class, eg: if you have 1 hour in class, do the practice in 1 hour. Set a timer. After you are done, grade yourself. Take a nice break, study up some more and a few hours to a day later retake the exam & do all the problems you got wrong again. Don’t be upset if you get the majority of the problems wrong at first, I usually get half of the problems wrong on practice exams the first time I take them. But you bet your ass on real exams I’ve gotten an A on every single one!

COMPARTMENTALIZE. Like I’ve said before, organic chemistry is loaded with so much information, it can be super difficult to even map this shit out in your head and everything can get jumbled super quickly. My favorite thing to do is to create “summary sheets” of a chapter or a concept. I take my time with this, use my favorite pens and highlighters. I use this as a chance to review the material, express some creativity with my writing and layouts (sometimes being a science major we lack creative outlets!!), and most importantly compartmentalize the information into bite sized amounts. It helps so much!!

UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE. Organic chemistry will be a nightmare if you don’t know what the fuck they are talking about. DEFINE EVERYTHING!! This is a random bit I just picked out of my textbook about organometallics: “The carbon-metal bonds of organolithium and organomagnesium have appreciable carbanionic character”. Define organomettalic. Define organolithium. Define organomagnesium. Define carbanionic. Break the sentences that confuse you down to the definitions of things, and everything will become a lot easier to understand. 

TEACH SOMEONE WHAT YOU KNOW. ok it doesn’t even have to be a person if you don’t have anyone around or the people around you don’t want to pretend to listen to you. Hide yourself in a safe place, like your room, and just talk to yourself and pretend you’re teaching the material to someone. If you share a room find a time where you can get the room to yourself or let the person(s) know that you’re gonna be talking to yourself for a lil while. I also talk to myself out loud while I am doing my homework, something about figuring shit out in an audible way helps it stick so much more. I also really enjoy cussing and being inappropriate while learning my material. e.g. when doing mechanisms and an atom “pops the fuck off” whatever it is bonded to & it takes the electrons with it, I’ll always pretend the atom is saying “And I’m taking the fucking kids with me!”. Little things like this keeps me entertained and allows me remember the material/mechanisms really easily as I’m creating a funny and visual aid to the material. 

That’s all I can muster up! xx

[applestudys]

Finally I got round to making this post! I thought this might be helpful to all those who are studying physiotherapy, these are by no means the best books for PT out there I just found them really useful in both first and second year. I would recommend maybe checking these books out in the library first before buying them to see if you like them. I’ll sorta give an overview of each book and why I found it useful so you guys can sort of get a feel on what’s good about it. Also I’ll link where you can buy it on amazon, but you can get it on second hand book websites or eBay for possibly cheaper.

Everything will be under the cut so this post isn't hella long on people’s dash

1. The physiotherapist’s pocketbook

Good: SO MUCH INFORMATION! It has info on dermatomes/myotomes, the origin/insertion of all the main muscles, normal levels of obs, common drugs used and so much more.Small which means it can fit inside the pocket of your tunic quite easily so you can carry it wherever you go on placement. 

Bad: 

Only ‘bad’ thing I can really say about this book is that it is a little on the pricey side considering how small it is, but in my opinion it is worth the money because for placement it literally has everything you can possibly need. 

2. Principles of neuromusculoskeletal examination and assessment 

Good: This book is very detailed when it comes to the assessment of the different joints of the body. It has the general subjective and objective assessment but then it also has separate chapters going into more detail on each joint so highly useful for specific special tests on the joint and how you perform them 

Bad: I found it was very repetitive in each section and when I read it I have to sort of just skim read the pages because I get bored reading the same thing again and again. So I have to flick through a lot of pages and read a lot of the things I read in the first section before I get to what I really am looking for I guess 

3. Principles of anatomy and physiology 

Good: I actually only mainly used this in first year because thats when our anatomy and physiology exams were. Out of all the books this to me was the easiest to follow and understand, has your standard anatomy and physiology no different to other textbooks it was just the layout I preferred

Bad: It has the same info as other books as expected, sometimes it wasn't as detailed in certain sections so I had to look for other books which was kinda a hassle but no single book is perfect so I did use this with other anatomy and physiology textbooks too but this was the main one I found myself using 

4. Joint structure and function 

*side note that I actually used the 3rd edition and preferred that edition 

Good: I used this book when the principles of anatomy and physiology didn't have enough information on the biomechanics of a joint e.g. scapulohumeral rhythm. I found that this book really explained concepts clearly enough for me to understand, the 3rd edition had black and white drawings which I found super useful 

Bad: As any other book, some sections I found way tooo long to read and sometimes I just wanted them to get to the point haha but also it is kinda just filled with words not too many diagrams so if you don't learn like that then I'm not sure if this book is for you 

So those were the main 4 books that I mainly used last year, obviously I did use other textbooks depending on the topic I was studying but for general information I used the books above, I’ll link other books below that I didn't necessarily use a lot but I used sometimes and they were good/books my course mates used

Honourable mentions:

Tidy’s physiotherapy - I didn't use this a lot but it is a good alternative to book 2 and my friends have preferred this over that book because it is easier to follow they said. But I haven't used it enough to give a thorough opinion on it 

Concise book of muscles - I really only used this in first year when I needed to learn origin and insertion of the muscles but it is very accurate and has very good images of the muscles

Gray’s anatomy flashcards - Now I never actually bought these because I personally felt I didn't need them but one of my friends did buy these and loved them as they are very detailed and are a good way to learn your anatomy. I have heard there are other cheaper alternative to these flashcards so I’d recommend looking around first 

The anatomy colouring book - Again I don't actually own this book (I own an alternative book) but this is the colouring book most people find the best out of all of them, so if you learn like this then I’d recommend having a look at this as I do know it is detailed and a good learning resource 

So those are the books! Sorry for the hella long post, I thought I would at least make it a little detailed so you guys have an idea on what they were good for/not so good for. Hopefully this was helpful to some of you since when I started my course I was stuck on the kind of books that were good, check if your course has a reading list as that is always a good place to start. If you have any other questions on particular books or other books I used then feel free to hit me a message! 

[warninggraphiccontent]

6 March 2020

Come and join the chartist revolution

Do you like making charts that matter? Can you communicate important analysis and arguments using data? Do you have excellent project management skills?

Are you not put off by an excessive number of rhetorical questions?

Here at the IfG we're currently advertising for a senior researcher to come and run Whitehall Monitor, our flagship #dataviz project on the size, shape and performance of government. Upsides: it's really interesting and you'll have great colleagues. Downsides: you'll have to work with me.You have until 31 March to apply. Get in touch if you have any questions. We're also advertising for a researcher at the moment, though that's not a data-specific role (closes 23 March).

More news in brief:

2020 vision The good people at Vuelio have written up the event I spoke at last week on the 2020 political landscape. I started by noting 2019 was a bit of a year. More on that here (the challenge of condensing the political year into a short chapter was particularly, well, something).

Keep the FOIA burning I don't think it's just the fact it's an anniversary year (20 years since it became law, 15 since it came into operation) that's going to keep us talking about the Freedom of Information Act this year. BuzzFeed's Hannah Al-Othman was the one prompting discussion this week. Alex Parsons from WhatDoTheyKnow was among those responding - and all our recent work on FoI is collected here.

Artfully done When I was looking for frameworks for thinking about data last week, I wasn't quite expecting this: Julie Freeman kindly got in touch about her work, which includes an article on 'A concise taxonomy for describing data as an art material' and her thesis on 'Defining data as an art material'. Thanks Julie!

And finally... Marcus found this in an old IfG report this week:

We're used to reading a wide variety of weird and wonderful data visualisations here at the Institute, but this remains a Bermuda triangle for our understanding of how the data and the visualisation have any relationship with one another (and this didn't really help either). If you can contribute a useful angle, or just want to have a tri, get in touch.

Until next week

Gavin

Today's links:

Graphic content

Viral content

How does Coronavirus compare to Ebola, SARS, etc? (Abacaba, via in other news)

Tourism flows and death rates suggest covid-19 is being under-reported* (The Economist)

The Korean clusters: How coronavirus cases exploded in South Korean churches and hospitals (Reuters)

Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Across the World* (Bloomberg)

These Charts And Maps Show How The Coronavirus Is Spreading Across The World (BuzzFeed)

Although... (Alex Selby-Boothroyd)

Coronavirus and the $2bn race to find a vaccine* (FT)

Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases (Johns Hopkins CSSE)

Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak* (New York Times)

During the coronavirus outbreak, should we change the data visualization rules? (Andy Cotgreave)

Some big numbers (WHO, via Marcus)

Virus Sends Data Off the Charts in Bloomberg News Trade Tracker* (Bloomberg)

Coronavirus: Eight charts on how it has shaken economies (BBC News)

So hat die Grippe Deutschland im Griff (WAZ - the flu, not Covid-19)

Super Tuesday

Pick Your Own Super Tuesday Winners And Watch The Race Change (FiveThirtyEight)

5 Takeaways From a Super Tuesday That Changed the Democratic Race* (New York Times)

Political bettors pick Joe Biden as the Democrat best able to beat Donald Trump* (The Economist)

Exit polls from the 2020 Democratic Super Tuesday contests* (Washington Post)

Super Tuesday: what to know about Democratic primaries* (FT)

Super Tuesday is bigger and more diverse than ever* (Washington Post)

Who’s Winning the 2020 Presidential Delegate Count?* (Bloomberg)

Who is ahead in the Democratic primary race?* (The Economist)

UK

Levelling up: how wide are the UK’s regional inequalities?* (FT - and thread)

Perm secs (me for IfG)

How Britain fell back in love with the railways* (FT)

Unresolved Public Policy Challenges (NatCen, ONS, Understanding Society)

Barclay v Barclay* (Tortoise)

Almost unbelievable... (via Torsten Bell - more here)

Carillion: two years on (IfG)

Data suggests big local differences in EU settlement applications (Public Technology)

Fiscal rules (Tom for IfG)

Trust in UK news brands (Reuters Institute via Angela Phillips)

#IWD2020

Women’s Unpaid Labor is Worth $10,900,000,000,000* (New York Times)

Iceland leads the way to women’s equality in the workplace* (The Economist)

Everything else

All the World’s Metals and Minerals in One Visualization (Visual Capitalist)

Economist Anne Case on America’s ‘deaths of despair’ — and how to tackle them* (FT)

The approximate age of the UK and US leaders every year since 1800 (Andrew Gray)

Global Trends 2020: Understanding Complexity (Ipsos MORI)

#dataviz

Why you sometimes need to break the rules in data viz (Rosamund Pearce)

A brief rant about “data journalists” and “data visualisation teams” in mainstream media (Ben Goldacre)

A research study that aims to identify common names, definitions, and categorizations of visualization & interaction types (Dr. Katy Borner, Andreas Bueckle, Dr. Jonathan Schwabish, Alicia Arza)

Meta data

My, corona

Coronavirus Tech Handbook (via Nathan)

Facts on Coronavirus (Full Fact)

Handwashing Can Stop a Virus—So Why Don’t We Do It? (Behavioral Scientist)

How to stop touching our faces in the wake of the Coronavirus (Behavioural Insights Team)

The Official Coronavirus Numbers Are Wrong, and Everyone Knows It (The Atlantic)

Move to weekly UK coronavirus updates criticised by experts (The Guardian)

I'm stunned by the depth of #coronavirus information being released in #Singapore (@RyutaroUchiyama)

'More scary than coronavirus': South Korea's health alerts expose private lives (The Guardian)

Communication about Coronavirus (Winton Centre)

In a strange twist of fate, it seems the first coronavirus patient to be infected in the UK is from Haslemere - the very place we used for our 2018 citizen science experiment: the BBC Pandemic. (Hannah Fry)

Health

This was meant to be the year the NHS went digital. What happened?* (Wired)

AI chatbot maker Babylon Health attacks clinician in PR stunt after he goes public with safety concerns (Tech Crunch)

Foundations of Fairness: Where next for NHS health data partnerships? (Understanding Patient Data/Ada Lovelace Institute)

AI, automation, tech

HOW HARD WILL THE ROBOTS MAKE US WORK? (The Verge)

The Prodigal Techbro (The Conversationalist)

The Future of Democracy in Europe: Technology and the Evolution of Representation (Chatham House)

Equal parts pumped and perplexed by this @WSJ coverage of my research on anthropomorphism and AI (David Watson)

CS182: Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change: Reading List and Course Outline (Stanford)

More Than A Dozen Organizations From The Met Police To J.K. Rowling’s Foundation Have Tried Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition Tech (BuzzFeed)

Vatican backs AI regulations to ‘protect people’* (Politico)

Identity crisis

Cabinet Office gives more non-answers on the future of Gov.uk Verify (Computer Weekly)

Finding your identity: solving the digital ID verification challenge (Global Government Forum)

Data

Launch of the Data Catalogue (GSS, via Giuseppe)

The data protection debate (@halhod)

Is data this deflationary?* (FT, via Alex)

Valuing data in your project and doing data right (UKGovCamp, via David)

UK government

Secretary of State Oliver Dowden's speech at the Enders Media and Telecoms Conference (DCMS)

Government Communication Service to collect and analyse data on public service radio ads (Civil Service World)

A catalogue of things that are stopping change (James Reeve and Rose Mortada)

Everything else

Risky Talk with David Spiegelhalter

TAKING THE LEAD ON TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST (Ken Smith in Griffith Review)

Email Addresses and Razor Blades (Stratechery)

A Text Renaissance (Ribbonfarm, via Lewis)

Opportunities

JOB: Senior researcher - Whitehall Monitor (IfG - also a non-data-specific researcher role)

JOB: Analyst, Policy Team (The Health Foundation)

JOB: Data Journalist /Senior Data Journalist (ONS)

JOB: Chief Technology Officer (MHCLG)

JOBS: Data and interactive journalist and data visualisation journalist (News UK)

Why we’re combining our data and interactive teams to form a single data and digital storytelling desk (Sam Joiner)

JOB: Graphics Journalist - New York (Bloomberg)

CONFERENCE: Data for Policy 2020 (via Ben - his special track on Applying data for improved service design and delivery)

EVENT: Big Data and Machine Learning in Policing (UCL Jill Dando Institute for Global City Policing and Canterbury Centre for Policing Research at Canterbury Christ Church University)

ELECTION: 2020 Civil Society Steering Committee Selection (Open Government Network)

And finally...

Charts

Jeff Bezos net worth represented visually by rice (@HumphreyTalks)

Corona beer... (YouGov, via Sukh)

This animation shows what would happen if leap years didn’t exist (Vox)

The PM's wiki page has a little graphic charting his various relationships (via Ed West, via Tim)

Happy #WorldBookDay! (YouGov, via Ketaki)

Shoutout to The Australian for the worst pie chart ever (via @finicalgal)

Are you more likely to need an umbrella in New York or Seattle? (The Pudding)

Bar chart emoji are all innately offensive. Here is a thread rating them all. (RJ Andrews)

Everything else

Free ports... (Giles)

And now for the latest in our occasional series, 'does anyone have a list of some basic govt data you'd expect to be really easy to find but isn't?' (me for IfG)

How did the tube lines get their names? A history of London Underground in 12 lines (CityMetric)

[thisnaturalbeauty-blog1]

THE BEST MCAT PREP BOOKS 2018

Many doctors and effective applicants strongly advise projecting $2000+ towards commercial inspection courses like Kaplan & Princeton Review. These classes are excellent in their own right, but for those people who have discipline and powerful study skills, you will find self-study choices at just a fraction of the price. We have compiled a listing and review of their very best MCAT prep books accessible, which range from $35 a publication to some 599 comprehensive self-study course. If you're inclined to set aside the vital hours each week for another 3-5 weeks to assess and work through those substances, then keep reading and determine which of the best MCAT prep publications is ideal for you.

The Examkrackers MCAT comprehensive research package is easily the most detailed and in depth test prep material we have reviewed for MCAT prep. Composed by Jonathan Orsay, he deserves some credit for providing informative advice to pupils and also making this EK MCAT study bundle among our listing of the greatest MCAT prep books for 2017.

To assist you remember all of this advice, they have a cute (or, according to my colleague, "bothersome") mascot called Sparky, who supplies you with images and animations. The vivid drawings and useful tips from the margins produce memorizing key details simple. Memory would be the priority, whether you really like the strategies for how EK got you to memorize the exact information.

Contained in these novels are test-taking plans for the MCAT in addition to reasoning skills, such as the CARS. 3-4 quizzes with roughly 7 or 6 queries have been sprinkled throughout each stage, assisting you check that you comprehend the material which was introduced. Additionally, at the conclusion of every book, there are a couple of 30-minute clinic exams of approximately 20 questions. They're pretty difficult, tougher than what you will discover on the MCAT, but also make for good practice. You could even score yourself later and they have a scale which shows you an estimation of what your part score will be about the actual MCAT. We completely dig this attribute.

Plenty of illustrations from the marginally funny EK teaching mode (or perhaps we are just easily entertained) Useful tips from the margins help you to recall key information Multiple 30-minute clinic tests using a scale to gauge an actual MCAT part score Really in-depth content Drawback(s): It is difficult to predict a lot of details that a drawback, but a few of the details offered in this publication go beyond and above essential MCAT inspection and may make studying somewhat overpowering.

If you're fighting with MCAT analyzing and require a little more than simply a review, then these would be the very best MCAT prep books for you. Since these books are heavy on particulars, you need to devote over 3 weeks to researching with this publication. We would urge 5 weeks to get through this dense cloth if you aren't totally familiar with of the theories.

If it comes to the very best MCAT prep books, Kaplan is one of the first names that springs to mind, since it has been supplying commercial test prep for more than 80 years in a variety of disciplines. This MCAT publication set supplied by Kaplan includes a professional study program, comprehensive subject review, and countless online and in-book training questions.

Composed by Kaplan Test Prep's leading teachers, the revised and extended group currently offers seven subject-specific novels: Behavior Sciences; Biochemistry; Biology; General Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Physics and Math; and Vital Evaluation and Reasoning Abilities.

For all those concerned about if this MCAT inspection is comprehensive, Kaplan's package was upgraded to coincide with the AAMC's new recommendations just. With full-color examples, online tools, and high-yield badges that will assist you concentrate your research, we believe these are a few of the greatest MCAT prep books on the market.

Along with end-of-chapter outlines that outline chapter substance, every one of these books provide glossaries and indicators that makes working throughout the AAMC manual super easy.

Also included are theory checks, but not really in regular AAMC query formatting, they continue to be valuable in remembering information and assessing that you fully grasp the articles your read. Besides these questions during the novels, pupils have access to three practice tests on the internet. This online addition permits pupils to simulate test-day conditions, since this evaluation is administered on the computer.

This 7-book series may be used as the primary MCAT research tool and may also be particularly convenient during your past 1-2 months of studying, since you can quickly review old stuff by using their useful end-of-chapter outlines.

Completely Extensive material that has been upgraded to accommodate AAMC guidelines Easy-to-digest 3-D pictures, graphs, charts, and diagrams End-of-chapter summaries and theory tests make for easy reviewing Broad lateral borders for immediate note-taking On line addition using 3 MCAT practice tests for simulating test-day requirements Drawback(s): These novels don't go deep even though the articles in this book is concise and very clear. Knowledge necessary for the MCAT is coated, but any added, possibly useful details aren't provided.

This publication is for you whether you're already at least somewhat familiar with all the MCAT concepts and want to find a good review program. This publication is not to you in the event that you've got less-than-stellar familiarity with MCAT theories or it has been awhile since your last pre-med course.

Princeton Review joins the ranks of both Kaplan and Examkrackers in terms of its influence on the internet and book-based exam prep. The Princeton Review's 7-Book collection is quite like Kaplan's in relation to content formatting and covered of its own content and if you examine the item information, you will discover that it's hard to see where Kaplan's 7-book collection and Princeton Review's differ.

Very similar to Kaplan, PR supplies 3 full scale practice evaluations, end-of-chapter theory inspection, easy-to-reference glossaries, high quality quizzes, and vibrant graphics. Where we discovered a gap, however, is at the degree of information Princeton Review goes right into. PR supplies more in-depth Details on fundamentals than Kaplan, particularly with a different tone in its own writing, offering a much more professional terminology which errs seriously

Top Highlights: More detailed Details on fundamentals compared to Kaplan High-quality end-of-chapter quizzes for critique of theories 3 full size online practice tests High-quality images for studying hard fundamentals Thicker than Kaplan's novels, PR will offer extra information that's not demanded from the AAMC and occasionally appears to be a little obsolete (and horribly similar to the very first edition).

This novels place is for you whether you still aspire to consume some new science abilities and will need to brush up on pre-med theories, since the material goes deeper and also provides greater information than Kaplan. If you're trying to find a less thorough review for the MCAT, you are better off using Kaplan.

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THE BEST MCAT PREP BOOKS

Many physicians and successful applicants strongly advise throwing $2000+ towards commercial review courses such as Kaplan & Princeton Review. These courses are fantastic in their own right, but for those people who have discipline and powerful research skills, there are self-study choices at just a fraction of the cost. We've compiled a listing and review of the best MCAT prep books accessible, which range from $35 a publication into some $599 comprehensive self-study course. If you are willing to set aside the necessary hours per week for the next 3-5 months to review and work through these materials, then read on and decide which of the best MCAT prep books is right for you.

Holy details.

The Examkrackers MCAT complete research package is easily the most detailed and detailed test prep material we've reviewed for MCAT prep. Written by Jonathan Orsay, he deserves some credit for providing concise information to students and also making this EK MCAT study bundle one of our listing of the greatest MCAT prep books for 2017.

To help you remember all of this advice, they have a cute (or, according to my colleague, "annoying") mascot named Sparky, who provides you with graphics and cartoons. The vivid drawings and useful hints in the margins produce memorizing key facts easy. Memory is the priority here, whether you actually enjoy the strategies for how EK got you to memorize the information.

It is a complete package, with six MCATpractice novels -- General & Organic Chemistry, Psychology & Sociology Manual, Physics, Verbal Research and Math, Biology 1: Biochemistry Manual and Biology 2: System Manual.

Included in these novels are test-taking strategies for the MCAT as well as reasoning skills, such as the CARS. 3-4 quizzes with about 7 or 6 questions are sprinkled throughout each chapter, helping you check that you understand the material that has been introduced. In addition, at the conclusion of every book, there are a couple of 30-minute clinic exams of approximately 20 questions. They are pretty difficult, harder than what you will find on the MCAT, but make for great practice. You could even score yourself afterwards and they have a scale which shows you an estimation of what your section score will be on the real MCAT. We completely dig this feature.

Top Highlights:

Lots of examples from the marginally funny EK teaching style (or perhaps we're just easily amused) Useful tips in the margins help you to recall key information Multiple 30-minute practice tests with a scale to estimate a real MCAT section score Extremely in-depth content Drawback(s): It's hard to call too many details a drawback, but some of the details provided in this publication go beyond and above essential MCAT inspection and may make studying a bit overpowering.

Final Verdict:

If you're fighting with MCAT analyzing and need a little more than just a review, then these are the very best MCAT prep books for you. Since these books are heavy on details, you should devote over 3 months to studying with this publication. We'd recommend 5 months to get through this dense cloth if you aren't completely familiar with all the concepts.

If it comes to the best MCAT prep books, Kaplan is one of the first names that springs to mind, as it has been providing commercial test prep for over 80 years in a variety of disciplines. This MCAT book set supplied by Kaplan includes a professional study program, comprehensive subject review, and hundreds of online and in-book training questions.

Written by Kaplan Test Prep's leading instructors, the revised and extended group currently offers seven subject-specific books: Behavior Sciences; Biochemistry; Biology; General Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Physics and Math; and Vital Evaluation and Reasoning Abilities.

For those worried about if this MCAT review is comprehensive, Kaplan's bundle was updated to coincide with the AAMC's new guidelines precisely. With full-color illustrations, online resources, and high-yield badges to assist you concentrate your research, we think these are a few of the greatest MCAT prep books out there.

In addition to end-of-chapter outlines that outline chapter substance, each of these books provide glossaries and indexes that makes working throughout the AAMC manual super convenient.

Also included are concept checks, but not really in standard AAMC query formatting, they are still valuable in remembering information and checking that you understand the content your just read. Besides these questions during the novels, pupils have access to three practice tests online. This online addition allows pupils to simulate test-day conditions, as this evaluation is administered on the computer.

This 7-book series may be used as your main MCAT research tool and may also be particularly convenient during your past 1-2 months of studying, since you can quickly review old stuff by using their useful end-of-chapter outlines.

Top Highlights:

Even though the content in this book is clear and concise, these novels do not go quite deep into the underlying principles at hand. Knowledge required for the MCAT is covered, but any additional, possibly useful details are not provided.

This book is for you whether you're already at least somewhat familiar with all the MCAT concepts and want to find a good review course. This book is not for you if you have less-than-stellar familiarity with MCAT theories or it's been awhile since your last pre-med class.

The Princeton Review's 7-Book collection is quite like Kaplan's in relation to content covered and formatting of its content and if you look at the item details, you'll find that it's hard to even see where Kaplan's 7-book set and Princeton Review's differ.

Very similar to Kaplan, PR supplies 3 full scale practice tests, end-of-chapter concept inspection, easy-to-reference glossaries, high-quality quizzes, and vibrant graphics. Where we found a gap, however, is in the degree of information Princeton Review goes into. PR provides more in-depth Details on fundamentals than Kaplan, particularly using a different tone in its writing, offering a much more professional terminology that errs seriously

The Princeton Review provides 7 books: MCAT Biology Review, MCAT Biochemistry Review, MCAT General Chemistry Review, MCAT Organic Chemistry Review, MCAT Physics and Math Review, MCAT Psychology and Sociology Review, and MCAT Vital Evaluation and Reasoning Skills Review.

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