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MCAT Diaries: Psychology Day 1

Studying for the MCAT can be a terrifying experience if one looms over the reading material and hours of practice, but with efficient reading and studying, the preparation can be less scary. I will be summarizing the material from my Blueprint books to prepare for my test. Join me for the journey! _______________________________________ Much of modern medicine heavily relies on the research of doctors and teams of techs and participants. All of research has led to multiple discoveries in various areas of science, and each of these has independent, or X, and dependent, or Y, variables. ·         X is a manipulated variable that is expected to change Y in some way. X is the vertical axis on a graph. ·         As stated, prior, Y is expected to change with the manipulation of the X variable. If the effect of Y increases or decreases from the manipulation of X, then a cause-and-effect relationship can be inferred. O...

ARC Review: Phantom Wheel by Tracy Deebs

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Being recruited by the CIA to join a top-secret intelligence program should be the opportunity of a lifetime. For Issa, it's a shot at creating a new and better life for herself and her siblings. For clever con artist Harper, it's a chance to bury the secrets of her troubled past and make sure that those secrets  stay  buried. But for Owen--honor student, star quarterback, and computer-hacking genius--it sounds like a trap. He's right.  Owen discovers that instead of auditioning for the CIA, they've all been tricked by a multibillion-dollar tech company into creating the ultimate computer virus. It's called Phantom Wheel, and it's capable of hacking anyone on Earth, anywhere, at any time. And thanks to six teenagers, it's virtually unstoppable.  Horrified by what they've done, the hackers must team up to stop the virus before the world descends into chaos. But working together is easier said than done, especially as the lines start to blur between tea...

Book Review: Tiger vs. Nightmare | A Heartwarming Friendship That Includes Punching the Nightmares Away

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Tiger is a very lucky kid: she has a monster living under her bed. Every night, Tiger and Monster play games until it’s time for lights out. Of course, Monster would never try to scare Tiger—that’s not what best friends do. But Monster needs to scare someone…it’s a monster, after all. So while Tiger sleeps, Monster scares all of her nightmares away. Thanks to her friend, Tiger has nothing but good dreams. But waiting in the darkness is a nightmare so big and mean that Monster can’t fight it alone. Only teamwork and a lot of bravery can chase this nightmare away. In this charming graphic novel for young readers, cartoonist Emily Tetri proves that unlikely best friends can be an unbeatable team, even against  the scariest monsters. Discussion: 5/5 stars Everyone experiences nightmares throughout one's life. Even when you are little, you can have a nightmare that causes you to wake up with cold sweats and screaming bloody murder. I have always endured nightmares about college...

Book Review: Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich | A Story of a Boy Who's Not Having The Best Day

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When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family's grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend. Suddenly, Evan isn't invisible anymore--even to the girl of his dreams. And Connor Murphy's parents, with their beautiful home on the other side of town, have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his closest friend. As Evan gets pulled deeper into their swirl of anger, regret, and confusion, he knows that what he's doing can't be right, but if he's helping people, how wrong can it be? No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose. And a website. He's confident. He's a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unraveling and ...

Book Review: The War Outside by Monica Hesse | Two Girls, One War, Every Country Against Them

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It's 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado--until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan. Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a "family internment camp" for those accused of colluding with the enemy. The teens discover that they are polar opposites in so many ways, except for one that seems to override all the others: the camp is changing them, day by day and piece by piece. Haruko finds herself consumed by fear for her soldier brother and distrust of her father, who she knows is keeping something from her. And Margot is doing everything she can to keep her family whole as her mother's health deteriorates and her rational, patriotic father becomes a man who distrusts America and fraternizes with Nazis. With everything around them falling apart, Margot and Haruko find solace in their ...

Book Review: Bonjour Girl by Isabelle Lafleche | Three Dislikes and One Love

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Between schoolwork and glitzy fashion shows, Clementine launches a blog, Bonjour Girl , and her wit, originality, and flair quickly catapult the site to cult status. Unfortunately, this comes with a price: Clementine is faced with online abuse and public humiliation. In the midst of all the drama, she finds out that a classmate is not what she seems, and Clementine has to find a way to save both her reputation and Jake’s fashion collection. When Clementine Liu arrives in New York City to study at the Parsons School of Design, she knows that she’s found her place. It isn’t long before she meets her fashionista soulmate, the loud and charismatic Jake, and Jonathan, a dreamy fashion photographer that turns her world upside down. Between schoolwork and glitzy fashion shows, Clementine launches a blog, Bonjour Girl , and her wit, originality, and flair quickly catapult the site to cult status. Unfortunately, this comes with a price: Clementine is faced with online abuse and public humil...

A Bookish Letter to the Book Community: 10 Reasons Why I Love You

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Dear All in the Book Community, To introduce myself, I am Nicole, or am known as newbookcats on the line, and I run my blog NewBookCatsREADS. Most likely, you have never heard of a book and cat getting along unless if the cat is allowed to play with the pages; however, on my blog, anyone who can appreciate the luxurious smell of a book or the tiniest sound you hear when you flip a page is my friend. I might dwell on the great smell of books for a while, but who can keep away from the sweet smell of a new or old book? Anyway, the book community has become a part of me; therefore, I need to give thanks to it through a letter listing ten reasons why I believe the book community is one of the best ones in the world. Gather your tissues and enjoy the list because books are a few of my favorite things! *imagine I have Julie Andrews' voice for just a minute* 10 Reasons Why the Book Community is Awesome: 1. You can grow in this community. I have only been a book blogger...