Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide (Big Fat Notebooks) by Michael Geisen

Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide (Big Fat Notebooks) Reviews

• 
  Sarah

  Science was my weakest subject. How I wish this compendium had been available. It would have been helpful to me as a student and a welcome tome in my arsenal as a teacher. I really love charts and graphs, and concise explanations. All the better to find them in a single resource. A+!
• 
  nhi

  Where were you, science book, when I went through three years of middle school science?

  
  

  *sigh*

  
  

  This is a book every middle schoolers need. Even if you're the smartest kid in class, there were a lot of mnemonics that were super helpful. It took me a while to get through it but I wanted something to refresh my mind while I head into high school.

  
  

  Great book!
• 
  Kristen

  Really great overview of biology, geology, chemistry, astronomy, and physics! Very useful from middle school through high school, and maybe as a bit of a refresher in college.
• 
  Mel Foster

  I'm generally a big fan of the "Everything you need" series. They cover the important principles and topics, and are great surveys for kids around grade 6 to 8. That's true of this book as well. The topics range from scientific method to Chemistry, Physical Science, Astronomy, Earth Science, Taxonomy, Human Biology, and Ecology. But it really could use some editorial revision.
  What was really too much was the quiz question for chapter 48 which asserted that 'A deciduous tree is the kind of tree that loses its leaves in the fall, and a coniferous tree always remains green."
  The antonym of deciduous is not coniferous, it is evergreen. There are evergreen broadleaf trees such as holly, and their are deciduous conifers, such as tamarack. This is shoddy pop science.
  Going back a few chapters, Lamarckism is stated to be wrong, but what's wrong is not clarified, or even distinguished from Mendelian genetics.
  Many sections seem to greatly simplify the discussion, from heliocentrism (Copernicus was not the first) to evolution (tonsils are 'no longer used' and Isolation=speciation). I did not take comprehensive notes on my concerns, but since I read this along with my kids I was able to discuss as I went.
  Geology and evolution are approached of course from an old earth perspective. I have no problem with that, because my kids need to understand that framework.
  Climate change is 'happening at a scary rate" (p288) without any attempt to quantify that.
  The pneumonic devices are an interesting idea, but most are not any more memorable than the original data. Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Spaghetti, for instance, has too many modifiers to be helpful.
  I note that I have two copies with identical ISBNs. One has an index (always preferred) and one does not!
• 
  Carlos Guerrero

  Title: Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook
  
  Author: Michael Geisen
  
  In this book you will find different units in each chapter, which mention an important unit in Science. The setting takes place in the writer's middle school science class where the writer is taking notes about what he/she is learning. The different units are: unit 1 Scientific Investigation, unit 2 Matter and Chemical Reactions, unit 3 Motion, Forces, and Work, unit 4 Energy, unit 5 Universe and the Solar System, unit 6 Earth, Weather, Atmosphere, and Climate, unit 7 Life, unit 8 Plants and Animals, unit 9 The Human Body and Body Systems, unit 10 History of Life, unit 11 Ecology.
  
  
  In my opinion, the book was very easy to understand. I used this book to help me on H/W and to study
• 
  Judith von Kirchbach

  Really great for a quick review
  
  This was a great quick read for my 13year-old to review all science topics ahead of a big test ! He enjoyed the book while studying and reviewing !
• 
  Heather

  Great resource for any middle school science teacher. Serves as a quick refresher and immediate go-to. Simple explanations with relevant examples.
• 
  Bran Ornido

  Good book, you must read it
• 
  RoyK

  I loved this book because it taught me many facts about science. Finally, I got to know and memorize some of the periodic tables. I, a kid that doesn't really like rereading a book multiple times, read this a total of 4 times. So, this proves to me that this book is fun and educative. For me, this book was kind of a cheat key in science review because it is based on all the science that we need to learn. I suggest you read it if you are nervous about your test scores or want to know more about science in general.
• 
  Valerie

  I teach Middle School science and absolutely recommend this book as a good reference book for students. It is well done, visually appealing, and focuses on the key details about the topics covered. The one caveat I will mention is the book tends to focus more on surface level facts over deep critical thinking, not surprising as it comes from the makers of Brain Quest (plus really getting into the deeper critical thinking is hard in a basic reference book). As such I wouldn't look at this as an alternative to an actual science class, but rather as a supplement for students who need more support in understanding key details or students who enjoy learning facts. Even as a teacher I find the book informative to think about how to approach covering a topic from another person's point of view.
• 
  FOREVER ALONE

  VERY informative! I love these kinds of books since they teach you a lot! From natural disasters to the human body to the solar system, this book is the ULTIMATE STUDY GUIDE! Even though I'm not in middle school, I still understood this! It helped me through a quite a bit through science class, like where we did a sketchnote/mind-map on natural disasters and how they're made, and I had to find out how a huricane was made, and It also taught me the periodic table of elements! Thanks for making this book Michael Geisen!
  
  Recommendation: 10+. It's got some hard words that mostly kids 10+ would understand, but 9yr olds could understand this, COULD (as in MAYBE) understand. Thanks for reading my review! Read this REALLY GOOD BOOK!
• 
  Frank

  Must read for science students.
  
  I'm a college student and I had some unclear concepts. This book cleared all my doubts. Nicely presented and easy to grasp.
• 
  Luis Rodriguez

  Okay, at first I didn't know whether to base this on either how much I enjoyed it, or how educational it was if you are struggling with Science. So I decided just to find the average score between them. With the "educational" standards, this is definitely a four. All of the material I learned in middle school was there, but the way it was brought up wasn't the best. Something that I didn't enjoy is how small but important parts of the material are only described once in a single paragraph throughout the whole book. I really wished they would have connected some small parts to other small parts in the lesson so that everything would make more sense, and we could see how they worked together. Well, that was the educational standard, but my enjoyment? Two stars. When I first started reading this book, I thought that I was going to be able to read the whole book completely before reading another book. But I then saw that this was getting boring, and was just a review of what I have already learned about in school. So then I decided to read a unit before every book until I finish all the units. Of course, it still wasn't very enjoyable, but better than reading it all in one sitting.
  So, therefore, this book was fine, and would definitely help you if you need some extra help in science. The only reason why I personally didn't enjoy it was that I have already learned about all of this, and it was basically a review for me, but for other children who want to do really well in this subject, I would definitely recommend it!
• 
  Aprilleigh

  Nice organization and it covers many of the middle school science topics. There’s one unit covering some science basics (measurement, lab reports, conducting experiments, etc.), one on basic chemistry, two on physical science, one on astronomy, one on earth science, and five on various aspects of the life sciences. It’s definitely not enough to cover all of middle school science, but it’s a good overview. For a student struggling with the textbook, this may be all the extra help they need. It does seem a little unbalanced towards the life sciences, however, yet the material included all makes sense.
• 
  KaYat Ho

  This book has been a huge lifesaver for my studies in STEM throughout the past 3 school year. Packed with innumerable topics ranging from the basic “SI units” to the most challenging chapter of “Force and Motion”, this book should be every student’s go-to solution for complex problems. It will certainly help you to crack any complex physics puzzle, or just to cram 3 years of biology content into one midnight, doing so with the aid of clear bullet points and simple diagrams to help you comprehend and memorise most of the stuff in science class.
• 
  Aaliyah Corley

  I think this book is pretty good at explaining the content, but it was a little oversimplified. There was a a lot of stuff that I didn’t know before and now know. Some of the mnemonics where to hard to remember but i like the thought behind it. The drawings in each page were kinda cute. Some of them helped me remember what they were talking about in the check your knowledge.
  Some of my favorite subjects that we studied where biology and the solar system.
• 
  Taylor

  I love this book! It is a great resource for teachers and students. I love how each concept is broken down. It makes it so easy for students to read and understand. I am a sucker for great charts, and this book definitely has them! It features every basic science concept students will need for middle school and beyond. I am so happy that I purchased this book!
• 
  Abby Miles

  Used this book to study for my Praxis II exam for MS Science. I found it to be extremely useful. The authors broke down large concepts into easily accessible bits. Some of the topics I haven’t touched on since high school (Physics, Chemistry) so it was nice to review through the quizzes at the end of each chapter.
• 
  Lia P

  The smart kid gives you their notebook, I love it
  This book is advertised for middle schoolers, I would suggest to not listen to that advertisement. I been able to use this book for college and work as well if needed be. It’s helpful that you can work out different assignments. You just got to make sure to know the name of the topics you are doing.
• 
  Heidi

  Sequence is well organized and intuitive. Book may be at the middle school level, but it is also useful for high school students- as well as adults who may not know much about natural science. The graphic novel format makes it easy to understand for ESL students or those who may have reading difficulties- not to mention fun for everyone.
• 
  Katherine

  I absolutely love this book. I use it with my home-schooled granddaughters who are 7 and 9 and got ideas for the science fair. It is very simply, though thoroughly, written and easy to understand. I will be purchasing the ones for the other subjects as well.