diff --git a/.DS_Store b/.DS_Store
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a874b5
Binary files /dev/null and b/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e66b725..efb68c4 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -7,6 +7,18 @@
     <groupId>io.zipcoder</groupId>
     <artifactId>collections</artifactId>
     <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <build>
+        <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <source>1.8</source>
+                    <target>1.8</target>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+    </build>
 
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
diff --git a/src/.DS_Store b/src/.DS_Store
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b0d367
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/src/main/.DS_Store b/src/main/.DS_Store
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53fb051
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/main/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/ParenChecker.java b/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/ParenChecker.java
index caee675..aef92bc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/ParenChecker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/ParenChecker.java
@@ -1,4 +1,55 @@
 package io.zipcoder;
 
+import java.util.*;
+
 public class ParenChecker {
+
+    /**
+     * Create a class with a method that verifies all parens () are paired.
+     * HINT: Use a stack.
+     **/
+    public boolean isPaired(String input) {
+       return hasPair(input, '(', ')');
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * Create a method that checks that all opening characters have a closing one.
+     * Characters include () {} [] <> "" ''
+     **/
+    public boolean hasClosing(String input) {
+        return(hasPair(input, '(', ')')
+                && hasPair(input, '{', '}')
+                && hasPair(input, '[', ']')
+                && hasPair(input, '<', '>')
+                && hasPair(input, '\"', '\"')
+                && hasPair(input, '\'', '\''));
+    }
+
+
+    public boolean hasPair(String input, Character openingChar, Character closingChar) {
+        Stack<Character> stack = new Stack<Character>();
+
+        for(int i = 0; i < input.length(); i++) {
+            char currentChar = input.charAt(i);
+
+            // if currentChar is opening, add to stack
+            if (currentChar == openingChar) {
+                stack.push(currentChar);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // if currentChar is closing but there's no opening in stack, return false
+            if (currentChar == closingChar) {
+                if(stack.isEmpty()) {
+                    return false;
+                } else if(stack.peek() == openingChar) {
+                    stack.pop();
+                } else {
+                    return false;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        // if stack is empty then all parentheses were paired
+        return stack.empty() || (stack.size() % 2 == 0);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/WC.java b/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/WC.java
index babb68c..311bf24 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/WC.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/zipcoder/WC.java
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 package io.zipcoder;
 
-import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
-import java.io.FileReader;
-import java.util.Iterator;
-import java.util.Scanner;
+import java.io.*;
+import java.util.*;
 
 public class WC {
     private Iterator<String> si;
@@ -20,4 +18,45 @@ public WC(String fileName) {
     public WC(Iterator<String> si) {
         this.si = si;
     }
+
+
+    public Map<String, Integer> getWordCount() {
+        Map<String, Integer> wordOccurences = new HashMap<>();
+        while (si.hasNext()) {
+            String currentLine = si.next();
+            String[] words = currentLine.split(" ");
+
+            for (String word : words) {
+                word = word.toLowerCase();
+                word = word.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z']", "");
+
+                if (!word.trim().isEmpty()) {
+                    if (wordOccurences.containsKey(word)) {
+                        int count = wordOccurences.get(word);
+                        wordOccurences.put(word, count + 1);
+                    } else {
+                        wordOccurences.put(word, 1);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return entriesSortedByValues(wordOccurences);
+    }
+
+
+    private static <K, V extends Comparable<? super V>>  Map<K, V> entriesSortedByValues(Map<K, V> map) {
+        // ArrayList is initialized with all entries of passed in map
+        List<Map.Entry<K, V>> sortedEntries = new ArrayList<>(map.entrySet());
+
+        // used lambda expression to sort values in descending order and return result
+        sortedEntries.sort((e1, e2) -> e2.getValue().compareTo(e1.getValue()));
+
+        Map<K, V> result = new LinkedHashMap<>();
+
+        for (Map.Entry<K, V> entry : sortedEntries) {
+            result.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
+        }
+        return result;
+    }
 }
+
diff --git a/src/main/resources/someTextFile.txt b/src/main/resources/someTextFile.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/src/main/resources/test b/src/main/resources/test
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfb2bf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/test
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
+The the the the.
+the The. Quick Brown.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/ParenCheckerTest.java b/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/ParenCheckerTest.java
index 76aa3b6..c8f1839 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/ParenCheckerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/ParenCheckerTest.java
@@ -5,4 +5,61 @@
 
 public class ParenCheckerTest {
 
+    @Test
+    public void isPairedTest1() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = "()()()()";
+
+        Assert.assertTrue(parenChecker.isPaired(str));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void isPairedTest2() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = ")()()()()((";
+
+        Assert.assertFalse(parenChecker.isPaired(str));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void isPairedTest3() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = ")((()";
+
+        Assert.assertFalse(parenChecker.isPaired(str));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void hasClosingTest1() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = "<<>>(){}[]";
+
+        Assert.assertTrue(parenChecker.hasClosing(str));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void hasClosingClosingTest2() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = "\"\"";
+
+        Assert.assertTrue(parenChecker.hasClosing(str));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void hasClosingClosingTest3() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = "\'\'\'";
+
+        Assert.assertFalse(parenChecker.hasClosing(str));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void hasPairTest1() {
+        ParenChecker parenChecker = new ParenChecker();
+        String str = "()()()()";
+
+        Assert.assertTrue(parenChecker.hasPair(str, '(', ')'));
+    }
+
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/WCTest.java b/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/WCTest.java
index 895e831..8bc77cd 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/WCTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/zipcoder/WCTest.java
@@ -3,9 +3,48 @@
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
+import javax.xml.bind.Element;
+import java.util.*;
 
 public class WCTest {
 
+    @Test
+    public void wcTest() {
+        WC wc = new WC("/Users/madelinebowe/Dev/CR-MesoLabs-Collections-EncapsulativeCharacters/src/main/resources/test");
+
+        String expected = "{the=8, quick=2, brown=2, over=1, lazy=1, jumped=1, dog=1, fox=1}";
+        String actual = wc.getWordCount().toString();
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void wcTest2() {
+        WC wc = new WC("/Users/madelinebowe/Dev/CR-MesoLabs-Collections-EncapsulativeCharacters/src/main/resources/test");
+        Map<String ,Integer> test = wc.getWordCount();
+
+        Integer expected = 8;
+        Integer actual = test.get("the");
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void wcTest3() {
+        WC wc = new WC("/Users/madelinebowe/Dev/CR-MesoLabs-Collections-EncapsulativeCharacters/src/main/resources/test");
+        Map<String ,Integer> test = wc.getWordCount();
+
+        Integer expected = 2;
+        Integer actual = test.get("quick");
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(expected, actual);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void wcTest4() {
+        WC wc = new WC("/Users/madelinebowe/Dev/CR-MesoLabs-Collections-EncapsulativeCharacters/src/main/resources/test");
+        Map<String ,Integer> test = wc.getWordCount();
+
+        Assert.assertFalse(test.containsKey("The"));
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file