diff --git a/src/test/java/MetaQuerySerializationTest.java b/src/test/java/MetaQuerySerializationTest.java
index b32b8f6..4c3b355 100644
--- a/src/test/java/MetaQuerySerializationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/MetaQuerySerializationTest.java
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerationException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
-import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.serialize.*;
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.serialize.JsonGenerator;
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.query.serialize.MetaQuery;
 import org.joda.time.DateTime;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.*;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
  * @author hanl
@@ -18,15 +21,6 @@
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
 public class MetaQuerySerializationTest {
 
-    private MetaQuerySerializer querySerializer;
-    private MetaCollectionSerializer collSerializer;
-    private Serializer ser;
-
-    public MetaQuerySerializationTest() {
-        querySerializer = new MetaQuerySerializer();
-        collSerializer = new MetaCollectionSerializer();
-        ser = new Serializer();
-    }
 
     @Test
     public void test() throws IOException {
@@ -34,16 +28,17 @@
         j.put("author", "Goethe");
         j.put("pubPlace", "Erfurt");
         j.put("textClass", "wissenschaft");
-        String s = querySerializer.stringify(j, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-//        System.out.println("value reference " + s);
+        MetaQuery qu = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter(j);
+        System.out.println("value reference " + qu.stringify());
+        System.out.println();
     }
 
     @Test
     public void testSingle() throws IOException {
         Map<String, String> j = new HashMap();
         j.put("textClass", "wissenschaft");
-        String s = querySerializer.stringify(j, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        System.out.println("------ TEXT SINGLE " + s);
+        MetaQuery query = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter("textClass", "wissenschaft");
+        System.out.println("------ TEXT SINGLE " + query.stringify());
         System.out.println();
     }
 
@@ -53,8 +48,8 @@
         queries.put("pubDate", String.valueOf(new DateTime().getMillis()) + "~"
                 + String.valueOf(new DateTime().getMillis() + 2));
         queries.put("author", "Goethe");
-        String f = querySerializer.stringify(queries, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        System.out.println("value until/since : " + f);
+        MetaQuery query = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter(queries);
+        System.out.println("value until/since : " + query.stringify());
         System.out.println();
     }
 
@@ -63,8 +58,8 @@
         Map<String, String> queries = new LinkedHashMap<>();
         queries.put("pubDate", ">" + String.valueOf(new DateTime().getMillis()));
         queries.put("author", "Hesse");
-        String f = querySerializer.stringify(queries, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        System.out.println("value until : " + f);
+        MetaQuery query = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter(queries);
+        System.out.println("value until : " + query.stringify());
         System.out.println();
     }
 
@@ -73,8 +68,8 @@
         Map<String, String> queries = new LinkedHashMap<>();
         queries.put("pubDate", "<" + String.valueOf(new DateTime().getMillis()));
         queries.put("author", "Kafka");
-        String f = querySerializer.stringify(queries, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        System.out.println("value since : " + f);
+        MetaQuery query = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter(queries);
+        System.out.println("value since : " + query.stringify());
         System.out.println();
     }
 
@@ -117,14 +112,11 @@
         Map<String, String> queries = new LinkedHashMap<>();
         queries.put("pubDate", "<" + String.valueOf(new DateTime().getMillis()));
         queries.put("author", "Kafka");
-        List s = querySerializer.serializeQueries(queries, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
+        MetaQuery query = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter(queries);
 
-        queries.clear();
-        queries.put("author", "Hesse");
+        query.addMetaExtend("author", "Hesse");
 
-        List f = querySerializer.serializeQueries(queries, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.EXTEND);
-        s.addAll(f);
-        System.out.println("--- ALL " + s);
+        System.out.println("--- ALL " + query.stringify());
         System.out.println();
 
     }
@@ -134,94 +126,49 @@
         Map<String, String> queries = new LinkedHashMap<>();
         queries.put("pubDate", "<" + String.valueOf(new DateTime().getMillis()));
         queries.put("author", "Kafka");
-        List s = querySerializer.serializeQueries(queries, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        System.out.println("array repres " + ser.serializeToMeta(s));
+        MetaQuery q = new MetaQuery().addMetaExtend(queries);
+        System.out.println("array repres " + q.toMeta());
         System.out.println();
     }
 
     @Test
     public void testCollections() throws IOException {
-        Map<String, String> query = new LinkedHashMap<>();
-        Serializer ser = new Serializer();
-        query.put("corpusID", "A00");
-        List<Map> l = ser.serializeQueries(query, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        query.clear();
-        query.put("corpusID", "A01");
-        List<Map> u = ser.serializeQueries(query, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.EXTEND);
-        l.addAll(u);
-        String val = ser.stringify(l);
-        System.out.println("results " + val);
+        MetaQuery q = new MetaQuery().addMetaFilter("corpusID", "A00");
+        q.addMetaExtend("corpusID", "A01");
+
+        System.out.println("results stringified " + q.stringify());
+        System.out.println("results to meta" + q.toMeta());
         System.out.println();
-
-
-        String meta = ser.queryToMeta(val);
-
-        System.out.println("meta query " + meta);
-//        List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
-//        list.add(val);
-//        List s = collSerializer.serializeResource(list);
-        System.out.println("printable list ");
-        System.out.println();
-
     }
 
+    /**
+     * asserts equality. input should be equal to output,
+     * since there is no other metadata added to the meta query
+     *
+     * @throws IOException
+     */
     @Test
     public void testResources() throws IOException {
         String meta = "[{\"@type\":\"korap:meta-filter\",\"@value\":{\"@type\":\"korap:term\",\"@field\":\"korap:field#corpusID\",\"@value\":\"WPD\"}}]";
-        List s = new ArrayList();
-        s.add(meta);
-        List fin = ser.serializeResources(s);
-
-        String string = ser.serializeToMeta(fin);
-        System.out.println("meta string " + string);
-
+        MetaQuery q = new MetaQuery().addResource(meta);
+        org.junit.Assert.assertEquals("String should be empty", "", q.stringify());
+        System.out.println("meta string " + q.toMeta());
+        org.junit.Assert.assertEquals(meta, q.toMeta());
     }
 
     @Test
     public void testA00() throws IOException {
-        Map<String, String> query = new LinkedHashMap<>();
-        Serializer ser = new Serializer();
-        query.put("corpusID", "A00");
-        List<Map> l = ser.serializeQueries(query, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        query.clear();
-        query.put("corpusID", "A01");
-        List<Map> u = ser.serializeQueries(query, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.EXTEND);
-        l.addAll(u);
-        String val = ser.stringify(l);
-        List s = new ArrayList();
-        s.add(val);
-
-        List fin = ser.serializeResources(s);
-        System.out.println("A00 meta: " + fin);
-
+        MetaQuery q = new MetaQuery().addMetaExtend("corpusID", "A00").addMetaExtend("corpusID", "A01");
+        System.out.println("A meta: " + q.stringify());
+        System.out.println();
     }
 
-
     @Test
     public void testnewMetaQuery() throws IOException {
-        Map<String, String> qu = new LinkedHashMap<>();
-        Serializer ser = new Serializer();
-        qu.put("corpusID", "A00");
-        List<Map> l = ser.serializeQueries(qu, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.FILTER);
-        qu.clear();
-        qu.put("corpusID", "A01");
-        List<Map> u = ser.serializeQueries(qu, MetaQuerySerializer.TYPE.EXTEND);
-        l.addAll(u);
-        String val = ser.stringify(l);
-        List s = new ArrayList();
-        s.add(val);
-
-        List fin = ser.serializeResources(s);
-
-
-        System.out.println("=======   METAQUERY TESTING BEGIN =======");
-
-        MetaQuery query = new MetaQuery();
-        query.addMetaFilter("textClass", "wissenschaft");
-        query.addResources(s);
-        System.out.println("query "+ query.toMeta());
-        System.out.println("string "+ query.stringify());
-        System.out.println("=======   METAQUERY TESTING END =======");
+        String meta = "[{\"@type\":\"korap:meta-filter\",\"@value\":{\"@type\":\"korap:term\",\"@field\":\"korap:field#corpusID\",\"@value\":\"WPD\"}}]";
+        MetaQuery q = new MetaQuery().addResource(meta);
+        q.addMetaFilter("textClass", "wissenschaft");
+        System.out.println("meta string " + q.toMeta());
     }
 
 }