Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Monday, June 19, 2017
About Kweller Prep
Developed by an Attorney at Law, Kweller Prep is an established business with a 15-year track record of success in preparing students for specialized middle-school, high-school, college entrance, and graduate school exams. With thousands of acceptances to specialized high schools and top colleges, Kweller Prep has built a time-tested learning center with unsurpassed performance. Our competitive advantage is the way in which we operate; we focus on each child individually to ensure success. Our rigorous program is designed for ambitious students to help them achieve their academic goals. Tutoring centers in Queens and Manhattan serve as learning incubators where parents, students, teachers, tutors, and counselors alike can learn from one another and grow. Nearly every tutor at Kweller Prep is the first one in his or her family to attend a Specialized High School or Top University on a scholarship.Kweller Prep was created by the vision of Frances Kweller, attorney at law. She was the first one in her immediate family to attend both a top university (New York University - Steinhardt School of Education) and Graduate Program (Juris Doctorate - Hofstra University School of Law). In short, Kweller Prep is designed to help get you where you want to go!
Monday, June 12, 2017
2017 SHSAT Handbook
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/39E5EC65-FA08-4A2A-91AD-9F7334670B3D/0/20172018SpecializedHighSchoolsStudentHandbookENGLISH.pdf
Sunday, June 11, 2017
princeton Essay supplements 2017
Activities
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (Response required in about 150 words.)Summers
Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held. (Response required in about 150 words.)A Few Details
- Your favorite book and its author
- Your favorite website
- Your favorite recording
- Your favorite source of inspiration
- Your favorite line from a movie or book and its title
- Your favorite movie
- Two adjectives your friends would use to describe you
- Your favorite keepsake or memento
- Your favorite word
Essay: Your Voice
In addition to the essay you have written for the Common Application or the Universal College Application, please write an essay of about 500 words (no more than 650 words and no fewer than 250 words). Using one of the themes below as a starting point, write about a person, event or experience that helped you define one of your values or in some way changed how you approach the world. Please do not repeat, in full or in part, the essay you wrote for the Common Application or Universal College Application.- Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way.
- “One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and point less straightforwardly to solutions.”
Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University and co-founder of Blackplanet.com. This quote is taken from Professor Wasow’s January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Princeton University. - “Princeton in the Nation’s Service” was the title of a speech given by Woodrow Wilson on the 150th anniversary of the University. It became the unofficial Princeton motto and was expanded in 2016 to “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity.”
Woodrow Wilson, Princeton Class of 1879, served on the faculty and was Princeton’s president from 1902–1910. - “Culture is what presents us with the kinds of valuable things that can fill a life. And insofar as we can recognize the value in those things and make them part of our lives, our lives are meaningful.”
Gideon Rosen, Stuart Professor of Philosophy and director of the Behrman Undergraduate Society of Fellows, Princeton University. - Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay.
Engineering Essay*
If you are interested in pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree, please write a 300-500 word essay describing why you are interested in studying engineering, any experiences in or exposure to engineering you have had and how you think the programs in engineering offered at Princeton suit your particular interests.*This essay is required for students who indicate Bachelor of Science in Engineering as a possible degree of study on their application.
Friday, May 26, 2017
TRIP TO BRONX SCIENCE!
|
|
Afterschool Sign Up
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AqyznNZuhysrGWihm7KjGf1UWhT4Wx2mFU2NyIo7HiU/edit
Monday, March 27, 2017
Nest Middle School Admissions
MIDDLE GRADE ADMISSIONS
Thank you for your interest in the Middle Grades at NEST+m, a citywide Gifted and Talented program. As NEST+m is a screened school, all students must take our entrance exam to be considered for admission.
Enrollment Weighting 2016-17
| NEST+m
Entrance Exam
| Standardized Test Scores: English Language Arts | Standardized Test Scores:
Math
| Student Course Grades | Attendance and Punctuality |
| 60% | 10% | 10% | 15% | 5% |
Selection Criteria – The selection criteria ranges identified below may be adjusted based on the applicant pool.
- Course Grades: English (85-100), Math (85-100), Social Studies (85-100), Science (85-100)
- Standardized Test Scores: English Language Arts (3.0-4.5), Math (3.0-4.5)
- Attendance and Punctuality
Special Note (Updated 2.28.17): Please note that the 2017-2018 Middle Grades admission application process is now closed.
Admissions FAQ:
- Q: How many seats do you anticipate for the 2017-2018 school year?
- A: We anticipate having approximately 47 open seats.
- Q: This school was not on my son’s middle school application list, what should I do?
- A: NEST+m is listed in the City-Wide Middle School application. We are listed as “New Explorations into Science, Technology, and Math”.
- If my family and I did not attend the Open House, can we still apply?
- Open House is not mandatory; this will not have a negative impact on the application.
- I forgot to add NEST+m on the Middle Grade application; can I register for the exam?
- All students are required to rank us on the Middle School application; we will send invitations to the entrance exam based on the child’s ELA and Math scores, GPA, and attendance.
- I am a parent applying for middle school, should we mail our records and transcripts separately?
- Once you turn in the completed Middle School application to your child’s guidance counselor, all required data is sent to us electronically. Please do not send paper copies.
- My child attends a private school, how can we apply?
- You will need to request a Middle School application through the DOE Office of Student Enrollment.
- Do I need to fill out a separate application?
- No, all students are required to rank us on the City-Wide Middle School application.
NEST+m Middle Grades Admissions Team
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Tax Deduction for Education
its tax time-of-year again!
Deductions?
Deductions?
Read this before you file your tax return. We’ll help you claim your educator deductions so you can get back as much money as possible.
Congress has made an annual ritual out of waiting until the last minute to extend some four dozen tax benefits that have to be renewed every year, including many that NEA members have come to rely on.
In the waning days of 2015, however, Congress surprisingly came together on a compromise tax bill that made many of these deductions and credits permanent, retroactive to the beginning of the 2015 tax year.
Thanks in large part to the NEA and its members who pushed legislators for many years to make the extension permanent, the new legislation extends the benefits indefinitely. This includes both the $250 above-the-line deduction for classroom supplies and the tuition and fees deduction—both of special interest to educators.
The $250 deduction is particularly advantageous because it is an above-the-line deduction on Schedule A, which means you don’t have itemize to take it and it reduces your overall adjusted gross income (AGI). The new legislation indexes the amount to inflation—though it is unchanged at $250 for 2016 – and allows professional development expenses to be included in the deduction.
Educators may also benefit from the state and local sales tax deduction (an alternative for states with no state income tax to deduct from federal taxes) or other expired breaks that have been restored, even though those breaks don’t target them specifically.
Understand that many provisions of the tax code have income caps and phase-outs and other wrinkles that may affect your actual tax liability. Be sure to work with a tax advisor or reliable tax software that clearly addresses your situation, especially if you are in the higher income brackets. And keeping receipts or a careful log is critical for the classroom supplies deduction and other tax benefits.
Other situations faced by educators preparing their taxes include:
Income from outside work, such as a summer job or tutoring
If there is no additional withholding on this outside work, you want to be sure to avoid a penalty for under-withholding—i.e., when your overall tax liability exceeds the amount of tax you had withheld by certain margins.
If this is the first year you have had extra income, there won’t be any penalty, because your withholding at work will cover 100% of your previous year’s income. If you regularly have extra income, there are a couple of options to make sure you avoid a penalty. One is to increase your withholding in your permanent job, either by reducing the number of exemptions you take (which increases the amount of withholding) or by specifying a certain additional amount on your W-4 to be withheld. The other option is make quarterly payments of estimated tax on the additional income.
The outside income should be reported on a Schedule C, where you can also deduct any expenses associated with the outside job. You are also liable for “payroll” taxes (these are the contributions to Social Security and Medicare) on the extra income, which is calculated on a Schedule SE.
Other unreimbursed employment expenses
The $250 educator’s expense deduction has now been extended indefinitely. You can deduct expenses for classroom supplies beyond that amount as unreimbursed employment expenses, which are defined as expenses that help you conduct your job even if they are not required.
However, these additional deductions are subject to the 2% limit on itemized deductions—this means you can only deduct the amount that exceeds 2% of your AGI.
If your AGI is $50,000, for instance, you could only deduct expenses that exceed $1,000, even if you are already itemizing deductions for mortgage interest or other reasons.
The same applies for expenses such as dues to unions and professional associations or subscriptions to publications.
Rules for deducting expenses for a home office are fairly strict (as well as for equipment such as computers). The home office space must be used exclusively for work purposes, which is a tough criterion.
Continuing education
If you take courses that you pay for yourself, whether or not they are required for certification, there are a couple of possibilities for deducting that expense. The compromise tax bill renewed the deduction for tuition and fees for college education for two years, the tax years 2015 and 2016, but did not make it permanent. This tax benefit allows you to deduct up to $4,000 a year (the amount is lower for higher income brackets), and this again is an above-the-line deduction on Schedule A. So not only is it not subject to the 2% rule, it reduces your AGI for other deductions that are itemized.
Another option, which is a permanent part of the tax code, is the Lifetime Learning Credit for 20% of education expenses up to $2,000. The new bill raised the amount to $2,500. This is a credit, so it is taken off your tax liability dollar for dollar. However, it is nonrefundable, which means you have to have some tax liability for it to count against. You can only take one of these options or the other, not both.
Source: https://www.neamb.com/finance/dont-miss-these-educator-tax-deductions.htm
In the waning days of 2015, however, Congress surprisingly came together on a compromise tax bill that made many of these deductions and credits permanent, retroactive to the beginning of the 2015 tax year.
Thanks in large part to the NEA and its members who pushed legislators for many years to make the extension permanent, the new legislation extends the benefits indefinitely. This includes both the $250 above-the-line deduction for classroom supplies and the tuition and fees deduction—both of special interest to educators.
The $250 deduction is particularly advantageous because it is an above-the-line deduction on Schedule A, which means you don’t have itemize to take it and it reduces your overall adjusted gross income (AGI). The new legislation indexes the amount to inflation—though it is unchanged at $250 for 2016 – and allows professional development expenses to be included in the deduction.
Educators may also benefit from the state and local sales tax deduction (an alternative for states with no state income tax to deduct from federal taxes) or other expired breaks that have been restored, even though those breaks don’t target them specifically.
Understand that many provisions of the tax code have income caps and phase-outs and other wrinkles that may affect your actual tax liability. Be sure to work with a tax advisor or reliable tax software that clearly addresses your situation, especially if you are in the higher income brackets. And keeping receipts or a careful log is critical for the classroom supplies deduction and other tax benefits.
Other situations faced by educators preparing their taxes include:
Income from outside work, such as a summer job or tutoring
If there is no additional withholding on this outside work, you want to be sure to avoid a penalty for under-withholding—i.e., when your overall tax liability exceeds the amount of tax you had withheld by certain margins.
If this is the first year you have had extra income, there won’t be any penalty, because your withholding at work will cover 100% of your previous year’s income. If you regularly have extra income, there are a couple of options to make sure you avoid a penalty. One is to increase your withholding in your permanent job, either by reducing the number of exemptions you take (which increases the amount of withholding) or by specifying a certain additional amount on your W-4 to be withheld. The other option is make quarterly payments of estimated tax on the additional income.
The outside income should be reported on a Schedule C, where you can also deduct any expenses associated with the outside job. You are also liable for “payroll” taxes (these are the contributions to Social Security and Medicare) on the extra income, which is calculated on a Schedule SE.
Other unreimbursed employment expenses
The $250 educator’s expense deduction has now been extended indefinitely. You can deduct expenses for classroom supplies beyond that amount as unreimbursed employment expenses, which are defined as expenses that help you conduct your job even if they are not required.
However, these additional deductions are subject to the 2% limit on itemized deductions—this means you can only deduct the amount that exceeds 2% of your AGI.
If your AGI is $50,000, for instance, you could only deduct expenses that exceed $1,000, even if you are already itemizing deductions for mortgage interest or other reasons.
The same applies for expenses such as dues to unions and professional associations or subscriptions to publications.
Rules for deducting expenses for a home office are fairly strict (as well as for equipment such as computers). The home office space must be used exclusively for work purposes, which is a tough criterion.
Continuing education
If you take courses that you pay for yourself, whether or not they are required for certification, there are a couple of possibilities for deducting that expense. The compromise tax bill renewed the deduction for tuition and fees for college education for two years, the tax years 2015 and 2016, but did not make it permanent. This tax benefit allows you to deduct up to $4,000 a year (the amount is lower for higher income brackets), and this again is an above-the-line deduction on Schedule A. So not only is it not subject to the 2% rule, it reduces your AGI for other deductions that are itemized.
Another option, which is a permanent part of the tax code, is the Lifetime Learning Credit for 20% of education expenses up to $2,000. The new bill raised the amount to $2,500. This is a credit, so it is taken off your tax liability dollar for dollar. However, it is nonrefundable, which means you have to have some tax liability for it to count against. You can only take one of these options or the other, not both.
Source: https://www.neamb.com/finance/dont-miss-these-educator-tax-deductions.htm
Kweller Prep Success Rate
2017 Kweller Prep Success Stats:
I. From 120 students who enrolled in Kweller Prep in September 2015,
31 students from Kweller Prep were accepted to Hunter!
II. On January 6, 2017, 2,259 students took the Hunter Test in total.
III. The Multiple Choice cut-off was 64/100 to have essays read.
IV. Over 50% of our students had their essays read.
V. Only the top 500 Multiple Choice scores had their essays read.
VI. 6 Kweller Prep students were placed on the Hunter waitlist.
VII. The overall acceptance rate to Hunter is less than 7%
IX. Kweller Prep's acceptance rate to Hunter is 25.8%
2016 Kweller Prep Success Stats:
The Team at Kweller Prep would like to thank the parents, students, tutors, and support staff who, collectively, made this program's success possible. Make no mistake, our outstanding results came from incredible sacrifice, team effort, and coordination from all parties involved.
Dear Parents: In an effort to further increase our acceptances to Hunter High School for 2018, we will now make our Christmas Week Crash Course mandatory for all fall students. Please plan your fall schedules accordingly to make time to remain in our course and complete Dec 26-30 in preparation for the January 6, 2018 exam. In prior years, this winter break was optional. Many of the students who took "off" for winter break missed the Hunter acceptance by only 5-10 points. Kweller Prep Fall Classes start September 7, 2017
Thursday, March 16, 2017
January 2017 SAT Essay Real Released
Essay Prompt
As you read the passage below, consider how Bobby Braun uses
evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.
Adapted from Bobby Braun, “Space Technology: A Critical Investment for Our Nation’s Future.” ©2014 by Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Originally published in the Hill, October 27, 2011.
1
Aerospace remains a strong component of our national fabric and is the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance. However, this technological leadership position is not a given. To remain the leader in aerospace technology, we must continue to perform research and invest in the people who will create the breakthroughs of tomorrow, preserving a critical component of our nation’s economic competitiveness for future generations.
2
For NASA,1 past cutting-edge technology investments led to design and flight of the Apollo missions, the space shuttle, the International Space Station and a myriad of robotic explorers that allowed us to reach destinations across our solar system and peer across the universe. NASA remains one of the nation’s premiere research and development agencies, pursuing breakthrough technologies that will expand the frontiers of aeronautics and space.
3
Unfortunately, the pioneering spirit embodied by this storied agency is endangered as a result of chronic underinvestment in basic and applied research. In a recent report on the state of NASA’s technology plans, the National Research Council offered a stark assessment: “Success in executing future NASA space missions will depend on advanced technology developments that should already be underway. However, it has been years since NASA has had a vigorous, broad-based program in advanced space technology. NASA’s technology base is largely depleted. Currently, available technology is insufficient to accomplish many intended space missions. Future U.S. leadership in space requires a foundation of sustained technology advances.”
4
America is beginning an exciting new chapter in human space exploration. This chapter centers on full use of the International Space Station, maturation of multiple American vehicles for delivering astronauts and cargo to low-Earth orbit, development of a crew vehicle and an evolvable heavy-lift rocket—two critical building blocks for our nation’s deep-space exploration future—and advancement of a suite of new in-space technologies that will allow us to send explorers safely into deep space for the first time.
5
By investing in the high payoff, transformative technology that the aerospace industry cannot tackle today, NASA will mature the systems required for its future missions while proving the capabilities and lowering the cost of other government agency and commercial space activities. Developing these solutions will create high-tech jobs.
6
NASA’s technology investments continue to make a difference in the world around us. Knowledge provided by weather and navigational spacecraft, efficiency improvements in both ground and air transportation, super computers, solar- and wind-generated energy, the cameras found in many of today’s cellphones, improved biomedical applications including advanced medical imaging and more nutritious infant formula, and the protective gear that keeps our military, firefighters and police safe, have all benefitted from our nation’s investments in aerospace technology.
7
For many of the tens of thousands of engineering and science students in our nation’s universities today, the space program provides the opportunity to invent technologies today that will form the foundation for humanity’s next great leap across the solar system. For this new generation of engineers and scientists, and for those working across NASA at this moment, the future starts today. Modest, sustained federal investment in space technology, at a funding level approaching 5 percent of NASA’s budget (well below the R&D2 budget of many corporations), is the key ingredient to their success. A NASA that is reaching for grand challenges and operating at the cutting-edge is critical not only for our country’s future in space but also for America’s technological leadership position in the world.
8
Nearly 50 years ago, a young president gave NASA a grand challenge—one chosen not for its simplicity, but for its audacity, not for its ultimate goal or destination, but to “organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.” In accomplishing that goal, NASA not only defined what we now call “rocket science,” but also made a lasting imprint on the economic, national security and geopolitical landscape of the time.
9
NASA can do the same today. This is the task for which this agency was built. This is the task this agency can complete. America expects no less.
Write an essay in which you explain how Bobby Braun builds an argument to persuade his audience that the US government must continue to invest in NASA. In your essay, analyze how Braun uses one or more of the features listed in the box above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.
Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Braun’s claims, but rather explain how Braun builds an argument to persuade his audience.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Kweller Prep to offer Pick Up and Drop off
Kweller Prep will be offering after school services for academic enrichment
We are offering door to door pick up
è Pick up from School to Kweller Prep
Students who register for May and June Enrichment Classes
are eligible for this service.
Kweller Prep Locations are in Queens and Manhattan
We service students in grades 3-12
We offer pick up from all 5 boroughs
Please type your child's school and then type :Kweller Prep" in the destination search box here:
https://kidcar.net/kid-carpool.html
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Constructed Response Common Core Samples
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/common_core/constructed_response.htm
Kweller Prep Manhattan Directions - 370 Lexington Avenue Suite 800
Kweller Prep Manhattan
Kweller Prep Queens
Monday, March 13, 2017
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)