Listen to the audio sample below and then answer the questions that follow.
1. What was Claudia upset about?
- The status of a group project for her philosophy class
- A difficult project designing a bridge for her engineering class
- She was having trouble understanding Aristotle’s philosophies and influences
- Receiving a poor grade on her midterm exams
Answer Explanation
The correct answer is A. At the beginning of the conversation, listeners should recall that the female student, Claudia, informs the male student, Miguel, that she is stressed about a big project in her philosophy class. She says, “I love the material we are learning, but I’m frustrated by a big assignment that’s due next week.” She later reveals to Miguel that it’s a midterm group project.
Miguel was the one who had the bridge project for engineering, so Choice B is incorrect.
There is no mention of the fact that she is struggling to understand the philosophies; in fact, she says she’s enjoying the material, so Choice C is wrong.
She has not yet received the grade for the midterm because the project is due on Monday, so Choice D is incorrect.
2. What were the components of the group project assignment? (There are two correct choices.)
- A 10-page paper
- A 20-page paper
- A 20-minute presentation
- A 10-minute presentation
Answer Explanation
The correct answers are A and C. Claudia says that they must write a 10-page paper and give a 20-minute presentation on notable philosophers.
3. In Claudia’s sentence, “Thanks for commiserating with me Miguel,” the word commiserating most nearly means which of the following?
- Communicating
- Correcting
- Agreeing
- Sympathizing
Answer Explanation
The correct answer is D. Commiserating means to sympathize of feel pity for someone else. Miguel has been in a similar situation before—when he had to work on the bridge project with his engineering group and had to do most of the work himself—so he is able to relate to Claudia’s situation and feels badly for her.
He also says, “I don’t envy the situation you’re in.” This means that he is glad he is not in her situation, because he knows it is not a good one to be in.
4. Why does Claudia think her group is not taking the project seriously? (There are two correct choices.)
- Because one student does not enjoy philosophy class
- Because one student did a poor job covering his material
- Because two group members have not yet started on the project
- Because they know the project will not impact their grade
Answer Explanation
The correct answers are B and C. Claudia says that she feels the people in her group are not taking the project seriously. She tells Miguel, “It’s due on Monday and two of the people have yet to start their sections, and the other student’s piece was terrible.”
Choice A is incorrect because there is no mention that anyone in the group doesn’t enjoy the material, just that one did not cover the assigned requirements in his section.
Choice D is incorrect because there is no mention that anyone in the group doesn’t think the project will impact their grade. In contrast, it is mentioned that the project is worth 40% of one’s overall course grade.
5. In the sentence below, what does the male student mean when he says he “had to carry the weight of the whole group”?
Male student: “I had to carry the weight of the whole group since no one held up their end.”
- His bridge design had to hold the entire load dictated by the assignment.
- He needed to manage everyone in his group and assign them various roles in the project.
- He had to take on the bulk of the group work by himself.
- He had to demonstrate how much weight the bridge could hold before it collapsed.
Answer Explanation
The correct answer is C. When Miguel says that he “had to carry the weight of the whole group since no one held up their end,” he means that he had to take on the bulk of the work. He adds, “It was so much work to do by myself.” This is a figure of speech and not to be taken literally; it does not relate to the bridge supporting a certain weight before collapsing as indicated in the other answer choices.
6. Why does the female student say: “Before this, I always loved group projects, but now, my opinion has shifted”?
- She used to enjoy group projects, but after the current negative experience, she no longer likes them.
- She didn’t used to like group projects, but after the current negative experience, she now enjoys them.
- She has changed her views of things after learning about the ideals of notable philosophers.
- She didn’t used to like philosophy class, but after this project, she now enjoys it.
Answer Explanation
The correct answer is A. Claudia says, “Before this, I always loved group projects, but now, my opinion has shifted” to convey that she used to love group projects, but now that has changed (shifted) due to the current negative experience with her group, so she no longer likes them.
Choice B essentially reverses her shift.
Choices C and D may be attractive answers because they relate to philosophy, but her statement does not actually relate to the course material. Instead, it relates to the assignment, so they are also incorrect.
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