Passage Find Time to Volunteer
Find Time to Volunteer
(1) Many people believe that they gain a greater sense of purpose by giving their time to serve others. (2) These are the people who spend their free time volunteering at various places within the community. (3) Those who are served benefit from the work of these volunteers. (4) However, research shows that those who volunteer also receive benefits.
(5) For many students, this proposition may sound impossible. (6) Schoolwork can require hours of study each week. (7) Volunteering at a retirement center or homeless shelter requires both time and energy. (8) Extracurricular activities fill up after-school time. (9) Family obligations and part-time jobs often have to be worked into the schedule, too. (10) However, if students can find time to volunteer, even for a few hours a month, they may find that the benefits outweigh the scheduling difficulties.
(11) To begin with, students who engage in volunteer activities acquire valuable skills and experience, which can help them focus on potential fields of study and career options. (12) Furthermore, when students list volunteer work on college applications, admissions counselors see applicants who care about making their community and college campus a better place.
(13) Volunteerism benefits more than students applying to college. (14) This type of experience is equally important for students moving directly into the workforce after high school. (15) Volunteering demonstrates initiative, dedication, and a strong work ethic, qualities that companies value in a potential employee. (16) In a CareerBuilder study, 60 percent of managers regarded volunteerism as a significant asset when considering applicants.
(17) Students who volunteer undoubtedly make a positive investment in their future, but they also affect their present quality of life. (18) Studies have shown that volunteering is good for both the mind and the body. (19) Volunteering can boost mood levels and reduce anxiety. (20) According to the Mayo Clinic,1 the feeling of doing something meaningful and the appreciation received from that action can reduce stress.
(21) Even the busiest of students can find a way to donate some time to a worthy cause. (22) Though managing different commitments may seem overwhelming at times, students are sure to feel a sense of fulfillment in volunteerism.
1Mayo Clinic: a nonprofit medical organization dedicated to treatment and research
Question
Which of these would best follow sentence 12 and support the ideas presented in the third paragraph (sentences 11–12)?
- AThese students show that they are likely to be responsible, reliable, and helpful young adults. Admissions counselors know that character traits like these will benefit the applicants as well as whomever they interact with.
- BVolunteering can help students meet new people who can provide references and advice to the students when they are applying to colleges. It can also be an invaluable opportunity for students to meet possible future employers.
- CThe counselors hope that young adults who demonstrate this behavior will go on to volunteer during their college years, working on campus in student government and leadership programs or serving in the community at hospitals, schools, and homeless shelters.
- DMany colleges are looking for students who are not just academically successful but who also work well with others and care about improving and serving surrounding communities.
Show the answer
Correct answer: D
The question asks which option would best follow sentence 12 to support the ideas presented in the third paragraph (sentences 11–12).
A. Incorrect. The subject of the main clause in sentence 12 is “admissions counselors.” Although the second sentence in the option mentions “admissions counselors,” it does not support the ideas in the paragraph, because the statement that “admissions counselors know that character traits like these will benefit the applicants” focuses on how students benefit, while sentence 12 focuses on how these traits benefit the community.
B. Incorrect. While sentence 11 discusses the potential academic and professional connections that can be made through volunteering, sentence 12 moves on to the topic of college admissions. Since the sentences in the option revert back to the topic of connections, they do not support and logically follow a sentence about how college admissions counselors view students with volunteering experience.
C. Incorrect. Although the sentence in the option continues on the subject of admissions counselors and follows the idea in sentence 12 that these counselors tend to favor students who “care about making their community and college campus a better place,” the sentence focuses on what students will do while in college rather than on how volunteering helps them get into college. Therefore, the sentence does not best follow sentence 12 and support the ideas presented in the third paragraph.
D. CORRECT. In sentence 12, the author states that college admissions counselors view students who list volunteer work on admissions applications as “applicants who care about making their community and college campus a better place.” The sentence in the option best follows sentence 12 and supports the ideas in the third paragraph because it provides additional details about why admissions counselors look beyond academics when considering students for admissions and the positive qualities assigned to those who have volunteering experience.
Question analysis
This supporting-details question asks which addition would best follow the volunteering essay’s sentence about how college admissions counselors view applicants who list volunteer work. Every option mentions college and sounds reasonable on its own, so students must decide which one develops the paragraph’s point rather than drifting to a related idea.
- NYS standards
- 7W1b supporting claims with evidence
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students choose evidence that supports a claim. Here the options are one or two full sentences, all of them about college, and the right fit depends on the precise idea in sentence 12, a finer judgment than usual.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
- What makes it hard
- A very close wrong answer major
- How sentences fit together moderate
- A lot to read minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 11, 354 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 153 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
Every option stays on the subject of college, so the work is matching sentence 12’s exact idea: counselors see applicants who care about making their community a better place. The near miss also explains what counselors value, but it swaps caring for the community for a new set of traits and ends on what those traits do for the applicants. Students who restate sentence 12 before reading the options can hear that the right one simply widens it, from community service to what colleges want beyond grades.
A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer
The right sentence and the two-sentence option about responsible, reliable, helpful students both explain why volunteers impress admissions; only the right one keeps sentence 12’s point, caring about improving communities. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
How sentences fit together moderate Working it out
The new sentence must extend sentence 12’s specific idea, what admissions counselors see in volunteers, rather than return to sentence 11’s skills and careers or move on to college life. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
A lot to read minor Understanding the question
The options run 27 to 39 words, two of them two sentences long, and all four are about college, so topic alone rules none of them out. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Strategy: Restate sentence 12 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it explains or extends that exact point about what admissions counselors value.
Traps
- Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
The wrong answers, classified
A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Follows the admissions counselors from sentence 12 but replaces caring for the community with new traits, responsibility and reliability, and turns to how those traits help the applicants.
B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Is drawn by “applying to colleges,” but networking for references and future employers is a new benefit that neither sentence 11 nor sentence 12 develops.
C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Stays with the counselors and picks up “college campus” from sentence 12, but jumps ahead to what students might do in college instead of explaining admission decisions.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
You need the sentence that best follows sentence 12. A good next sentence adds to the same idea. It does not jump to a new point. Example: after Dogs make loyal pets, the sentence They stay by their owners’ side fits. Dogs come in many colors drifts away. So first put sentence 12 in your own words.
Restate sentence 12
Sentence 12 says that “when students list volunteer work on college applications, admissions counselors see applicants who care about making their community and college campus a better place.” Admissions counselors are the people who choose which students get into a college. So the idea is this: colleges like volunteers because volunteers care about their communities.
Check each choice
- D says colleges want students who are “not just academically successful.” That means more than good grades. They also want students who “care about improving and serving surrounding communities.” That explains sentence 12 and builds on it.
- A swaps in new traits: “responsible, reliable, and helpful.” Then it says those traits help the applicants and the people around them. It drops caring for the community.
- B brings in a new benefit: meeting people who can give advice or jobs. Neither sentence 11 nor sentence 12 talks about that.
- C jumps ahead to what students might do in college. It doesn’t explain how volunteering helps them get in.
Pick the answer
Watch out: A is the most tempting. It is about what counselors value, just like the right answer. But it changes the reason they value it. Only D keeps sentence 12’s idea of caring for the community. So the answer is D.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer. Like D, it explains why admissions counselors like volunteers. But A’s reasons are new ones, such as being responsible and reliable. D keeps sentence 12’s exact idea, caring about the community, and adds that colleges want more than good grades. So D supports the paragraph best.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Find Time to Volunteer” as printed (page 163)
