Many people believe that foreign travel broadens the mind and that there is some inherent benefit in spending some time in a culture different from your own. Many students are taking ‘gap’ years where they spend time in another country. Whilst this may offer some benefits in terms of confidence and independence, it is wrong to assume that foreign travel alone can provide this. Global travel can have negative impacts on local cultures and the environment. Home country based ‘gap’ projects are often seen as unglamourous but the benefit of working with different groups and cultures within our own society can be equally rewarding.
Which one of the following is the main conclusion of the above passage?
A. Foreign gap year projects must have an element of community work for them to be worthwhile.
B. Foreign travel is not the only way to gain confidence and independence.
C. Projects within our own society can be as rewarding as foreign travel.
D. There is inherent benefit in spending some time abroad.
E. It is important that gap year students consider the impact of their travel on the communities they work in.
Key Steps:
- Read the question (do this for every question!)
- Read the passage
- In your own words, make a conclusion for the passage. What is the author’s main idea?
- Find a sentence in the text that matches the conclusion you made, and underline it.
- Keep an eye out for give-away words and phrases
- Find an answer that matches the underlined sentence.
Now that we have read the passage, we can identify the main ideas and draw a conclusion. This passage deals with students travelling abroad for a gap year instead of participating in a local project. The last statement reveals that the author believes that local gap year projects can be just as beneficial as foreign ones (this is the main conclusion). The author justifies this by explaining that global travel is not the only way to improve a student’s “confidence and independence”. They also note that global travel may in-fact have “ negative impacts on local cultures and the environment”.
Let’s work through the answers:
A. Foreign gap year projects must have an element of community work for them to be worthwhile:
The passage makes no mention of what the gap year project needs to entail, be it for a foreign gap year project or local gap year project. The passage only speaks about the location of the gap year project. Therefore, A is incorrect.
B. Foreign travel is not the only way to gain confidence and independence:
This one can be a tricky one. Let’s have a look. Statement B is essentially a reworded version of this statement from the passage: “Whilst this may offer some benefits in terms of confidence and independence, it is wrong to assume that foreign travel alone can provide this.”. Whilst it may be tempting to choose this option, it is important to remember that the question is asking us to find the MAIN conclusion. This is a sub-conclusion / intermediate conclusion. It merely serves as evidence and support for the main conclusion. Therefore, B is incorrect.
C. Projects within our own society can be as rewarding as foreign travel:
Statement C summarises the last statement of the passage: “ Home country based ‘gap’ projects are often seen as unglamourous but the benefit of working with different groups and cultures within our own society can be equally rewarding.” We have identified this as the main conclusion, therefore C is correct.
D. There is inherent benefit in spending some time abroad:
This statement is true according to the passage. The author acknowledges that there are benefits that come with travelling abroad, however the author believes that these benefits are attainable through local travel as well. Therefore, D is not the main conclusion and D is incorrect.
E. It is important that gap year students consider the impact of their travel on the communities they work in:
This statement does not relate to the passage. The passage states that “Global travel can have negative impacts on local cultures and the environment.”. This is specific to GLOBAL travel, and the impact is specific to LOCAL cultures and environments, contrary to statement E. Statement E is referring to GENERAL travel and the impact on the community students will work in. Statement E is incorrect.