TSIA2 Practice Test 14

Early draft

(1) For many community college students, the hardest part of earning a degree is not the coursework but the class schedule. (2) A large share of these students work full-time jobs, care for children during the day, or do both, and many commute long distances to campus. (3) When required classes are offered only on weekday mornings, they must choose between earning a paycheck and earning credits. (4) Community colleges should expand their evening and weekend course offerings so that working adults can complete their degrees in a reasonable amount of time.

(5) Flexible schedules would help students finish what they start. (6) A student who can take two evening classes each semester, even while working forty hours a week, makes steady progress toward a degree and can plan a realistic graduation date. (7) A student who must wait for a required course to fit around a work shift may fall behind. (8) She may eventually give up altogether. (9) Many community colleges first opened during the 1960s, when the number of college students nationwide grew quickly.

(10) Some administrators point out that evening classes cost more to run, since buildings must stay open, security guards must patrol later, and instructors must be paid to teach at night. (11) Colleges lose tuition revenue every time a student drops out. (12) Keeping more students enrolled from one semester to the next could offset much of the added expense. (13) Colleges could also hold several departments’ evening courses in a single building, so that only one building needs to stay open late. (14) By building schedules around students’ real lives, community colleges can turn more first-semester students into graduates who are ready for better-paying jobs.