The Business Upper-intermediate Answer Key

1 Building a career

1.1 About business The education business

1

telemarketing, personal referrals, weekends at Harvard, mail shots, travelling shows

2

a23,000 applications for the new academic year

b9% of applications were accepted

c80% ultimately decided to attend

d10% of admitted students came from abroad

e35 staff in Fitzsimmons’ team

f$43,700 – the annual tab for tuition, room and board

g$60,000 – parents who make less aren’t expected to pay

h8000 alumni volunteers

3

1Purchase high school juniors’ names from examination boards.

2Send 70,000 or so letters to high school juniors.

3Visit 140 US cities and travel to other countries.

4Send out 8,000 alumni volunteers to identify possible candidates.

5Sort applications and give a score from one to six.

6Local subcommittees discuss the case for and against each candidate.

7Professors, alumni, and students lobby successful candidates by phone.

8Invite applicants to spend a weekend at Harvard in April.

4

aspeaker 3

bspeaker 1

cspeaker 4

dspeaker 2

1.2 Vocabulary Education and career

1

1

gain 2 acquire 3 improving

4 boosting

5 have

6

going to 7 making 8 receive

9 obtain

10 enhance

2

I worked in several departments and gained knowledge about all aspects of the business.

I believe this job will allow me to acquire new skills and boost my earnings. My gap year in the States definitely improved my employability, and working for IBM certainly enhanced my CV.

On my Business studies course I received tuition from practising managers and obtained experience on work placements.

3

1

finance

2 arrange 3 borrow 4 support

5

obtain

6 win 7 subsidize

4

Student A

I wasn’t a very motivated student when I was younger, so I failed my exams in 1999 and had to retake them the following summer. I’d already decided I wanted to take a gap year then go to business school, so this time I completed all the coursework and revised thoroughly; I passed easily. I spent a year abroad as an assistant in a secondary school and then went to

business school – I’d already applied and successfully attended an interview before resitting my exams.

In my second year as an undergraduate, I spent a semester as an intern at Hewlett Packard, which was very rewarding. In fact, I went straight into a job at HP after I graduated the following June. They encouraged me to do a Master’s degree by correspondence – I just have to finish writing a

dissertation. I need a break now, but I may take a sabbatical to study for an MBA in a few years’ time.

Student B

I wasn’t a very motivated student when I was younger, so I had to retake my exams in 2000 after I failed them the year before. I’d already decided that before going to business school I wanted to take a gap year. I passed easily because this time I completed all the coursework and revised thoroughly. I’d already applied and successfully attended an interview at a business school, so after resitting my exams I spent a year abroad as an assistant in a secondary school.

I spent a semester as an intern at Hewlett Packard in my second year as an undergraduate, which was very rewarding. In fact, after I graduated the following June I went straight into a job at HP. I’m now writing a

dissertation for a Master’s degree by correspondence which HP encouraged me to do. I may take a sabbatical to study for an MBA in a few years’ time, but I need a break first.

5

1contacted

2presented

3recruited

4trained

5met

6exceeded

7designed