42. When it comes to their children's college education, parents who won't let their children major in literature CANNOT be thinking in terms of:
(A) a direct path between a degree program and a first job;
(B) return on investment;
(C) projected salary associated with the degree of choice;
(D) the overstated unemployment rate for recently graduated majors in liberal arts.

38. Which of the following is NOT true about the statements in the last paragraph of the article? (A) The small matters of conduct can affect our interactions with others surrounding us; (B) One should sacrifice the little habits of commonplace intercourse for the great moments of heroism; (C) The rule of the road can be a standard by which we judge whether someone is civilized or not; (D) Reasonable considerations of others' rights and feelings in our daily routine can sweeten the journey. 

39. Based on this excerpt of this article, which of the following is NOT true? (A) The article is about a phenomenon in college education that deserves people's including the parents'-attention; (B) Parental pressure plays an important role in students' choices of major; (C) The author believes in the idea of college education as job training, just like many parents do; (D) The author disagrees with some of the common assumptions about the humanities majors and offers some counter-evidence in the last few paragraphs.

40. Which of the following CANNOT be said about the examples in the first two paragraphs? (A) Most of the students mentioned in the fist paragraph are humanities majors; (B) None of the students the author surveyed in the first paragraph was history major; (C) A lot more of the students referred to in the second paragraph would have been humanities majors if their choices are only based on their own interests and strengths; (D) In both cases, the author was surprised by the disparity between the students' keen interests and their choice of majors.

41. One can gather from the context that the phrase "helicopter parenting" (mentioned in paragraph 4) refers to: (A) parents who take their kids to school and after-school activities by helicopter; (B) the hands-off approach of parenting because those parents travel around by helicopter so often that they don't spend much time with their children; (C) the hands-on style of parenting that gets involved in every aspect of their children's lives and watches over their activities like helicopters hovering above their destinations; (D) parents who are out of touch with their children's view of reality as if they're still riding in a helicopter while their kids are on the ground.

43. The last four paragraphs of the excerpt above can be described as about (A) focusing on college education as job training; (B) exposing a fundamental misunderstanding of the way labor markets work; (C) explaining the way careers develop; (D) highlighting the purpose of higher education.

44. According to the data on jobs provided by the author, which of the following is NOT true? (A) Underemployment of college graduates cannot be overemphasized; (B) It's quite typical for recent college graduates to take several years to find jobs that make use of their education; (C) About the same percentage of recently graduated science and business majors as those with degrees in humanities have worked jobs that don't require college degrees; (D) The jobless rate for recent college graduates with STEM majors aren't significantly different from that for humanities and liberal arts majors.

45. Which of the following would be a     misreading     of the data when it comes to the matter of pay? (A) Salary differences cannot be solely attributed to the choice of major; (B) STEM and business majors earn the most, compared with other college degrees; (C) The top 25 percent of history and English majors earn less than the average American middle class; (D) Half of the premium earned by STEM majors can be attributed to some characteristics they already had before choosing their majors, rather than what they learned in college.

46. The first two paragraphs in excerpt 2 of the same article can be characterized as about (A) the differences in pay in terms of college majors; (B) the way careers develop; (C) how labor markets are related to choices of majors; (D) the purpose of higher education.

47. "It's harder to weather the hard times if you don't have the intrinsic motivation." In the context of this excerpt, what does the quoted statement in the first paragraph mean? (A) You need a foul-weather friend in order to make the right decision on college majors; (B) You need to stick with your major, whether in good times or bad times; (C) You're more likely to give up on your major or burn out if your choice isn't based on your genuine interest in the field of study; (D) Parental pressure would be motivation enough to endure the challenges posed by one's major.

48. Based on excerpt 2, which of the following is false? (A) Careers don't necessarily proceed in straight lines; (B) Most English majors don't become writers or teachers; (C) More than half of the people with STEM degrees have jobs that are substantially related to their college majors; (D) The advisor on career development quoted in this excerpt reminds parents to think beyond the first job.