Two students, Marcus and Aisha, discussing their project on student

Section 3. You will hear two students, Marcus and Aisha, discussing their project on student volunteering with their tutor. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24. TUTOR: So, your project looked at four volunteering schemes the university runs, and what students got out of each. Let's go through your verdicts. First, the hospital befriending scheme, visiting lonely patients? AISHA: The students on that one valued it most for the confidence it gave them, talking to strangers, older people, people who were unwell, they said they came out far more self-assured. TUTOR: Interesting. The primary-school reading scheme, helping children read? MARCUS: There, the big thing was that it confirmed a career, a lot of them realised they actually wanted to become teachers, it wasn't the skills so much as the direction it gave them. TUTOR: And the conservation scheme, planting trees and clearing rivers? AISHA: That was almost the opposite, students did it purely for the break from screens and study, the main benefit they named was simply feeling less stressed, the fresh air and the physical work. TUTOR: And the fourth, the charity-shop scheme? MARCUS: That one was all about practical, employable skills, handling money, working a till, managing stock, they felt it would look good on a CV. Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30. TUTOR: Good, four quite distinct benefits. Now let's turn to your findings overall. What most surprised you? AISHA: How little the hours mattered, honestly. We'd assumed students who volunteered the most hours would get the most out of it, but it turned out that regularity beat quantity, someone doing two hours every single week gained more than someone doing a big burst once a term. TUTOR: A nice finding. And the commonest reason students gave for stopping? MARCUS: Not boredom, as we'd expected, and not the travel, it was clashes with deadlines, when coursework piled up, volunteering was the first thing to go. TUTOR: And did they feel the university supported them? AISHA: Mostly yes, but the one real complaint was that the schemes weren't advertised well, lots of students only heard about them by chance, from a friend, rather than from the university itself. TUTOR: Worth flagging. And your main recommendation? MARCUS: That volunteering should count for course credit, that came through again and again as the single thing that would most encourage students to start and keep going. TUTOR: Now, a couple of things to fix before submission. Aisha, your sample? AISHA: We know, it's small, only forty students, so we're careful to call it a pilot, not the final word. TUTOR: Good. And the write-up needs your response rate adding, and clearer graphs. Otherwise, strong work. That is the end of Section 3. You now have some time to check your answers.