Beach Cleanup: The Bus Pass Trap
Read this extract from a leaflet and a candidate's answer. Text: 'Since 2019, the Guía youth centre has run a summer beach-cleanup programme. In its first year, 40 volunteers collected 1.2 tonnes of waste. Last summer, after the centre began offering free bus passes, numbers rose to 95 volunteers, but the total collected fell to 0.9 tonnes. Coordinators explain that many new volunteers came for single morning sessions, while the most experienced volunteers were reassigned to a rocky inlet that is harder to access and yields less visible waste per hour.' Question: The main purpose of the free bus passes was to... A increase the total waste collected. B attract more volunteers. C reward experienced volunteers. D reduce volunteers' transport costs. The candidate chooses A and writes: 'Because more people came, so more rubbish was collected.'
1. Which option is correct, and which detail in the text rules out the candidate's choice? Answer in 60–90 words, quoting evidence.
Read the worked answer
B is correct: attract more volunteers. The text says numbers 'rose to 95 volunteers' only 'after the centre began offering free bus passes'. The candidate's A is a trap: the same sentence says the total collected 'fell to 0.9 tonnes'. The candidate has confused a correlation with the stated purpose and ignored the contrastive 'but'. A good answer should quote both the rise in volunteers and the fall in waste, then explain that the passes removed a barrier to attendance, not a barrier to waste collection. C is unsupported: experienced volunteers were reassigned, not rewarded. D is a plausible side effect, not the stated purpose.
2. The candidate's sentence 'Because more people came, so more rubbish was collected' contains a grammatical error common in PAU writing. Identify it and rewrite the sentence correctly without changing the intended meaning.
Read the worked answer
The error is the double conjunction 'Because... so'. In English, a causal link can be marked either by 'because' or by 'so', not both. Correct: 'Because more people came, more rubbish was collected' or 'More people came, so more rubbish was collected.' There is also a content problem: the text says collection fell, so the candidate's causal claim is factually wrong. A rewrite that keeps the intended causal link but respects the text would be: 'More people came, but the total collected fell, probably because the new volunteers did shorter sessions.' That version separates the contrast from the explanation.
3. What does the text imply about waste collected per volunteer last summer compared with the first year? Show the calculation and explain why the comparison is not straightforward.
Read the worked answer
In year one, 1.2 tonnes ÷ 40 volunteers = 0.03 tonnes, or 30 kg, per volunteer. Last summer, 0.9 tonnes ÷ 95 volunteers ≈ 0.0095 tonnes, or about 9.5 kg, per volunteer. The average therefore fell sharply. But the text warns against a simple effort judgement: many newcomers did only a single morning, and experienced people worked a less productive inlet. So the per-volunteer figure fell, yet the text does not show that individual volunteers worked less hard. The exam rewards that distinction between an arithmetic average and an explanation of the different conditions.