Sitting in the garden for my friend's birthday. I felt a buzz in my pocket. My heart raced when I saw the email sender's name. The email started off: "Dear Mr Green, thank you for your interest" and "the review process took longer than expected." It ended with "We are sorry to inform you…"and my vision blurred . The position—measuring soil quality in the Sahara Desert as part of an undergraduate research programme — had felt like the answer I had spent years looking for.

I had put so much time and emotional energy into applying and I thought the rejection meant the end of the road for my science career.

So I was shocked when, not long after the email, Professor Mary Devon, who was running the programme, invited me to observe the work being done in her lab. I jumped at the chance, and a few weeks later I was equally shocked—and overjoyed—when she invited me to talk with her about potential projects I could pursue in her lab. What she proposed didn't seem as exciting as the original project I had applied to, but I was going to give it my all.

I found myself working with a robotics professor on techniques for collecting data from the desert remotely. That project, which I could complete from my sofa instead of in the burning heat of the desert, not only survived the lockdown but worked where traditional methods didn't. In the end, I had a new scientific interest to pursue.

When I applied to graduate school, I found three programmes promising to allow me to follow my desired research direction. And I applied with the same anxious excitement as before. When I was rejected from one that had seemed like a perfect fit, it was undoubtedly difficult. But this time I had the perspective to keep it from sending me into panic. It helped that in the end I was accepted into one of the other programmes I was also excited about.

Rather than setting plans in stone, I've learned that sometimes I need to take the opportunities that are offered, even if they don't sound perfect at the time, and make the most of them.

Questions:
question_stem: How did the author feel upon seeing the email sender's name?
choices: tag: A
text: Anxious.

tag: B
text: Angry.

tag: C
text: Surprised.

tag: D
text: Settled.
answer_key: A

question_stem: After talking with Professor Devon, the author decided to ________
choices: tag: A
text: criticise the review process

tag: B
text: stay longer in the Sahara Desert

tag: C
text: apply to the original project again

tag: D
text: put his heart and soul into the lab work
answer_key: D

question_stem: According to the author, the project with the robotics professor was ________
choices: tag: A
text: demanding

tag: B
text: inspiring

tag: C
text: misleading

tag: D
text: amusing
answer_key: B

question_stem: What can we learn from this passage?
choices: tag: A
text: An invitation is a reputation.

tag: B
text: An innovation is a resolution.

tag: C
text: A rejection can be a redirection.

tag: D
text: A reflection can be a restriction.
answer_key: C