Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

Which of the following best explains the meaning of the following quotation from paragraph 8?"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."

• Don't concern yourself by looking back on the past; focus on your drive for the future.

• While you cannot predict the future, looking back you can often see how you got to where you are.

• It's impossible to know how to get where you want to go, but as long as you're working hard, you'll get there.

• It is okay to not have an expressed purpose in life; you'll find success once you find what you love.

Which detail would be MOST important to include in a summary of the speech?

• Jobs met his wife after he was fired from Apple.

• Reed College was almost as expensive as Stanford University.

• Jobs started Apple with Steve Wozniak in his parents' garage.

• The calligraphy instruction at Reed College was the best in the country

Which detail BEST supports the speech's central idea?

• Jobs went to college for a few months before deciding that it wasn't for him.

• Jobs was honored to speak at Stanford because it is one of the finest universities in the world.

• Jobs continued to practice what he loved after being fired from his company.

• Jobs particularly enjoyed a class that he would not have taken as a traditional student.

What is MOST likely the reason why Jobs spoke about his decision to drop out of college?

• to display how successful people can be if they live without fear

• to show students that a college education is not very important

• to highlight the unusual background Jobs comes from

• to demonstrate that passion and hard work are most important to success

In Paragraph 14, Steve Jobs goes on to tell his audience two things not to do, beginning his sentences with the word ‘don’t.’ What does Paragraph 14 suggest he is trying to tell the graduates?

• I don't know.

• Don't settle and don't lose faith.

• Don't fall in love.

In paragraph 12 Steve Jobs says, “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.” 1. Why does he make that claim? What evidence does he present in paragraphs 12-14 to support this claim?

• A. that getting fired from Apple gave him the opportunity to be creative: He started two companies, both of which became very successful, and he met his wife.

• B. I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20.

• C. . So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

Steve Jobs said don't settle and don't lose faith. Which piece of evidence supports this?

• . So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating

• I really didn’t know what to do for a few months

• During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife

What does he mean by ‘the heaviness of being successful’ and ‘the lightness of being a beginner again’? Did he weigh more when he was successful?

• But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him

• that heaviness means he was weighed down with responsibility that he didn’t have once he was fired.

• I really didn’t know what to do for a few months

What advice does Steve Jobs give the graduates in 2005?

• Do what you love but never leave college

• Do what you love and don't settle

• Be Hungry

  Stay Hungry

• Become a doctor

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. What does the work romantic most likely mean?

• Loving

• Fun

• Idealized view of reality

• Bad