a possible mistake in a test

[Georgi200]

Dear Torsten, be so good and have a look at the questions page of the test Discussion 1 ("A conversation between a student and a university advisor"). Don't you think that in the question 3 (Answer A) the verb "sympathizes" is more fitting than "emphasizes" ?
http://www.english-test.net/toefl/listening/Why_is_the_student_talking_to_the_advisor.html
Best regards. Georgi200.

[Acw]

Georgi,

Actually, the answer should read "empathizes..." which is quite different than "emphasizes."

This is one reason not to trust your computer spell checker or grammar check. Neither caught this mistake because emphasizes is a correctly-spelled English word, despite the fact it does not make sense as used in the sentence you're referring to.

[Georgi200]

ACW, thanks for your right conjecture. "Empathizes" fits that context best and makes a correction easiest. Even though one could safely use "sympathizes" as they are synonymes.