The school 'makes every effort' [=the school does all that it can] 'to help' new students become adjusted to college life.
His novel's surprise ending is not really convincing, but we'll give him 'an A for effort'.
He wanted to contribute in some way to the 'war effort'. [=to the effort to win the war]
(..) One struggle ends just to go right to the next and the next. If you think of it that way, it's a hard road. But I don't think of it that way. I think of these efforts as one effort. And that one effort is for our life. Our life as a community. Our life as a nation. For our lives. We can do this. (..)2014 Selma