An easy but lengthy passage.
Paragraph 1: Doping is a threat to fairness in sport.
Paragraph 2: Drugs are banned to ensure fairness and prevent adverse health effects.
Paragraph 3: Although the drugs are harmful. they are taken to enhance performance and achieve stardom.
Paragraph 4: Athletes have found smarter ways to avoid getting caught. Doping won't end unless strict remedies are taken.
1. What appears to be the primary purpose of this passage?
A. To educate readers about the health threats involved in the use of performance enhancing drugs - Incorrect. Narrow focus.
B. To analyze the ways in which professional athletes have eluded attempts to screen for performance-enhancing drugs - Incorrect. Narrow focus.
C. To discuss the reasons why performance-enhancing drugs are a dangerous and persistent problem for society - Correct.
D. To complain about the inadequate efforts by government and professional sports organizations to eliminate the problem of performance-enhancing drugs - Incorrect. Again very narrow.
E. To argue that athletes, both professional and amateur, should not use performance enhancing drugs on the grounds that they are both dangerous and unfair - Incorrect. Same reason as above.
Answer: C
2. According to the passage, all of the following are known potential consequences of steroid use except for which of the following?
A. Damage to reproductive organs
B. Decreased blood pressure - Correct. Passage cites high blood pressure.
C. Increases in the user’s strength and speed
D. Kidney tumors
E. Increased risk of depression
Answer: B
3. The author’s attitude toward the problem of steroid abuse is best described as which of the following?
A. Cautious but optimistic - Incorrect. Tone is not optimistic.
B. Judgmental but supportive - Incorrect. Tone is not judgemental.
C. Ambivalent but resigned - Incorrect. Tone is not ambivalent.
D. Curious but subjective - Incorrect. Tone is not curious.
E. Concerned but pessimistic - Correct.
Answer: E
4. Which of the following can be inferred about a long-distance race in which both athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs and those who do not use these drugs compete?
A. The athletes using the drugs will be caught by the proper authorities and ejected from the race. - Incorrect. They may be smart enough to avoid getting caught.
B. The athletes using the drugs will have a better chance of winning the race. - Correct
C. The athletes using the drugs will use steroid precursors that produce effects similar to those of androgenic drugs but are not technically steroids. - Incorrect. Not a 100% probability.
D. The athletes using the drugs are more likely to be professionals in their sport than the athletes who do not use such drugs. - Incorrect. Can't infer.
E. The athletes using the drugs will be more likely to use any means possible to win the race, including intentional sabotage of the other racers’ equipment. - Incorrect. Out of scope.
Answer: B
5. The relationship of an athlete who does not use performance-enhancing drugs to an athlete who does use such drugs is most similar to which of the following?
A. The relationship of a farmer selling milk from cows that have been given bovine growth hormone, a legal drug that promotes greater than normal milk production, to a farmer selling milk from cows that have not been given bovine growth hormone - Incorrect. Legal way. Eliminate.
B. The relationship of a chess player to a competitor who uses psychological tricks in order to gain an advantage - Incorrect. Still legal.
C. The relationship of a boxer in the lightweight class to a boxer in the heavyweight class - Incorrect. Can't establish any relationship between the option and the passage.
D. The relationship of a person taking a standardized test according to the rules to a person taking the same test while using an illegal hidden calculator - Correct. Legal vs illegal.
E. The relationship of a person entering a pig in an agricultural contest to a person entering a guinea pig in the same contest - Incorrect. Same error as in C.
Answer: D
6. According to the passage, which of the following can be inferred about the “designer” steroid THG?
A. It can increase masculine traits in users without setting off standard doping tests. - Correct.
B. It does not cause the health problems associated with traditional anabolic steroids. - Incorrect. Out of scope.
C. Even if professional sports organizations could detect THG, they would take no action against those who use it. - Incorrect. Out of scope.
D. It is a chemical permutation of progesterone, a hormone that has powerful effects on the human body. - Incorrect. Out of scope.
E. Because it is a “designer” steroid, it is more expensive than generic steroids. - Incorrect. Irrelevant.
Answer: A
7. Which of the following best expresses the role of the third paragraph in the overall structure of the passage?
A. It redirects the theme of the passage from presenting a problem to explaining the reasons for the problem’s severity. - Correct.
B. It introduces a new concept that defines the rest of the passage. - Incorrect. It does not introduce a new concept.
C. It provides an answer to a question posed in the first two paragraphs. - Incorrect. It provides the reasons for the rampant use of steroids despite its harmfulness.
D. It refutes the central hypothesis of the second paragraph and poses a question that is answered in the following paragraphs. - Incorrect. Irrelevant.
E. It narrows the focus of the passage from the general themes of the first two paragraphs to the more specific themes of the last two paragraphs. - Incorrect.
Answer: A