How much higher? How much faster?: reading answers and analysis

Do official athletics records go back to around 1900?

Since the early years of the twentieth century, when the International Athletic Federation began keeping records

Why: The early years of the twentieth century are the years just after 1900, and that's when an official body started keeping records. 'About' covers the small gap. TRUE.

The trap: The 1908 Olympics is the first exact date you see, so some students decide 1900 is wrong. The statement says 'about', and 1908 is a race, not the start of record-keeping.

Did athletic performance hardly improve before 1900?

Since the early years of the twentieth century… there has been a steady improvement in how fast athletes run

Why: The passage only describes improvement since records began in the twentieth century. It says nothing about what happened before, so NOT GIVEN.

The trap: Because the passage starts its story in the 1900s, it's tempting to infer there was little progress earlier. No records are mentioned for that period, so there's nothing to compare.

Have events needing a short, intense burst of energy improved the most?

For the so-called power events - that require a relatively brief, explosive release of energy… times and distances have improved ten to twenty per cent. In the endurance events the results have been more dramatic.

Why: Power events (the burst-of-energy ones) improved 10-20%, while endurance events were 'more dramatic', with the marathon almost 30% faster. Endurance improved more, so FALSE.

The trap: The statement paraphrases the definition of power events perfectly, so it feels like a match. Read on: the next sentence gives the bigger improvement to endurance.

Does genetics fully explain why performance has improved?

No one theory can explain improvements in performance, but the most important factor has been genetics.

Why: Genetics is 'the most important factor', but the sentence opens by saying no single theory explains the improvements. Yessis adds that genetics only determines about a third. FALSE.

The trap: 'The most important factor' is what people remember, and they choose TRUE. Most important is not the same as the full explanation.

Have top athletes' parents often been successful athletes too?

'The athlete must choose his parents carefully,' says Jesus Dapena, a sports scientist at Indiana University, invoking an oft-cited adage.

Why: The saying is a joke about inheriting good genes. Nobody says the parents were athletes themselves, so NOT GIVEN.

The trap: It's natural to read 'choose your parents' as 'have athletic parents'. Talent can be inherited from parents who never competed, and the passage gives no facts about parents' careers.

Does athletics' growing global importance mean gifted athletes are spotted younger?

with increasing global participation in athletics - and greater rewards to tempt athletes - it is more likely that individuals possessing the unique complement of genes for athletic performance can be identified early

Why: More worldwide participation and bigger rewards make it more likely that genetically gifted people are 'identified early'. That's the statement. TRUE.

The trap: The Michael Johnson example says talent in the 1920s was probably 'never realised'. That supports the point rather than contradicting it.

Why are biomechanics films especially useful to trainers?

'we can say that this athlete's run is not fast enough; that this one is not using his arms strongly enough during take-off,'

Why: The films let Dapena point to exactly what each athlete is doing wrong: run-up too slow, arms too weak. That's highlighting areas to improve, so A.

The trap: C and D (selecting and predicting) sound like natural uses of film analysis, but neither is mentioned. B (fitness levels) isn't either: the films measure movement, not fitness.

What did biomechanics specialists use theoretical models for?

Fosbury himself did not know what he was doing. That understanding took the later analysis of biomechanics specialists

Why: Fosbury didn't understand his own technique, and the specialists' later analysis provided that understanding. They explained it, so D.

The trap: B is the trap. The passage says the flop was too unorthodox 'ever to have been invented' through their simulations. Fosbury created it, and the specialists only explained it afterwards.

How does Raglin describe what we currently know about athletics?

So many variables enter into the equation, and our understanding in many cases is fundamental. We've got a long way to go.

Why: 'Fundamental' here means at a basic level, and 'We've got a long way to go' confirms our knowledge is still basic. B.

The trap: C (diverse) is tempting because 'so many variables' and 'vexingly complex' describe the subject. But those words describe athletics, not our knowledge of it. A (mistaken) goes too far.