12.Practice.Tests.for.the.SAT_2015-2016_1128p

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Section 6
Practice Test Nine
Directions: The passages below are followed by questions based on their content; questions following a pair of related
passages may also be based on the relationship between the paired passages. Answer the questions on the basis of
what is stated or implied in the passages and in any introductory material that may be provided.
Questions 6-9 are based on the following passages.
Passage 1
As more and more antibiotics are prescribed
by doctors for their patients every year-a trend
many in the medical industry consider a direct
Line result of increasingly and often unrealistically
(5) demanding practitioner schedules-a growing
number of Americans are proving dangerously
resistant to antibiotic treatments. Public health
officials have been warning the medical industry
for decades about this very problem; their reports
( 10) have documented how such widespread use of
antibiotics can encourage the proliferation of
harmful antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Yet, as enormous
and notoriously stingy health management
organizations, or HMOs, began swallowing up
(15) more private medical practices, patient turnover
seemed to take precedent over patient care.
Passage 2
Although the case can be made that most
antibiotic-resistant medical problems stem from
excessive human use of such medications, there
(20) is a growing body of evidence that suggests the
medications used by farmers to treat their livestock
can have a significant effect on these problems
as well. Roughly 30 years ago, farmers found
themselves trying to keep pace economically by
(25) investing in ever-larger herds. Animal antibiotics
became a cost-effective solution to the increased
risk of disease that these larger herds were open
to. Today, however, convincing studies show that
the antibiotic-resistant bacteria created by such
(30) treatments can transfer from animal to consumer,
thus contributing to the growing antibiotic-resistance
problem among humans.
6. In the last sentence of Passage 1 (lines 12-16), the
author implies that
(A) antibiotic treatments are relatively easy and
cheap to prescribe
(B) HMOs are oblivious to antibiotic-resistance
problems
(C) only large HMOs can afford antibiotic treatments
(D) HMOs have demonstrated little concern for
patient care
(E) private medical practices are more careful
than large HMOs
7. In line 27, "open" most nearly means
(A) unobstructed
(B) free
( C) vulnerable
(D) receptive
(E) accessible
8. The author of Passage 2 would most likely
characterize the arguments made by the author
of Passage 1 as
(A) overly critical
(B) inappropriate
(C) misinformed
(D) limited
(E) insightful
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