Doctoring Sales Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Practice Test with Explanation

"Doctoring Sales" follows Kim Schaefer, a pharmaceutical sales representative, as she navigates the ethical grey area of drug promotion in the United States. The passage covers topics such as promotional gifts, free drug samples, financial incentives for doctors, and the debate over who bears responsibility — and who ultimately pays the cost. The source for this passage is listed as a practice passage (Cambridge source not specified in the existing article).

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–7, which are based on the passage below.

This passage contains one question type: Matching Headings (Questions 1–7). Seven paragraphs must each be matched to one heading from a list of ten options (i–x).

Paragraph A

Kim Schaefer is one of the sales representatives of a major global pharmaceutical company. A few months ago she went into a medical centre in New York to get some information about her company's latest products and free samples. That day luckily there was a doctor available for her. He asked 'The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have?' in a half-joking manner.

Paragraph B

That day's offer was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But, as today's typical drug rep, on any day, Schaefer offers promotional gifts and gadgets in a car trunk full, budget for small country lunches and dinners, 100's of free drug samples, and freedom to offer $200 for a physician to offer her new product to the next six patients that suits the drug profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria in exchange for a doctor's attendance for her company's next educational lecture.

Paragraph C

In ethical judgment, selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise. Buying a prospect's time for a free meal and prescribing their drugs by bribing the doctors is a common practice for every salesperson like Schaefer. They get highly criticised for their sales and marketing in the industry they work in. However, they are stuck between the age-old chicken or egg question, and businesses won't use strategies that don't work. Is it right to blame the doctors for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or does the industry need to take responsibility for setting the boundaries?

Paragraph D

The close examination of the pressures, influences, and relationships between drug reps and doctors takes place due to the explosion of the number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes. For physicians, salespeople provide much-needed information and education. The primary sources of drug education are the brochures, article reprints, and prescriptions they deliver to healthcare givers. The industry has made a huge investment in face-to-face selling; salespeople have become specialists in one or more drugs, and they have a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors if they need any information.

Paragraph E

In the office, sales push rarely stops, but it is often followed up with expensive restaurant meals, meetings at warm and sunny places, and promotional gadgets inundation for the left brochures and pamphlets. Patients rarely see a doctor have a pen that isn't emblazoned with a drug's name or see a nurse using a tablet without a pharmaceutical company's logo. Pharmaceutical companies spent millions on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Is the money spent well? That's hard to tell. One doctor said that I've been the recipient of golf balls from one company, and I use them, but it doesn't make me prescribe their medicine. I think that what they gave me will not influence me.

Paragraph F

Offering free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the most effective way to make doctors and patients loyal to a product. Each week, salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples, nearly $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. The University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected the physician's prescription, though few comprehensive studies have been conducted. A total of 131 doctors self-reported that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice.

Paragraph G

As the bottom line, other than investing in research and development, pharmaceutical companies do more in marketing. For every pen that's handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten, patients are the ones who pay the skyrocketing prescription prices. In the end, the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have the right to make a profit and continue to find ways to increase sales. Companies will continue to be heavily scrutinised for their sales and marketing strategies as the medical world continues to grapple with what's acceptable and what's not.

Questions 1–7 — Matching Headings

The reading passage has seven paragraphs: A–G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–x, in boxes 1–7 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. Not every doctor gets influenced

ii. Picking the best offers

iii. Who takes responsibility for raising the promotion?

iv. The drug companies clash

v. Expectations of doctors from drug companies example

vi. Financial incentives are provided as gifts

vii. Research shows the impacts of promotion

viii. High research costs

ix. Drug promotion and its advantage

x. Who pays for the free gifts of doctors?

1. Paragraph A

2. Paragraph B

3. Paragraph C

4. Paragraph D

5. Paragraph E

6. Paragraph F

7. Paragraph G