Why performers use PEDs -- three reasons
0413 expects three linked reasons. To enhance performance -- becoming stronger, faster, calmer or more alert than training alone allows. To keep up with the competition -- feeling pressured because rivals are believed to already dope. And for the fame and wealth winning brings: sponsorship, prize money and status. These explain WHY the risk is taken; they are not the drug TYPES or their effects, which is a separate part of the topic.
Four PED types and their effects
Each works differently. Anabolic steroids increase muscle mass and strength -- for power events like weight training or throwing. Beta blockers reduce anxiety and steady the hand -- for precision like golf putting. Stimulants increase alertness and delay fatigue -- for sustained effort like cycling. Diuretics cause rapid weight loss, helping make a lower weight category such as a lightweight rower, and can dilute a urine sample to mask other drugs.
Organising bodies: testing and banning
Organising bodies reduce PED use two ways. Testing: random, unannounced out-of-competition testing (so it cannot be planned around) and in-competition testing straight after an event, both using a blood or urine sample. Reasons for banning: to keep competition fair, protect performers' long-term health, protect the sport's reputation, and set a good example to young performers. A strong answer gives a RANGE of testing types and reasons, not one point repeated.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Answering the excluded category
Some questions rule out one category and ask ONLY for the others -- e.g. reasons to use a PED NOT about performance (fame, wealth, keeping up), or disadvantages NOT about health (financial, legal, reputational). Candidates often ignore the exclusion and give the ruled-out category anyway, scoring zero. Re-read what the question excludes before listing points.
Flagged w23 P11 Q9a(ii); w22 P13 Q8a; s23 P13 Q5
Effect too generic, not tied to activity
Describing "the effect on performance" vaguely ("it makes you better"), rather than naming the specific drug and linking its precise effect to a named activity, loses application marks. Say steroids -> more strength for a shot putter, or beta blockers -> a steadier putting hand for a golfer. Name the drug type, not just "a PED".
Flagged w23 P11 Q9a(ii); w22 P13 Q8a; s23 P13 Q5
Reasons and disadvantages too narrow
Asked why bodies reduce PED use, or the disadvantages of being caught, candidates narrow to one or two ideas -- usually "harms health" or "stops them winning" -- not the wider range: keeping competition fair, disqualification or a ban, lost reputation, and a financial penalty (lost sponsorship, repaid prize money). Each is a DIFFERENT category examiners want to see.
Flagged w22 P11 Q14b-c; w23 P11 Q9b
Reasons to use vs disadvantages of using
These opposite sides are easily muddled. Reasons to USE a PED are why a performer is tempted -- to enhance performance, keep up with rivals, for fame and wealth. Disadvantages of USING one are what they risk -- health damage, a ban, a fine, humiliation, the effect on cheated rivals. Check which side the command word wants before you list points.
Forgetting the effect on competitors
Listing disadvantages of PED use, candidates focus only on the caught performer (health, ban, fine) and forget the effect on others: honest competitors are cheated of the place they earned, and the sport's reputation is damaged, costing spectator and sponsor confidence. A full answer reaches beyond the individual to the rivals and the sport.
Not all PEDs speed the body up
"Performance-enhancing" sounds like faster, so students assume every PED speeds the body up. Beta blockers do the OPPOSITE: they slow the heart rate and reduce anxiety for a calmer performer -- suiting precision like golf. Stimulants do speed things up -- more alertness, higher heart rate, delayed fatigue -- suiting cycling. Ask: does it calm or speed up the performer?
Sort points into categories for a range
Before writing, sort your points into DIFFERENT categories -- physical, financial, sporting sanction, reputational -- so you do not repeat one twice in different words. A spread across categories scores far better than restating a single idea.
Name the drug and the named activity
Name the SPECIFIC PED -- steroids, beta blockers, stimulants or diuretics -- not just "a drug", and link its effect to a NAMED activity, e.g. steroids raising a shot putter's power. Applying the effect to a named sport lifts a generic answer to the top band.
Re-check what the question excludes
If a question excludes a category ("other than health"), finish by re-reading your list and deleting any point in the excluded category. This one check saves the marks most often lost here, where the ruled-out category is given anyway.
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