Introduction
Analogy questions present a set of two words, followed by five answer choices also containing a set
of two words. Examinees are required to identify the answer choice that has a set of words that are related in the
same way as the original set of words.
Analogy questions test your vocabulary, your ability to recognize relationships between words, and your ability to
recognize parallel relationships between word pairs.
Analogy Tips and Strategies
Form a sentence that states the
relationship of the original pair of words. Try
make your sentence specific without being overly
specific. For example, "A mansion is a type of house"
might work, but you could be left with two answers like
"Limousine :: Car" and "Bus :: Automobile." "A mansion
is a large, fancy house" will have a higher probability
of getting you only one possible answer choice
immediately. On the other hand "A mansion is a large,
fancy house where rich people live" is too specific. If
the answer is "Limousine :: Car," your sentence will
become "A limousine is a large, fancy car where rich
people live."
When creating relationships,
imagine looking the word up in the dictionary. If
you can define one word in terms of the other, the
sentence you create will be virtually perfect for
finding the correct answer. You will be able to avoid
most of the trap answers that the GRE throws at you.
Watch out for words with
multiple meanings. Many words can be used as
several different parts of speech. For example, "table"
can be both a noun (thing you eat meals on) and a verb
(to table a motion at a meeting). In an analogy
question, all the words on the left will be the same
part of speech. Likewise, all the words on the right
will be the same part of speech. To determine what part
of speech a word is, simply look at the other words in
the column.
Eliminate answer choices that
have no strong relationship. Many wrong answers are
pairs of words that could have a relationship,
but do not necessarily have a relationship (for
example, "Miser :: Irksome"). You can eliminate these
answers immediately, since the correct pair of words
must have a relationship.
Look for subtle differences
between choices Often, you will be able to narrow
the choices down to two answers, which both seem to have
the same relationship. In this case, look for a subtle
difference in the answers. Perhaps one set are synonyms
(Talkative :: Loquacious) whereas in the other set one
word is a slightly more extreme version of the other
(Frugal :: Miserly).
If you don't know the meaning of a word, use elimination
to cross out answers and take a good guess.
You can eliminate choices that do not have a strong
relationship, and also eliminate any answer choices that
have the same relationship. You can often take a good
guess at the original relationship by ascertaining
whether a word sounds negative or positive and deducing
a relationship from the sound of the word.
Practicing for Analogies
Build your vocabulary. Your
success on the analogy section will depend on knowing a
large array of words. Several word lists can be found
online and in bookstores. Use them to begin building
your vocabulary.
Do not focus on only the most
difficult words. Because the test is adaptive, you
should try to find a word list that includes a large
array of words, preferably one that is arranged by
level. If you practice learning only the most difficult
words, but fail to learn any of the medium to high
difficulty words, you may end up studying words that you
won't see on test day.
Practice your vocabulary
whenever possible. Make flash cards for your words
and carry them with you to practice whenever you are not
busy. Practice using your words in conversations (amuse
your friends with them!). You can also visit the site
freerice.org for an adaptive vocabulary game
that helps feed the hungry.
Click here to see our
analogy practice questions
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