Lesson: Analogies - 02

Analogies: Basic Level meaning of the words

Your first task in this chapter is to learn the 5 basic Levels for handling a Analogy. (You’ll apply these Levels to two sample questions.)

Levels 1: Determine the Meaning of the Words

Determine the meaning of each word in the original pair. If you’re unfamiliar with one or both words, try to guess what it means based on its prefix, if any, and root.

Levels 2: Figure Out How the Words Are Related

Determine how the two words are related, and make up a sentence that expresses that relationship. Try to be specific. A sentence such as “[one word] is a type of [the other word]” might suffice for easier Analogies, but in most cases you’ll have to get more specific. (A bit later, we’ll take an in-depth look at the most common types of word relationships appearing on the test.)

Video Lesson - What are Analogies

Levels 3: Try Out Your Sentence Using the Answer Choices

Try each answer choice in turn, eliminating those that clearly don’t work. Read your sentence, substituting each word pair by turn for the original pair.Ask yourself whether the sentence makes sense with the new pair. If it does, or if it’s close, the pair might be your best choice. If it doesn't, eliminate that answer choice.

Levels 4: Try Again If You Have More Than One Answer

• Too general
• Too specific
• A good start, but not sufficient (in other words, there’s another kind of relationship
  you must recognize to narrow down the choices further)

Levels 5: Choose the Best Answer

If none of the choices fits exactly, choose the one that works best. No analogy is perfect, so don’t look for a perfect match. You’re looking for the best answer—the closest fit among the five choices.

Applying these 5 Levels to two -style Analogies. Start by reading the first one (below) as follows: "Write is to scribble as ________ is to ________."

Example

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