Tips to improve score in Analogies

Before we start talking about how to improve score in an analogy, we first need to understand what an analogy is?

It is about finding similar relationships between pairs of words given to us as a test item.

In order to score well in analogies, the first thing to be done is to 'find the relationship between the pair'. There are a lot of different relationships that can exist in a pair; for example:

1. Part and Whole

2. Smaller and bigger

3. Coming before and after

4. A leads to B

5. A lacks to B

6. B is a sign /symbol of A

7. A is a type of B

8. A is a tool of doing B etc

Examples:

1. Fruit: orange - orange is a type of fruit.

2. Doctor: hospital - doctor works in a hospital.

The second very important way to improve the score in verbal reasoning is to 'focus on the order of the analogy'.

For example: Passive: movement

1. Stable : stability

2. Hypothetical : reality

3. Arts : science

4. Truth : liar

Something Passive lacks any Movement

1. Stable has got lots of Stability

2. Hypothetical lacks Reality (The right answer)

3. Arts and Sciences are areas of knowledge.

4. A Liar does not speak the Truth.

Both options 2 and 4 appear to be correct but the latter can be ruled out due to its wrong direction of reasoning. So the best answer is option 2.

Let's look at one more example:

1. Truth : emotion

2. Painting : art

3. Poem : sonnet

4. Trickery : wizardry

Solution: Robbery is a type of Crime

1. Truth is not an Emotion; it is an abstract human quality

2. Painting is a kind of Art (The right answer)

3. Sonnet is a kind of Poem (The relationship here is just reverse of that in the key pair)

4.Trickery is the same thing as Wizardry. Or in some other ways, Trickery is a bit negative thing while Wizardry is a positive thing, with both carrying almost the same meaning.

The answer to any analogy based question will be correct only if:

1.Order of answer pair is same as question pair.

2.There should not be any ambiguity in the answer pair i.e. the definitiveness of the relation between the answer pair.

Verbal analogies provide excellent training in seeing relationships between concepts. The best way to improve score in analogy is to practice as many solved examples and test papers as you can.