The GRE analogy questions involve many possible relationships between the word pairs like “Definition” where one word in a pair helps to define the other word; or, one word in a pair is a defining characteristic of the other word;“Type/Kind” where one word in a pair is a type or example of the other word; “Degree/Intensity” where both words in a pair are similar in concept, but vary in intensity; “Purpose/Function” where one word in a pair describes the purpose or function of the other word; “Component/Part’ where one word in a pair represents one part of the other word, which represents a whole or, one word is simply a component of the other; “Cause and Effect” where one word leads to or results in the other word etc. Hence, it is of utmost important that a test –taker first recognizes the common relationship in the original pair. Then he should create a general sentence that contains the specific relationship between the stem pair; and to replace the original words of his sentence with the words in the answer choices to see if more than one answer choice expresses the same relationship. In this case, the test-taker needs to revise his original sentence to find an explicit relationship.
Another important strategy is to identify the parts of speech of the word pairs correctly since different parts of speech will have secondary meanings. The parts of speech in all the pairs have to be same. However, one must beware of the homonyms which have different meanings and confuse the test takers. Last, test-takers should adopt the process of elimination. Then, after carefully observing the relationship in all answer choices, the test-taker has to eliminate those options one by one which do not contain the same relationship as in the question pair. On the basis of this the last left out choice would be the correct choice. To help the test-takers optimize their scores, many books and CDs are coming up with strategies and practice tests. However, to do well in analogy section of the GRE, it is suggested that one follows the strategies by themselves on their own.
