Grockit GRE Prep

Learn more about Grockit GRE Test Prep

Analogies Posts

GRE Analogies: Definition

By posted June 29, 2011

In a definitional analogy, one of the words is often the essential quality or characteristic of the other word. Your relationship between the stem words will vary with these analogies, but generally it will sound like “x is essentially y,” “x is defined by being y,” or “x, by definition, is a y.” Let’s take a look at some examples of the most common definitional analogies.

  1. MISER : STINGINESS ::
    1. advocate : disapproval
    2. catalyst : completion
    3. tyro : experience
    4. bigot : intolerance
    5. instigator : curiosity

Here, it helps to know that a “miser” is defined as a “stingy person,” that is, someone who hoards wealth and spends as little money as possible. Thus, your relationship can be something like “a miser is characterized by stinginess.” If the second word does not essentially characterize the first, then it should be eliminated. Out of the choices, only a “bigot is essentially characterized by intolerance” (it should be noted here that “intolerance,” in this case, means the unwillingness to accept different opinions or beliefs).

Find out how you can get one-on-one help on the GRE with our expert tutors!

Read more »

No Comments »

How to Solve “Evidence” Analogies on the GRE

By posted June 23, 2011

One type of GRE Analogy that you may see on your test is called an “Evidence” bridge. This relationship occurs when one word can be said to be “evidence of” the other word. For example:

APPLAUSE : APPROVAL ::

A. whisper : kindness

B. demand : shout

C. apology : mistake

D. hug : affection

E. shudder : chicanery

At first, a bridge like this can be challenging to identify. What is a “necessary” relationship between “applause” and “approval”? If you can’t match the stem pair to any of the more common bridges, such as Degree, Type, or Lack, it’s likely an Evidence bridge. For this one, we could say that “1 is evidence of 2.” The only choice that correctly matches that bridge is D.

Sign up for a FREE trial account and try Grockit free for 3 days with unlimited access to group and solo practice sessions, advanced skill data with insight into your strengths and weaknesses, and predictive scoring. Read more »

No Comments »

GRE—Function/Purpose Analogies

By posted May 4, 2011

Proper test prep, including spending some time in Grockit’s interactive games, will show you that there are many analogy types on the GRE.  One of the most popular is called the Function/Purpose analogy.  In this kind of analogy, one of the words will help the other word carry out an action.  Both words are likely to be nouns, so when you’re creating a bridge (a simple sentence connecting the two words), you will have to insert the action word (verb) connecting the two words.  Plenty of test prep, not to mention the help of Grockit instructors, will help you solve function/purpose analogies on test day!  Let’s look at two examples to see how this works.

PEN : PIG ::

A) cave : bat

B) barn : owl

C) flock : geese

D) dam : beaver

E) stall : horse

What’s the relationship between a pen and a pig?  Think pigpen!  A pen is meant to hold pigs.  If we use this as our bridge, is a cave meant to hold a bat or is a barn meant to hold owls?  Of course they aren’t.  Those animals just happen to live there.  Are geese meant to hold flocks?  Nope, geese fly in flocks.  Is a dam meant to hold beavers?  Possibly.  If you’re unsure, don’t eliminate the answer just yet.  Last, is a stall meant to hold horses?  Yes, it is!  If you compare D and E, you’ll see that E’s a much better choice.  And it’s in fact the correct choice.

How about another example?

WATER : PIPE ::

A) garage : house

B) blood : vein

C) automobile : street

D) sweat : skin

E) air : lungs

Can you think of a good bridge between water and pipe?  How about:  water travels through a pipe.  Let’s use the bridge “travels through” for the other examples.  Does a garage travel through a house?  Nope.  Does blood travel through a vein?  Yes, it does.  (Although this seems like the correct answer, we need to check the other answers before we move on.)  Does an automobile travel through a street?  I would say automobiles travel on streets.  Does sweat travel through the skin?  Yes, it travels through pores in the skin, but that’s not as simple as blood traveling through a vein.  And last, does air travel through the lungs?  It goes in and out of the lungs, not necessarily through it.  After looking at all the answer choices, it looks like answer B) blood : vein is the correct choice!

Of course the GRE will use some more difficult words than the ones above, but this provides a basic explanation of function/purpose analogies.  Make sure to hit those vocabulary flashcards and play plenty of games of Grockit.  Function/purpose analogies become mighty easy with tons of practice!

No Comments »

GRE Analogies: Mastering the part/whole analogy type

By posted April 27, 2011

When you take the GRE you’re likely to encounter the part/whole analogy type.  In this type of analogy, the first word will represent something that comprises the second word.  Remember that the first word will always make up some part of the second word; it’s never the other way around!  Part/whole analogies become very recognizable, and thus simple to solve, with lots of test prep.  After you read this article, make sure to visit Grockit for interactive games, complete with addictive game-play and achievements, as well as knowledgeable instructors.

Most of the time solving the whole/part analogy type isn’t going to be as simple as Star : Galaxy or Rim : Wheel.  As you can see from these examples, though, many stars are a part of a galaxy and a rim is a part of a wheel.  Keep these examples in mind as you work through part/whole analogies, however, for they provide a basic idea for answering this sometimes tricky analogy type.  Let’s see how this analogy type might be asked on the GRE in the example below:

 

Workers : Proletariat

A) Golfer : Team

B) Cabal : Conspirators

C) Bourgeois : Affluent

D) Soldiers : Seamen

E) Actors : Troupe

As you can see in the above example, many traps can be in part/whole analogies.  Before exploring the answers, though, you must know that workers comprise the proletariat, or the working class (in Marx’s writings).  For A) Golfers : Team, you should be able to disqualify it because golfers, at most, organize themselves in pairs.  Even if you didn’t know this, like all other analogy types (if not every section of the GRE), there may be a better answer for you to choose, meaning you should continue to check answers.  This cannot be emphasized enough:  Make sure you check all the answer choices before you choose an answer on the computer screen.   Moving on, B) Cabal : Conspirators and C) Bourgeois : Affluent also try to trick you by giving two words in the same analogy that are whole/part, not part/whole.  If you’ve had to read Marx’s Communist Manifesto, as most college students must at some point, you might be tempted to pick Bourgeois : Affluent, as the rich, or affluent, are called the bourgeois in that text.  But, remember that the word that represents the part comes before the one that represents the whole.  Don’t mix this up when you’re completing this analogy type.  Answer D) Soldiers: Seaman doesn’t fit the part/whole format, as both represent two different kinds of military service members.  By process of elimination, then, we see that E) Actors : Troupe must be the correct answer, as the other answers have weaknesses.  Still, let’s make sure:  Do actors make up an (acting) troupe?  Of course they do.  The answer’s definitely E!

So that you don’t get caught in these traps, make sure you get lots of practice.  Go to Grockit, play the fun games, chat with people who are also preparing for the GRE, and get help from trained tutors.  Properly preparing for the test will help you get into your top choice and/or help you with getting a scholarship!

No Comments »

GRE – Analogies: Synonyms

By posted April 23, 2011

Synonyms are words that have the same meaning.  Thus, for a synonym analogy on the GRE you will have to pick the answer choice with words that would be interchangeable if you were to use them in a sentence.  For these analogies, you should be able to write a sentence like, “Word A is the same as Word B” or “Word A has the same definition as Word B.”  Like all analogy questions, it’s important for you to learn your GRE vocabulary and get tons of test prep!  Grockit’s interactive games and instructors can help you master this analogy type and all the question types asked on the test.  Let’s look at a few examples.

If we go through the answer choices, we see that only E) Quiescent : Motionless can be the correct answer, as both words have the same meaning.  All the other choices in the above answer choices are in fact antonyms, or words with the opposite meaning:  adulterate means to water down or make impure; an advocate speaks in favor of a person, whereas a nemesis is that person’s enemy; to abscond is to leave a room silently, not announcing one’s departure, and prudence is to be careful, wise, and cautious, while doing something in haste means you’re doing it recklessly and with great speed.  So, even if you didn’t know the definition of quiescent, you should’ve been able to use process of elimination if you knew this was a synonym analogy!

Analogous means being the same as, or equivalent to, something else.  Right away we should be able to look for the synonyms in the answer choices.  A rim is a part of a wheel (whole/part analogy), so that can’t be it.  Normally you contrast things if they’re different, not similar.  Apathy is to lack enthusiasm, so these are antonyms.  E) Archaic : New is also an antonym analogy, as archaic, if you think of the word archaeology, means old.  This means that only D) Arbitrate : Judge can be the correct answer!  To arbitrate something is to judge a dispute between two parties.  Still, even if you didn’t know the meaning of arbitrate, you could’ve used process of elimination to figure this question out.  Use process of elimination whenever you can; it’ll raise your GRE score!

Synonym analogies can be the simplest questions to answer on the GRE.  Just make sure you study the top 100 GRE words (more if you have the time) and practice as many sample questions as possible.  If you go to Grockit, you can get the practice you need by playing the free interactive games and getting help from an available instructor.  When you’re taking the test, you’ll be happy you did.

No Comments »

GRE Verbal – Analogies: Antonyms

By posted April 15, 2011

Antonyms are words with the opposite meaning.  In an antonym analogy, you must decipher if the words in the original analogy are opposites and, if so, find the pair of opposites in the answer choices.  Proper test preparation, such as studying the most asked GRE words and practicing analogies in Grockit’s interactive games, will increase your ability to identify and answer antonym analogies.  Let’s see how this works by looking at two examples.

Banal : Capricious

A) Assuage : Alleviate

B) Torpor : Sluggishness

C) Convoluted : Complex

D) Tacit : Verbose

E) Deride : Mock

If you’ve been studying your GRE vocabulary, you know that banal means predictable and boring while the definition of capricious is whimsical, impulsive, and unpredictable.   It should be clear, then, that these words are antonyms.  Now, let’s look at the answer choices.  Assuage and alleviate both mean to make things less harsh.  Torpor means to be sluggish or slow, and when you convolute something you make it complex.  And if you deride someone, you are mocking them.  We’re left with D) Tacit : Verbose, which is the correct answer since being tacit means done without using words whereas verbose means using many words.

Here’s another example that uses some of the most tested GRE words:

Cogent :  Unpersuasive

A) Soporific : Lethargic

B) Cacophony : Harmony

C) Bolster : Buttress

D) Zeal : Passion

E) Castigate : Reprimand

To be cogent is to be persuasive, so we know that this is an antonym analogy.  Here’s where knowing your GRE vocabulary will save you time, as being soporific means being lethargic, to bolster is to support (or buttress), zeal is extreme passion, and to castigate someone is to punish, or reprimand, them.  The only antonyms in the answer choices, then, are B) Cacophony : Harmony, for cacophony means loud, unorganized noise and harmony indicates rhythm and soothing sound or movement.

The best way to improve your GRE Verbal score is to study your vocabulary and practice.  Grockit’s interactive games, with the assistance of trained instructors, will help you get the score needed to gain admittance to your top graduate school!

2 Comments »

Analogies: Degree—or Level of Intensity—Questions

By posted April 13, 2011

All analogies test your ability to draw parallels between two words.  With plenty of practice, which you can get through Grockit’s interactive games and tutoring, the degree—or level of intensity—analogy question type can be mastered very easily.

The first step to solving any analogy is to find the parallel, or relationship, between the two words.  To do this, you will have to create a sentence using the two words.  In a degree analogy, the simplest sentence will often include using the words more than, less than, larger than, or smaller than.  Keep your sentence as simple as possible.  If your parallel is too specific, or too complex, it’s not likely that it will work with any of your answer choices.  Here’s an example:

Irate : Angry

For this example, a good parallel might be, “Irate is more extreme than angry.”  Now, you will use the same parallel—is more extreme than—when trying to find the correct answer.  Which of the following answers is the correct one?

A) Mudslide : Dirt

B) Inferno : Flint

C) Tidal wave : Ocean

D) Earthquake : Tremor

E) Easy : Simple

This example should be easy to solve if you have the “is more extreme than” parallel.  The only logical choice is D) Earthquake : Tremor, for an earthquake is more extreme than a tremor.  The other examples don’t make any sense with this parallel.

To ensure this makes sense, let’s look at another example as you would see it on the test:

Tributary : River

A) Volcano : Lava

B) Moon : Planet

C) Plateau : Prairie

D) Knoll : Mountain

E) Chick : Rooster

Two parallels you could have written included “A tributary is smaller than a river” or “A river is larger than a tributary.”  (Remember that if your parallel begins with the second word in the analogy, it’s imperative that you begin your parallels for the answer choices with the second word as well.)  Several of the answer choices seem to fit with this parallel.  Therefore, you’ll have to return to the original analogy and think more specifically.  They’re both physical features found in the natural world on earth.  With this in mind, then, you should be able to eliminate B and E, and the only logical choice is D) Knoll : Mountain, as a mountain is larger than a knoll.

Remember to learn your GRE vocabulary and make sure you practice.  Go to Grockit to get plenty of practice and you’ll be ready for any degree analogy you’re asked on the test!

No Comments »

GRE Analogies: Type

By posted February 3, 2011

“Type” analogies appear on the GRE test where one word is an example of a kind of the other word. Keywords and phrases to remember and use in your bridges: type, kind, sort, example, one of, a certain, etc. Let’s look at an example:

SQUARE: POLYGON

A square is a type of polygon, so we would write down our bridge as, “1 is a type of 2.”

Sometimes type analogies will require you to get even more specific. Answer the question: what type is it?

SILK: FABRIC

a.       Barber: profession

b.      Weeds: garden

c.       Necklace: ring

d.      Bolt: cloth

e.       Limousine: automobile

Let’s look at this bridge. Silk is a type of fabric.  We would write down “1 is a type of 2,” mark the letters A through E on our scratch pad, then plug the bridge into the answer choices to evaluate each choice:

a.       A “barber” IS a type of “profession.” Keep it.

b.      “Weeds” are NOT a type of “garden.” Weeds may be found within a garden, but it is not a type of garden. Don’t work too hard to make incorrect answer choices fit your bridge; cross it off.

c.       A “necklace” is NOT a type of “ring.” Cross it off.

d.      A “bolt” is NOT a type of “cloth.” Cross it off. Also, notice how these words are in a similar subject category as the stem pair. This is a common GRE wrong answer trap.

e.       A “limousine” IS a type of “automobile.” Keep it.

Since we are left with two choices that fit our bridge, A and E, we must go back and refine our sentence. Let’s hone in on the relationship between the words. What type of fabric is silk? Silk is a nice, fancy type of fabric.

Therefore, either a barber is a fancy profession, or a limousine is a fancy type of automobile. Anyone who has ever been in a limo can tell you, a limousine is a fancy car.

No Comments »

GRE Analogies: Degree

By posted January 20, 2011

The two words in the question are never perfect synonyms. If you see two words which seem very close in meaning, you probably have a very subtle degree bridge on your hands.  A degree bridge occurs where one words is an extreme version of the other. For example:

CRITICAL : VITRIOLIC

Bridge: A person who is 2 is extremely 1.

“Vitriolic” has a higher degree of intensity than “critical.” As always, put the two words into a complete sentence that describes that relationship, then plug your “bridge” into the answer choices, eliminating those that do not fit. A degree bridge can also involve positively charged words:

CLEVER : INGENIOUS

Bridge: A 2 person is very 1.

Here “ingenious” is the more extreme version of “clever.” Sometimes one word is the other word put with a more excessive meaning.

BERATE : CHIDE

To 1 is to 2 too much, or excessively.

If you suspect a degree bridge, take the following steps to get the correct answer:

1.      Identify which word is the more extreme, or what the subtle difference is in the meanings.

2.      Put them into a sentence using keywords like “extremely,” “excessively,” “too much,” or “very.”

3.      Eliminate perfect synonyms from the answer choices. They cannot be correct.

Now try one on your own:

INTEREST : OBSESSION ::

faith : caprice
nonchalance : insouciance
diligence : assiduity
decimation : annihilation
alacrity: procrastination

Bridge: 2 is an extreme amount of 1.

Correct Answer: D. Only this choice correctly fits our bridge. Annihilation is the extreme version of decimation, just as obsession is the extreme version of interest.

No Comments »

4 Tips to Boost your Analogies Score

By posted December 29, 2010

1.      Read all of the answer choices. It may sound obvious, but students commonly stop reading the answer choices once they’ve found what seems like a strong match. Don’t assume you know what the best relationship for the question stem is until you’ve read all of the choices. Don’t “fall in love” with the first tempting choice; there could be a better bridge out there! Mentally divide each answer choice into one of two descriptions: “possibly” and “not at all.” Don’t let the fact that you like choice (C) influence your judgment of (D) and (E).

2.       Get specific. Try to make your bridges (your sentence that describes the relationship between the stem pair) as clear and detailed as possible. Look at this example:

TIMID: GINGERLY

In a general sense, you might say that “1 is like 2,” and use that relationship as your bridge, but force yourself to be more specific. “Someone who is 1, tends to act 2” or even, “A 1 person acts 2 around others.” A little detail goes a long way. Create a sentence that would make sense when read aloud.

3.       Keep in mind the parts of speech. Words often take on different meanings when they are used as nouns, verbs or adjectives. Consider the word “signal.” It can be used as several parts of speech and has a unique meaning depending on context.

Noun: The umpire used a hand signal.

Adjective: It was a signal accomplishment!

Verb: Signal me when you’d like swap out.

How will you know which meaning is correct for your analogy? The first word in the stem pair will be the same part of speech as the first words in the answer choices. Likewise, the second word in the stem pair will be the same part of speech as the second words in the answer choices.

4.     Use logic for difficult vocab. Let’s say we have no idea what the first word in the question stem means. We can still word backwards, creating bridges for each of the answer choices.

????? : WISDOM

Let’s say we got narrowed the question down to two answer choices with clear bridges. One relationship is: “To 1 is to force 2,” and the other: “To 1 is to gain 2.” Is wisdom more likely to be “forced” or “gained”? Probably “gained,” so we’d choose the correct answer in this case simply based on diction. Trust that you already know how words are used together. Even lacking one of the definitions in the stem pair, you can still get the correct answer!

No Comments »

« Older Posts