Strategy for Analogies

There are two steps in solving GRE analogies: (1) Find the relationship between the two words in the question; (2) find an answer choice that shows the relationship most similar to that of the question.

Finding the Relationship in the Question

The best way to find the relationship between the two words in the question is to use both of them in a sentence. Consider the following GRE analogy example:

CHOIR:SINGER

(A) election: voter
(B) anthology: poet
(C) cast: actor
(D) orchestra: composer
(E) convention: speaker

Now try to use CHOIR and SINGER in a sentence…How about

A CHOIR is made up of many SINGERS.

So now we have a relationship between the two words in the question. The next step is to find the answer choice that shows the same relationship.

Finding the Correct Answer

To find the correct answer choice, first remove the original words from the sentence you made in part one. In our example we remove CHOIR and SINGERS. We are left with a sentence with two blanks:

A <blank> is made up of many <blank>.

Plug the answer choices into the sentence and find the answer choice that makes the most sense. You will find that answer choice (C) fits our sentence the best.

A CAST is made up of many ACTORS.

Answer (C) is the correct choice!

As you practice this GRE test-taking strategy on practice questions you will find that this analogy strategy saves you time and effort as well as earns you more points on the GRE test.