How the Verbal Analogies subtest works
It is the first subtest of the sitting, straight after the on-screen tutorial. Questions come in two shapes. Some give three words and ask for the fourth: “SURGEON is to SCALPEL as PAINTER is to”. Others give one pair and ask you to choose the matching pair from five.
The relationships are the familiar ones: synonyms, opposites, part and whole, a tool and its user, what a thing is for, cause and effect, a thing and its category, and words that differ only in degree, such as warm and hot.
At 8 minutes for 25 questions you have about 19 seconds each. That is enough if you name the relationship at once, and too little if you reread the options looking for something that feels right.
How to solve an analogy
Turn the first pair into a sentence, then test the sentence on every option:
- Make the sentence specific. “A surgeon cuts with a scalpel” beats “a surgeon uses a scalpel”, because several wrong options will fit the vaguer version.
- Keep the direction. If the first pair runs part to whole, an option that runs whole to part is wrong even though the words are related.
- If two options fit, make the sentence tighter until only one does.
- If you do not know a word in an option, judge the others first. Often four can be ruled out without it.
Worked example
“SURGEON is to SCALPEL as PAINTER is to: (A) canvas (B) brush (C) easel (D) gallery (E) portrait.” The sentence is “a surgeon works with a scalpel in their hand”. A painter works with a brush in their hand, so the answer is B. Canvas and easel are things a painter uses, but neither is held and worked with; that is the trap.
A pair question: “WARM is to HOT as: (A) gale is to breeze (B) breeze is to gale (C) wind is to rain (D) ice is to cold (E) river is to stream.” Hot is a stronger warm. A gale is a stronger breeze, and B keeps the weaker word first, as in the stem. A has the right words in the wrong order, and E runs from larger to smaller.
Tips for the real subtest
- Answer every question. Wrong answers cost nothing on the AFOQT, and you cannot receive results with a question left blank.
- Build vocabulary as you prepare for Word Knowledge; the two subtests share the same weakness.
- Do not stall on one item. At 19 seconds a question, a minute lost is three questions not reached.
- Practise naming relationships quickly: give yourself ten pairs and say each relationship aloud in a few words.
Practise Verbal Analogies on CogniPrep
Our Verbal Analogies game gives you 25 questions in 8 minutes with five options each, in both the three-word and the pair format. You can move back and change answers until the clock runs out. Your result is the number you got right, with the relationship types you missed most and a comparison with other CogniPrep users, not an AFOQT percentile.