How Connector Verbal Analogies works
GITP’s instruction is short: find the words that stand in the same relation to each other as the words in the question. The test measures how easily you recognise conceptual relations between word pairs, which GITP links to how easily you handle concepts when speaking and writing.
Since February 2022 it has been fully adaptive and takes 8 to 10 minutes; GITP’s manual says to allow 10 to 20 minutes including the explanation and sample questions. It is available at MBO4, Bachelor and Master level, only in Dutch, and GITP says it suits people whose Dutch is at least at level 3F or B2.
You take it when your invitation includes it, usually alongside Connector Ability, and the combined report is called Connector Ability+. Verbal Analogies gets its own T-score bar there, and the report also shows a combined score for cognitive ability.
How to solve a verbal analogy
Turn the relation into a sentence and test the options against it:
- Say how the two words in the question are linked, as a sentence: "a caterpillar becomes a butterfly".
- Put each option into the same sentence, in the same order.
- Reject options that are about the same topic as the question but linked in a different way.
- Watch the direction. The right relation the wrong way round is still wrong.
- If nothing fits, try a second meaning of one of the question words.
Worked example
An example in English, in the style of the test: caterpillar : butterfly. Options: tadpole : frog, egg : nest, frog : tadpole, bee : honey.
The relation is "develops into". A tadpole develops into a frog, so tadpole : frog is the answer. Frog : tadpole has the right link the wrong way round, egg : nest shares the animal theme but not the relation, and a bee makes honey rather than turning into it.
Tips for the real Verbal Analogies test
- Practise with Dutch words. The real test is in Dutch only, and vocabulary at B2 level is part of what it assumes.
- Use GITP’s free analogies practice test, which is in Dutch and offered at the same three levels as the real one.
- If you have dyslexia, raise it before you start. GITP says the test is not suitable for people with dyslexia.
- Keep a list of relation types in your head: opposites, part and whole, cause and effect, tool and user, degree. Naming the type speeds up every question.
- Do not leave a question unanswered. As on Connector Ability, a blank counts as wrong.
Practise Verbal Analogies on CogniPrep
Our version is in English and practises the relation types, not Dutch vocabulary. Each question shows a word pair and four option pairs; GITP does not publish its option count, so four is our choice. It adapts over 10 to 15 questions with 90 seconds each and no going back, and ends with a practice percentile converted to GITP’s T-score scale. Feedback flags pairs you chose in the wrong direction.