Analogies are a part of the GRE exam that some students find the most difficult. The analogies part of the exam test the students ability to know the similarities or differences between two words. The format of the question is as follows:

 

Airplane : Hangar

 

 

These are referred to as stem words. The goal in the GRE is to evaluate the two words and decide the relationship between the two terms. For instance, the similarities may be that the two words are antonyms, or opposites. They may be similar in some way or they may relate to each other in an entirely different way.

 

In the example above, the relationship is that the airplane used the hanger as cover and rests inside the hangar. This is important for the GRE when you go to answer the question of related answers.

 

The GRE will present you with a multiple choice selection of many different varieties of word combinations. It will be the students responsibility to know how the two words are related to each other, and use those relational similarities and differences to choose the right answer.

 

Most GRE strategists advise students to setup a relationship sentence-type structure between the first word and the second. For instance, for airplane and hangar, the airplane is stored in the hanger. From the related choices, the student needs to decide which one most closely relates to an object being stored within another object.

 

In the GRE, they will throw you curve balls and have similar answers where one is more closely related to the answer and answers it best. This is a common goal of all graduate exams. They all ask the student to properly analyze and determine which is the best answer. Of course, nothing is that easy, so there will always be similar answers, but one fits the best. This gives you improved analytical skills, but it also makes the GRE that much more difficult.