â–?Find the relationship between the stem (initial) pair of words.

â–?Remember, words represent concrete or abstract things, which have relationships.

â–?Find the answer pair with the same kind of relationship (analogous).

â–?Be flexible about the meanings of words.

â–?Check for a part-to-whole relationship.

â–?Check for a relationship of contrast/antonyms/opposites.

â–?Check for a type of relationship.

â–?Check for a degree of relationship.

â–?Check for a use or purpose relationship.

â–?Check for a tool to worker relationship.

â–?To reveal relationship, make a sentence using both stem words.

â–?Try reversing stem words if necessary to find their relationship.

â–?If more than one answer is still a possibility, make your sentence more specific.

â–?The more difficult the analogy is, the more specific the sentence must be.

â–?One way to make more specific sentences is to use active verbs (not state-of-being verbs, such as is).

â–?Check the answer pairs for a relationship parallel to the stem word’s relationship.

â–?Remember,many words have two or more meanings.

â–?Often, different meanings of the same word are different parts of speech.

â–?If a stem word is not a difficult word, its appropriate meaning is likely to be a less-common usage of

the word.

â–?Make sure you are focusing on relationships, not on meanings.

â–?Don’t choose distracter words with similar meanings to the stem word’s meanings.

â–?Eliminate wrong answers as a way to find the right answer.

â–?Think about the functions of the stem word and the answer choices.

â–?Form visual images of the stem word and/or answer choices.

â–?Stay flexible. If one strategy is not working, try another.