"Brush up on Your Analogies"

Updated on March 06, 2013
L.M. asks from Hartly, DE
12 answers

At a job interview, the interviewer explained that there is testing involved in the next round of the process. As part of that explanation it was stated to "brush up on your analogies". What exactly does that mean to you? How would you go about that?

Thank you. I clearly know what an analogy is but just wasn't sure about how to go about brushing up on them. I could brush up all I wanted and they have completely different ones on the "test". Wasn't nervous about it until now. Thinking I am not prepared for this at all (but clearly able to perform the job duties). I guess we'll see in a few hours.

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So What Happened?

Well it was an online test. There was some math, some analogies, some general questions/statements to either agree or disagree with, and other random things with no right or wrong answers...designed like a personality and placement test to get the best fit for the positions. I think I did fine although I know some of the "vocab" in some of the questions were not correct (some I didn't even know were words!). Thanks again.

@ Rhonda - there was a lot of math on the test and no calculators were allowed. Luckily I am pretty good in math and breezed through that part. The regular analogies were fine it was the ones with the off the wall words that tripped me up.

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S.B.

answers from Redding on

Just on a funny side, be glad my ex-husband isn't giving you any pointers.
He is the WORST at analogies and things.

When my daughter was little, she and I were giggling and laughing about something in her room. He came in and said, "You girls are just like three hens on a pod".

Seriously?

:)

11 moms found this helpful

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J.G.

answers from New York on

I think Nikki G is right. If you really want to prepare, maybe get an SAT prep book.

Here are a few examples:
Obeying is to a servant, like ordering is to a master.
Green is to go as red is to stop.
What a general is to an army, a CEO is to a company.
Gas is to car as wood is to fire.

Good luck!

4 moms found this helpful
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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/analogy-ex.html

like Trouble = in hot water

They probably want to know how well you speak/understand english. This kind of stuff is cultural, probably. It might be fun :)

2 moms found this helpful

V.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

Sounds like one of those weird things where they try to define your personality through your responses to analogies... kind of like the "what is the first thing you think of when I say _____?" questions. But instead of a person giving you the words/phrases, they have an analogy test.

But, I could be wrong.
--------
ETA: From what I have seen of your posts/responses on this forum, you will be fine. :)

2 moms found this helpful

N.G.

answers from Dallas on

I think it probably means the sort of analogies that they put on the SATs. Example:

House:People
Sea:Fish

Dog:Cat
Lion:Mouse

Red:Green
Blue:Orange

1 mom found this helpful

L.L.

answers from Rochester on

I just can't imagine why they would want you to do this. It's something children do in elementary school, and I totally believe it when someone below says they have removed them from the SAT.

Bat is to baseball as tennis racket is to...tennis ball.

Some of them can get a bit trickier...I can't think of the best example, but here's a poor one...tree is to leaf as flower is to....? Petal, because these are both things that fall off the other.

You'll do fine!! :)

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B..

answers from Dallas on

It's probably one of those "puppy is to dog, as ________ is to cat. (Kitten.)

Definitely look into SAT prep. All you have to do is a google search, there are tons of free sites out there. Good luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

R.H.

answers from Houston on

Be glad that I am not applying for that job. I would beat you out big time--unless there were also a math test.. then your 12 year old would beat me out.

Find one of your friends who speaks in analogies and have an hour long conversation with him/her. Analogies are FUN!

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K.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

Analogies? Do they want you to sit for the SATs?

I'd definitely go straight to the SAT prep books to "brush up".

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A.P.

answers from Washington DC on

Could it be the interviewer was just giving you a 'friendly' heads up, as in "the next guy you see is the boss and he/she REALLY likes to speak in analogies, so I hope you can keep up b/c all of us in the office have had to makes sense of 'a penny saved is worth two in the bush' among other his analogies"?

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J.B.

answers from Boston on

There are no analogies on the SAT anymore, they were removed years ago. So SAT prep won't help you, but if you Google analogy prep I'm sure you'll find some tips. Analogies are still on the GRE I think.

The trick to analogies is to put the first two words into a clear sentence. Using Bug's example, "a puppy is a baby dog." Then plug the answer choices into the same sentence and see what makes sense.

I'm sure you'll do just fine!

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