Typically, these types of questions involve working out the relationship between two given words, and then applying that same rule to work out the relationship between another two words.

The relationship may be:

A thing and what it does

A thing and what its larger category is

An abstract thing and a specific type of it

An opposite

These questions test your ability to work out how two words relate to one another, and to be able to apply that rule in creating a relationship of the same kind between two different words.

In the exam, you can identify these types of questions by looking out for this type of

arrangement: Item A is to Item B as Item C is to Item D

To help solve these questions more easily, it is important to have a good vocabulary as this will help you to identify the words given.

One of the best ways to approach these questions is to draw a line between the two words given, and along that line, write down what the relationship between them is.

The first thing to do is draw up a diagram like the one below, starting with the relationshipbetween the first two words and ask yourself "What truly connects them?"

DOG is to ANIMAL as QUARTZ is to?

(a) vegetable (b) mine (c) mineral (d) material

SWIMMING is to POOL as SCIENCE is to?

(a) experiments (b) teacher (c) scientist (d) laboratory

For example, you could say that science is done by a scientist, or science involves experiments. This is a common error. However, you can avoid this type of error by making sure you first establish the relationship that links the first two words together and then applying that same relationship to derive the unknown word.

The video will go through the below four examples:

Snake is to rattlesnake as dog is to

A: hound

B: mammal

C: canine

D: pet

E: leash

Migrate is to penguin as

A: roam is to nomad

B: pet is to cat

C: bite is to piranha

D: reproduction is to turtles

E: relocate is to person

Stratagem is to honesty as

A: mysterious is to curiosity

B: lightness is to ease

C: resourcefulness is to ability

D: obscure is to clouded

E: generosity is to malevolence

Odourless is to scent as Elasticity is to

A: energy

B: shape

C: apples

D: flexibility

E: physics

Key Rules to remember:

• Build the 'relationship-bridge' and substitute answer choices.
• What is that strong and definite relationship?
• What links the relationship together? What types of relationships can there be?

Now it's time to do your assignment.

1. Download the assignment question here.
2. Print it out or if you want to do it electronically, save it.
3. Complete the questions to it.
4. Then check the solutions on the video below.
5. If you want the written answers (instead of the video), you can download them here.