MAT Test Study
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1Additional MAT Test Resources
Free MAT Practice Tests
http://www.testprepreview.com/mat_practice.htm
Financial Aid Facts
http://www.finaidfacts.org
Scholarship Help
http://www.scholarshiphelp.org
Study Tips and Information
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Chapter 1: Miller Analogies Test
The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is an analytic ability test utilizing
analogy problems. Primarily, verbal analogies are tested, but a few
quantitative analogies will also be on the MAT. There are a total of
one hundred partial analogies that must be completed in fifty minutes.
The MAT will test your ability to determine relationships between
words, mastery of the English language, and a general knowledge offine arts, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, and science.
What to Expect
The MAT is a one hundred item, fifty minute verbal analogies test. All
Total amount

Number ofTime toof timequestionsanswer eachallotted
50 minquestion
100

30 secondsof the questions will be in the form of A:B:C:D. The analogies are
written so that A is to B as C is to D. However, your job will be to fillin the missing term by correctly identifying the relationship that exists.
History of the MAT
According to the Miller Analogies Test Manual (1970) the test wasdeveloped to measure scholastic aptitude at the graduate school level.
It is also developed to measure how well the test taker can recognize
relationships between words.

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Vocabulary plays a very important role on this test. Before you cancorrectly identify the relationship that exists between the words, youmust be able to recognize and comprehend the meaning of the answer
choices. Often, it is not reasoning that makes test items difficult.
Rather, it is in recognizing the answer choices.
Test Centers, Dates, and Fees
Currently, there are more than six hundred testing centers in fifty
states as well as in several foreign countries. If you live more than
one hundred miles away from a designated test center, special
accommodations can be made. Dates will vary by testing site, so be
sure to consult with the test site. The average fee to take the MAT isabout $50, though that varies by region.
ScoresWhen you register to take the MAT, you are asked to provide up to
three addresses that you wish to have your score reports sent.
Sending your test scores to three schools is included in the test
administration fee. However, it is your responsibility to provide
accurate addresses for the schools.
Score Reports
Let me state an obvious fact: if you take the MAT three times, you will
get three different scores. This is due to the way you feel on test day,the level of preparedness you have, and, despite MAT’s claims to thecontrary, some tests actually will be easier for you than others.
Since your acceptance and qualification for scholarships will largely
depend on your score, you should maximize your chances of success.

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On most standardized tests, that means you can take the test multiple
times and only report your best score for an application for admission.
This is not true for the MAT.
Immediately after you have completed taking the MAT, and while you
are still in the testing room, you have the opportunity to cancel
sending out your scores, by exercising a “no score option”. You havethe opportunity to do this before you have ever even seen yourunofficial scores.
If you decide to cancel your scores, you will not be able to view yourscores. If you do not decide to cancel your scores, then and there, theopportunity has passed. You will not be able to cancel them after thatpoint. Therefore, prepare for this moment in advance. You know yourabilities and can probably base a good guess as to what you might
expect based on other standardized tests and percentile rankings thatyou have scored in the past.
By checking with your university of choice, you can determine whatscore you will need to be accepted or to receive a scholarship. This
will give you an idea of how difficult it will be for you to meet yourtargeted goal. After you have taken the test, if you feel that you have
met that goal, go ahead and accept your scores. You should only
cancel your scores if you:1.) expect that you will definitely have the time, money, and desire to
take the MAT again
2.) are confident that you did not meet the score that you needed to
get into your school of choice© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

53.) would not be satisfied at another school with a lower standard ofadmission
Remember, once a score is cancelled, it cannot be reinstated.
In the future when you take another test and submit those scores,that recent score, as well as every MAT score that you have taken in
the last five years will also be submitted.
When your scores for the last five years are received, each school
approaches the scores differently. Most schools will simply take themost recent score.

Some schools have a different approach and will

average your scores. Others may disregard any score that issignificantly lower than another score, so that the low score will not
unfairly distort the student’s true ability. A few schools will even takeyour highest score.
Check with your school of choice and determine what their standard
policy on multiple MAT scores. If they only use the latest or highest
score, you should definitely consider retaking the test if your score islower than you expected and needed for admission. Don’t take theMAT as a “practice” test. Feel free to take sample tests on your own,
but when you go to take the MAT, be prepared, be focused, and doyour best the first time!
Determine in advance whether or not you have the time and resources
to take the MAT multiple times. Don’t make a hasty emotional
decision after taking your test.

You will feel drained after taking suchan intense test and should think through your options ahead of time.

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6Remember, if you plan to repeatedly take the MAT, check with yourschools of choice and determine their policy on multiple MAT scores.
That may help in your decision to retake the test.

Chapter 2: Preparing for the MAT
Test Anxiety
Almost every student has experienced some level of anxiety when
taking a test. Although this is a common experience, it can often
impair performance on an instrument to the extent that the student’s
actual ability is not reflected. Don’t let this happen to you. Part ofpreparing for the MAT is preparing to manage your test anxiety.
First, identify the causes of your anxiety. Identifying the source ofyour anxiety will help you to prepare yourself for the day of the test.
Go to the test site location and allow yourself to become familiar with

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the test environment.

However, if you feel that the test anxiety ismore than you can manage on your own, consider consulting a mental
health professional. Many are trained in special techniques to help you
reduce the anxiety and optimize your performance.
Do not procrastinate. You must prepare for the MAT. The morefamiliar you are with the exam, the better you will be able to perform.
Standardized Testing Strategies and Skills
To succeed on the MAT, you must use your time wisely. Most students
do not finish every question. The time limit is shown in the tablebelow:
As you can see, the time constraint is challanging. To succeed, youmust ration your time properly. The reason that time is so critical isthat every question counts the same toward your final score. If you
run out of time, the questions that you do not answer will hurt yourscore far more than earlier questions that you spent extra time on andfeel certain are correct.
Wear a watch to the MAT Test. At the beginning of the test, check thetime (or start a chronometer on your watch to count the minutes), andcheck the time after every few questions to make sure you are “onschedule.” If you are taking the computer based test, an onscreen
clock display will keep track of your remaining time, but it may beeasier for you to monitor your pace based on how many minutes havebeen used, rather than how many minutes remain.

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8Remember that you have exactly thirty seconds per question, whichmakes it easy to keep track of your time.
If you find that you are falling behind time during the test, you must
speed up. Even though a rushed answer is more likely to be incorrect,
it is better to miss a couple of questions by being rushed, than tocompletely miss later questions by
not having enough time. It is better to end with more time than you
need than to run out of time.
If you are forced to speed up, do it efficiently. Usually one or more
answer choices can be eliminated without too much difficulty. Above
all, don’t panic. Don’t speed up and just begin guessing at random
choices. By pacing yourself, and continually monitoring your progressagainst the clock or your watch, you will always know exactly how far
ahead or behind you are with your available time. If you find that you
are a few minutes behind, don’t skip questions without spending any
time on it, just to catch back up. Spend a little less than 30 seconds
per question on the next few questions and you will catch back up
more gradually. Once you catch back up, you can continue working
each problem at your normal pace. If you have time at the end, goback then and finish the questions that you left behind.
Furthermore, don’t dwell on the problems that you were rushed on. If
a problem was taking up too much time and you made a hurriedguess, it must have been difficult. The difficult questions are the ones
you are most likely to miss anyway, so it isn’t a big loss. If you havetime left over, as you review the skipped questions, start at the© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

9earliest skipped question, spend at most another 30 seconds, and thenmove on to the next skipped question.
Finally, remember that it is beneficial to slow down if you are
constantly getting ahead of time. You are always more likely to catch acareless mistake by working more slowly than quickly, and amongvery high-scoring students (those who are likely to have lots of timeleft over), careless errors affect the score more than mastery ofmaterial.
You probably know that guessing is a good idea on the MAT- unlike
other standardized tests; there is no penalty for getting a wrong
answer. Even if you have no idea about a question, you still have a
20-25% chance of getting it right.
Most students do not understand the impact that proper guessing canhave on their score. Unless you score extremely high, guessing willcontribute a significant amount of points to your score.
If you have only four answer choices, then you have approximately a
25% chance of getting it correct. What most students don’t realize isthat to ensure a 25% chance, you have to guess randomly. If you put
twenty children in a room to take the MAT, assuming they answered
once per question and behaved themselves, on average they would
get 25% of the questions correct. Put twenty college students in theroom, and the average will be much lower among guessed questions.
Why?

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101. MAT intentionally writes deceptive answer choices that “look” right.
A student has no idea about a question, so picks the “best looking”
answer, which is often wrong. The monkey has no idea what looks
good and what doesn’t, so will consistently be lucky about 25% of
the time.
2. Students will eliminate answer choices from the guessing poolbased on a hunch or intuition. Simple but correct answers often get
excluded, leaving a 0% chance of being correct. The monkey has
no clue, and often gets lucky with the best choice.
This is why the process of elimination endorsed by most test courses isflawed and detrimental to your performance- students don’t guess,they make an ignorant stab in the dark that is usually worse thanrandom.
Let me introduce one of the most valuable ideas of this manual- the$10 bet:You only mark your “best guess” if you are willing to bet $10 on it.
You only eliminate choices from guessing if you are willing to bet $10
on it.
Why $10? Ten dollars is an amount of money that is small yet not
insignificant, and can really add up fast (20 questions could cost you$200). Likewise, each answer choice on one question of the MAT will
have a small impact on your overall score, but it can really add up to a
lot of points in the end.

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The process of elimination IS valuable. The following shows yourchance of guessing it right:
If you eliminate this many choices:

0

1

2

3

Chance of getting it correct:

25%

33%

50%

100
%

If you accidentally eliminate the right answer or go on a hunch for an
incorrect answer, your chances drop dramatically: to 0%. By guessing
among all the answer choices, you are GUARANTEED to have a shot at
the right answer.
That’s why the $10 bet is so valuable- if you give up the advantage
and safety of a pure guess, it had better be worth the risk.
What we still haven’t covered is how to be sure that whatever guess
you make is truly random. Here’s the easiest way:
Always pick the first answer choice among those remaining.
Such a technique means that you have decided, before you see asingle test question, exactly how you are going to guess- and since theorder of choices tells you nothing about which one is correct, thisguessing technique is perfectly random.
Let’s try an exampleA student encounters the following problem:© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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A Tale of Two Cities: Dickens :: Moby Dick : (a. Cervantes, b. Melville,c. Hawthorne, d. Trotsky)
The student has a small idea about this question- he is pretty sure that
Moby Dick was written by Hawthorne, but he wouldn’t bet $5 on it. He
knows that the novel was written by an American writer, so he iswilling to bet $5 on both choices A and D not being correct. Now he isdown to B and C. At this point, he guesses B, since B is the first
choice remaining.
The student is correct by choosing B, since Herman Melville was theauthor of Moby Dick. He only eliminated those choices he was willing
to bet money on, AND he did not let his stale memories (often things
not known definitely will get mixed up in the exact opposite
arrangement in one’s head) about American writers influence hisguess. He blindly chose the first remaining choice, and was rewarded
with the fruits of a random guess.
This section is not meant to scare you away from making educatedguesses or eliminating choices- you just need to define when a choice
is worth eliminating.
The $10 test, along with a pre-defined random guessing strategy, isthe best way to make sure you reap all of the benefits of guessing.
Specific Skills
1. Direct Opposites
When you have two answer choices that are direct opposites, one ofthem is usually the correct answer.
Example:© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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(a. light, b. dark)
3. Family of Answer Choices
These two answer choices are very similar and fall into the samefamily of answer choices. A family of answer choices is when two or
three answer choices are related.
Example:(a. frigid, b. hot, c. cold, d. fresh)
See how the first three choices are all related? They all ask abouttemperature. Beware of immediately recognizing choices B and C as
opposites and choosing one of those two. Choice A is in the samefamily of questions and should be considered as well. However, choice
D is not in the same family of questions. It has nothing to do withtemperature and can be discounted in most cases.
Eliminate as many choices as you can by using the $10 bet. Use thecommon guessing strategies to help in the elimination process, but
only eliminate choices that pass the $10 test. Among the remaining
choices, only pick your “best guess” if it passes the $10 bet.
Otherwise, guess randomly by picking the first remaining choice thatwas not eliminated.
The Month Before
Research shows that you will do better if you spread your studying out
a little bit over a longer period of time as opposed to a couple ofintensive cramming sessions. You can not cram it all in right before
the test. Therefore, it is in your best interest to start studying insegments as soon as you decide to take the exam.

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Many students delay the test preparation process because they dread
the awful amounts of practice time they think necessary to succeed on
the test
There are a number of unique challenges confronting you when taking
the MAT. Among these are answering questions, finishing in time, andmastering test-taking strategies. All must be executed on the day of
the test at peak performance, or your score will suffer. The MAT is amental marathon that has a large impact on your future.
Just like a marathon runner, it is important to work your way up to thefull challenge. So first you just worry about questions, and then time,and finally strategy.
Find a good source for MAT practice tests. The cheapest source forthese will be the current and past “practice/registration packets” from
MAT. Your school’s test center can provide you with the current one,
and, if you’re lucky, they may have a supply of old ones as well. You
will need at least three practice tests.
If you are willing to make a larger time investment (or if you want toreally “learn” the material, a time consuming but ultimately valuable
endeavor), consider buying one of the better study guides on themarket.
Take a practice test with no time constraints, with all study helps“open book.” Take your time with questions and focus on applying thestrategies.

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1. Take another test, this time with time constraints, with all guides“open book.”
2. Take a final practice test with no open material and time limits.
3. If you have time to take more practice tests, just repeat thesteps. By gradually exposing yourself to the full rigors of thetest environment, you will condition your mind to the stress oftest day and maximize your success.
The Week Before
When you take the practice tests, take them under as similar to theactual testing conditions as you can. Remember, this is more thanjust answering a set of standardized questions. You will have toanswer these questions under the pressure of strict time constraints.
It will help you if you take the practice tests under the same condition.

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Chapter 3: Solving the Analogies
Description of an Analogy
The MAT tests analogies. Analogies are pairs of terms that have acommon relationship. Unlike most analogy tests, not only will you
have to determine what is the common relationship between two pairsof terms, you will also have to determine which terms make up eachpair. You will be given four terms in the format A : B :: C : D, which
can make up two distinctly different pairs of terms.
First, you can have A : B and C : D, which could be read, “A is related
to B as C is related to D”.
Example: Sun : Day :: Moon : Night, or “Sun is related to Day as Moonis related to Night.
Second, you can have A : C and B : D, which could be read, “A isrelated to C as B is related to D”.
Example: Sun : Moon :: Day : Night, or “Sun is related to Day as Moonis related to Night.
While the Sun and Moon are both heavenly bodies, and Day and Nightare both parts of a 24 hour cycle, for the analogy to make sense, youmust link Sun and Day together, and Moon and Night together.
Perceiving Relationships
There are three types of relationships in the analogies on the MAT:

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171.) Association
2.) Inclusion
3.) Meaning
Association
This is the most common relationship type in the MAT. It covers
relationships between related but distinct ideas. Usually the terms arenouns, but they may be other grammatical forms.
There are four types of Association analogies:
1.) Transformation
2.) Object/Characteristic3.) Order
4.) Agent/Object
Transformation
These are analogies in which one term is either a fraction, grammaticalform, translation, or a wordplay of another term.
Fraction or Multiple
9: 81 – 81 is the square of 9.
Seasonally: Yearly –Seasonally represents a time period that isone-fourth as long as Yearly.
5:35 – 35 is seven times as much as 5.
Grammatical Transformation
Ran: Run – These are different tenses of the same verb.
Die: Dice – These are singular and plural forms.
We: Our – These are pronouns related to groups.

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Translation
Satan: Lucifer – These are both names for the devil.
Bon Voyage: Farewell – These are the French and English names forgoodbye.
Japan: Nippon – These are two names for the same country.
Wordplay
Liar: Rail – These two words are the letter inverse of each other. Liaris Rail spelled backwards.
Led: Lead – These two words are homophones. They sound the same
but have different meanings.
Tower: Owe – The second word in contained in the first. The middle
three letters of the word “tower” spell the word “owe”.
Object/Characteristic
These are analogies in which one term is either a characteristic,
source, or location of another term.
Characteristic
Some characteristic analogies will focus on a characteristic ofsomething else.
Dog: Paw – The foot of a dog is its paw.
Lady: Lovely – A lady has a lovely personality.
Some characteristic analogies will focus on something that is NOT acharacteristic of something else.
Desert: Humidity – A desert does not have humidity.
Job: Unemployed – A person without a job is unemployed.

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Quick: Considered – A quick decision is often not very considered.
SourceCasting: Metal – A casting is made from metal.
Forest: Trees – A forest is composed of trees.
Slogans: Banners – A slogan is printed on banners.
Location
Eiffel Tower: Paris – The Eiffel Tower is a structure in Paris.
Welsh: Wales – The Welsh are the inhabitants of Wales.
Pound: England – The pound is the monetary unit of England.
Order
These are analogies in which one term has either a sequential orreciprocal relationship to another term.
Sequential
One: Two – These are consecutive numbers.
Birth: Death – These are the first and last events of a life or project.
Spring: Summer – The season of Spring immediately precedes
Summer.
Reciprocal
Parent: Child – A parent cannot exist without a child.
Power: Work – Power is a function of work.
Owner: Possession – For possession to occur, there must be an owner.
Agent/Object© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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These are analogies in which one term has either a cause/effect,
creator/creation, provider/provision, object/function, or user/tool
relationship to another term.
Cause/Effect
Storm: Hail – Hail can be caused by a storm.
Heat: Fire – Heat results from a fire.
Monotony: Boredom – Boredom is a consequence of monotony.
Creator/Creation
Carpenter: House – A carpenter builds a house.
Painter: Portrait – A painter makes a portrait.
Burroughs: Tarzan – Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the novel Tarzan.
Provider/Provision
Job: Salary – A job provides a salary.
Therapist: Treatment – A therapist treats patients.
Army: Defense – An army enables national defense.
Object/Function
Pencil: Write – A pencil is used to write.
Pressure: Barometer – A barometer measures pressure.
Frown: Unhappy – A frown shows unhappiness.
User/Tool
Carpenter: Hammer – A carpenter uses a hammer.
Teacher: Chalk – A teacher uses chalk.
Farmer: Tractor – A farmer drives a tractor.

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Inclusion
These relationships are focused upon the hierarchy of terms.
There are two types of Inclusion analogies:
1.) Category
2.) Membership
Category
These are analogies in which one term is either a type or example ofthe other one.
Battalion: Regiment – A regiment is a subdivision of a battalion.
Personality: Aggressive – Aggressiveness is one type of personality.
AARP: Organization – AARP is an example of an organization.

Membership
These are analogies in which either one term is part of the other term,
or both terms are a part of the same category.
Whole/Part
Door: House – A door is part of a house.
State: Country – A country is made up of states.
Day: Month – A month consists of many days.
Category
Door: Window – Both a door and a window are parts of a house.
Thigh: Shin – Both a thigh and a shin are parts of a leg.
Measles: Mumps – Both measles and mumps are types of diseases.

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Meaning
These relationships are focused upon the definitions of terms.
There are four types of Meaning analogies:
1.) Synonym or Definition
2.) Antonym or Contrast
3.) Intensity
4.) Word Part/Meaning
Synonym or Definition
These are analogies in which both terms have a similar meaning.
Chase: Pursue – Both of these terms mean to “go after”.
Achieve: Accomplish – Both of these terms refer to the successfulattainment of a goal.
Satiate: Satisfy – Both of these terms mean to gratify a desire.

Antonym or Contrast
These are analogies in which both terms have an opposite meaning.
Disguise: Reveal – To disguise something is not to reveal it, but toconceal it.
Peace: War – Peace is a state in which there is no war.
Forget: Remember – The word “remember” means not to forget
something.

Intensity
These are analogies in which either one term expresses a higher
degree of something than the other term.

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Exuberant: Happy – To be exuberant is to be extremely happy.
Break: Shatter – To shatter is to strongly break.
Deluge: Rain – A deluge is a heavy rain.

Word Part/ Meaning
These are analogies in which one term explains what the other termmeans.
Pre-: Before – The prefix “pre-“ means before; for example,
predetermine means to determine before understandingor seeing all of the facts.
Excessiveness: -ard – The suffix “-ard” means to do something
excessively; for example, a drunkard is someone that drinks
excessively
Mis-: Poorly –The prefix “mis-“ means to do something poorly; forexample, to misspell a word is to spell it poorly.
Common Mistakes
A very common mistake is to try to find a relationship between thefirst and the fourth or the second and third terms on an item. Do notmake this mistake. Incorrect answers are just waiting for this kind offlawed reasoning. It is a very common trap on the MAT. Recognize it
and avoid it.
Don’t focus on the meanings, but rather the relationship between thetwo words.
To understand the relationship, first create a sentence that links thetwo words and puts them into perspective. The sentence that you use
to connect the words can be simple at first.

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Example:
Wood : Fire
Wood feeds a fire.
Then go through each answer choice and replace the words with theanswer choices. If the question is easy, then that may be all that isnecessary. If the question is hard, you might have to fine-tune yoursentence.
Example:Wood : Fire :: (a. grass, b. farmer) : Cow
Using the initial sentence, you would state “Grass feeds a cow.” Thisis correct, but then so is the next answer choice “Farmer feeds a cow.”
So which is right? Modify the sentence to be more specific.
Example: “Wood feeds a fire and is consumed.”
This modified sentence makes answer choice B incorrect and answer
choice A clearly correct, because while “Grass feeds a cow and isconsumed” is correct, “farmer feeds a cow and is consumed” isdefinitely wrong.
If your initial sentence seems correct with more than one answer
choice, then keep modifying it until only one answer choice makes
sense.
If you don’t know the word, don’t worry. Look at the answer choices
and just use them. Remember that three of the answer choices will
always be wrong. If you can find a common relationship between any© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

25three answer choices, then you know they are all wrong. Find theanswer choice that does not have a common relationship to the otheranswer choices and it will be the correct answer.
Example:Tough : Rugged :: (a. soft, b. easy, c. delicate, d. rigid) : Hard
In this example the first three choices are all opposites of the term
“hard”. Even if you don’t know that rigid means the same as hard,
you know it must be correct, because the other three all had the same
relationship. They were all opposites, so they must all be wrong. The
one that has a different relationship from the other three must be
correct. So don’t worry if you don’t know a word. Focus on theanswer choices that you do understand and see if you can identify
common relationships. Even identifying two word pairs with the same
relationship (for example, two word pairs that are both opposites) willallow you to eliminate those two answer choices, for they are both
wrong.
A simple way to remember this is that if you have two or more answer
choices that have the exact same relationship, then they are both or
all wrong.
Example:(a. neat, b. orderly)
Since the two answer choices above are synonyms and therefore havethe same relationship with the matching term, then you know that

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they both must be wrong, because they both can’t be correct, and for
all intents and purposes they are the same word.
Be sure to read all of the choices. You may find an answer choice that
seems right at first, but continue reading and you may find a better
choice.
Difficult words are usually synonyms or antonyms (opposites).
Whenever you have extremely difficult words that you don’t
understand, look at the answer choices. Try and identify whether two
or more of the answer choices are either synonyms or antonyms.
Remember that if you can find two word pairs that have the same
relationship (for example, they are both synonyms) then you caneliminate them both.
Reversal Errors
A common mistake is when a reversal occurs.
Example: Bird: Parrot:: (a. boy, b. species, c. mammal, d. phylum) :Human
The relationship is that a parrot is a type of bird and a human is a typeof mammal. However, it would be very easy to read the analogy as aparrot is a kind of bird and a boy is a kind of human. Although this isa correct relationship, it is not the relationship the question is asking
for on this item.
Levels of Difficulty© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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The analogies on this test differ greatly in degree of difficulty. In
general, one analogy may be more or less difficult than anotheranalogy for any number of reasons. As you prepare to take this test,
it will be helpful for you to understand the reasons that the difficultylevels vary.
1. Difficulty of Words
An analogy may be more difficult because it contains words withwhich you are unfamiliar. When this is true, you may feel limitedby your knowledge of vocabulary before you even begin tounderstand the relationships. Thus, the degree of difficulty of aparticular analogy may be based upon your exposure to the words
contained in the analogy.
2. Difficulty of Relation between A and B
You may be familiar with the meanings of all of the words contained
within the analogy, but you can not determine the nature of therelationships.
3. Difficulty of Relation between A and C
An analogy may be difficult because it is not immediately clear how
the first and third items are related.
4. Difficulty of Relation between C and D
Sometime you may think you are able to infer the relation thatexists between A and B, but find that you have problems applying
the relation from C to D.
5. Difficulty of Relation between D and An Answer you Can Not Find

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Sometimes, you may discover an analogy that for one reason or
another seems to have a perfect answer. However, that perfectanswer is not among those listed as answer choices. When thishappens, it is wise to reconsider the way you have interpreted theanalogy or else simply pick the answer which seems the closest to
the perfect one.
Selecting the Correct Answer
Read all of the options. You must choose the best of the four
alternative options which are presented. Keep in mind that theindividuals who develop the test make a deliberate and often
successful effort to make more than one answer choice seem to becorrect. Your job is to find the most correct answer. Often, errors are
made when an individual is rushing through the item and does nottake the time needed to read through all of the answer items. When
this happens, they may be tricked into selecting a plausible, but
incorrect answer.
Remember to check the parts of speech. In selecting an option, besystematic in your approach. When you don’t know all the meanings ofthe terms used in the analogy, or when you are struggling with therelationship that is represented, try to use the context cues to figureout the best answer. Remember that while not all terms used in theanalogy must be the same part of speech, they can be of no morethan two parts of speech. That is unless it is a nonsemantic analogy.
Otherwise, if the answer option you are considering introduces a thirdpart of speech, it is likely to be incorrect.

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Use word association. You will be very likely to encounter someanalogies on the MAT in which you find yourself simply unable to infer
the relationship between the given terms. When all else fails, a
strategy that is slightly better than wild guessing is to try and use
word association. In using word association, you are attempting toselect the option that seems most closely related, in whatever way, tothe given terms of the analogy.
Hints for Solving the Analogies
Eliminate choices as soon as you realize they are wrong. But be
careful! Make sure you consider all of the possible answer choices.
Just because one appears right, doesn’t mean that the next one won’t
be even better! MAT will usually put
more than one good answer choice for every question, so read all ofthem. Don’t worry if you are stuck between two that seem right. By
eliminating the other two possible choices, your odds are now 50/50.
Rather than wasting too much time, play the odds. You are guessing,but guessing wisely, because you’ve been able to knock out some of
the answer choices that you know are wrong. If you are eliminating
choices and realize that the answer choice you are left with is also
obviously wrong, don’t panic. Start over and consider each choiceagain. There may easily be something that you missed the first time
and will realize on the second pass.

Word Types
The correct answer choice will contain words that are the same type ofword as those in the word pair.
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Artist : Paintbrush
In this example, an artist is a person, while a paintbrush is an object.
The correct answer will have one word that describes a person andanother word that describes an object.
Example:Gardener : Hedge :: (a. wind, b. sculptor) : RockIn this example, you could create the sentence, “Gardener cuts awayat hedges.” Both answer choices seem correct with this sentence,“Wind cuts away at rocks” through the process of erosion, and“sculptor cuts away at rocks” using a hammer and chisel. The
difference is that a gardener is a person, as is a sculptor, while thewind is a thing, which makes answer choice B correct.

Opposites
When you have determined which pair of terms you should work with,and know that the provided pair is an opposite, then you must find the
opposite of theremaining unmatched term. Nearly opposite may often be morecorrect, because the goal is to test your understanding of the nuances,or little differences, between words. A perfect opposite may not exist,
so don’t be concerned if your answer choice is not a complete
opposite. Focus upon edging closer to the word. Eliminate the words
that you know aren’t correct first. Then narrow your search. Cross
out the words that are the most similar to the main word until you areleft with the one that is the least similar.

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Prefixes
Take advantage of every clue that the word might include. Prefixes
and suffixes can be a huge help. Usually they allow you to determinea basic meaning. Pre- means before, post- means after, pro – ispositive, de- is negative. From these prefixes and suffixes, you can
get an idea of the general meaning of the word and look for its
opposite. Beware though of any traps. Just because con is the
opposite of pro, doesn’t necessarily mean congress is the opposite ofprogress!

Positive vs. Negative
Many words can be easily determined to be a positive word or anegative word. Words such as despicable, and gruesome, bleak are all
negative. Words such as ecstatic, praiseworthy, and magnificent are
all positive. You will be surprised at how many words can beconsidered as either positive or negative. If you recognize apositive/negative relationship between the given pair of terms, thenfocus in on the answer choices that would duplicate that
positive/negative relationship with the remaining term.

Word Strength
When analyzing a word, determine how strong it is.

For example,

stupendous and good are both positive words. However, stupendous
is a much stronger positive adjective than good. Also, towering or
gigantic are stronger words than tall or large. Search for an answer
choice with either the same or opposite
strength (depending on the relationship of the matched terms) to theremaining term.

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Type and Topic
Another key is what type of word is the unmatched term. If theunmatched term is an adjective describing height, then look for theanswer choice to be an adjective describing height as well. Match boththe type and topic of the main word. The type refers the parts ofspeech, whether the word is an adjective, adverb, or verb. The topic
refers to what the definition of the word includes, such as descriptive
sizes (large, small, gigantic, etc).

Form a Sentence
Many words seem more natural in a sentence. Specious reasoning,irresistible force, and uncanny resemblance are just a few of the word
combinations that usually go together. When faced with anuncommon word that you barely understand (and on the MAT there
will be many), try to put the word in a sentence that makes sense. It
will help you to understand the word’s meaning and make it easier todetermine its relationship. Once you have a good descriptive sentencethat utilizes a main term or answer choice properly, plug in the answer
choice or main term and see if a solid relationship can be established.

Use Logic
Ask yourself questions about each answer choice to see if they are
logical.
Example:Poundings : (a. seen, b. heard) :: Aromas : Smelt© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Would resonating poundings be “seen”? or Would resonating pounding
be “heard”? It can logically be deduced that poundings are heard.
Familiar Words
Don’t just choose a word because you recognize it. On difficult
questions, you may only recognize one or two words. MAT doesn’t put“make-believe” words on the test, so don’t think that just because you
only recognize one word means that word must be correct. If you
don’t recognize three words, then focus on the one that you do
recognize. Is it correct? Try your best to determine if it fits thesentence you’ve created that shows the relationship between terms. If
it does, that is great, but if it doesn’t, eliminate it. Each word you
eliminate increases your chances of getting the question correct.

Tricky Words
Don’t use your existing knowledge of the word. MAT will often ask
questions that will include homonyms and it may not be readily
obvious which meaning they intend to be correct. Look at the otherterms and try to determine the relationship from the contextual clues
in order to determine what meaning of the word you should use.
Don’t simply use the first meaning you can think of, or the mostpopular definition.
Look for contextual clues. An answer choice can have a relationship to
one of the terms, but not be correct. The contextual clues will help
you find the answer that is most right and is correct. Understand thecontext in which the relationship of the other pair terms is stated. This
will provide the distinction in cases of words with multiple meanings(homonyms).

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These multiple meaning words go with a warning. An example is“lead” which can mean a type of metal and an action taken by aleader. These differences in meaning can completely alter the
relationship and correct answer. Watch out! Make sure you
understand which meaning is being asked for.

Tough Questions
If you are stumped on a problem or it appears too hard or too difficult,
don’t waste time. Move on! Remember though, if you can quickly
check for obviously incorrect answer choices, your chances of guessing
correctly are greatly improved. Before you completely give up, atleast try to knock out a couple of possible answers. Eliminate what
you can and then guess at the remainder before moving on.

Common Sense
When in doubt, use common sense. Always accept the situation in the
problem at face value. Don’t read too much into it. These problems
will not require you to make huge leaps of logic. The MAT isn’t trying
to throw you off with a cheap trick. If you have to go beyond
creativity and make a leap of logic in order to establish a relationshipbetween two terms, then you should start over and find anotherrelationship. Don’t overcomplicate the problem by creating theoretical
relationships that will warp time or space. These are normal problems
rooted in reality. It’s just that the pair of terms that go together andthe applicable relationships may not be readily apparent and you haveto figure things out. Use your common sense to interpret anything that
isn’t clear.

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Read Carefully
Understand the analogy. Read the terms and answer choices
carefully. Don’t miss the question because you misread the terms.
There are only a few words in each question, so you can spend timereading them carefully. Yet a happy medium must be attained, so
don’t waste too much time. You must read carefully, but efficiently.
Tricky Relationships
MAT will intentionally create false answer choices that haverelationships with the terms in each question. However, these tricky
relationships can be used against the answer choices to prove themwrong.
If you are sure about which pair of terms goes together, then thematched pair of terms provided will not have a relationship with any
answer choices. This is because the correct term will only have arelationship with its proper match and you know which term is theproper match, even if you don’t know what is the correct answer
choice.

Any answer choices that do have a relationship with the

known pair of terms is wrong! Those can be immediately discounted
and you can focus on those that remain.
Example: Car : (a. driver, b. jockey, c. brush, d. paint) :: Horse : Hair
First, you must consider which pair of terms goes together. In thiscase, you could have an answer choice match with either car or hair.
If you consider choice C, brush, then you have “brush is related tohair”, which is a valid relationship. However, clearly brush is not
related to hair, as car is related to horse, since a brush is used on hair,© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

36while cars and horses are both forms of transportation. So at thispoint, since brush was the only term that went well with hair, you may
conclude that Horse and Hair is the given relationship, and Car
remains to be paired with one of the answer choices. Since brush isdefinitely linked (however falsely and incorrectly) to hair, and you
know that hair is correctly linked to horse, then you can safely
eliminate brush as a choice.
The match must therefore lie with either choice A, choice B, or choice
D. Choice B, jockey, is definitely linked to Horse and since Horse isalready removed from consideration, you know that Choice B must be
wrong.
Both driver and paint share a relationship with the term “car”. But
once you consider the relationship between horse and hair, then you
realize that since hair is the outer covering of a horse, then paint iscorrect, because it is the outer covering of a car.
Due to the link between car and choice A, driver, you can rest assured
that you have gotten the answer correctly. If choice A was a word you
did not know, then you might not be certain if you had chosencorrectly. But since you know the meaning and understand therelationship between car and driver, then you can be confident that
MAT put driver as an answer choice specifically because of its
relationship to a car. This forces you to think at a higher level andrecognize the true analogous relationship existing with the other pairof terms (horse and hair).

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The idea is to chain terms together. If you know that an answer
choice goes with one of the terms, then if you can confidently decidethat term is matched with another given term, then you can decidewith equal confidence that the former answer choice is incorrect andcan be eliminated. If you already have two terms definitely linked,
then any answer choices that MAT included with “false” links to those
two terms can be discounted.
MAT offers false answer choices that have valid relationships withother terms. If you know you’re not trying to match that other term
(because you’ve already matched it with another term), then any false
answer choices that have relationships with that term can be removed
from consideration.

Brainstorm
If you get stuck on a difficult analogy, spend a few seconds quickly
brainstorming. Run through the complete list of possible relationships.
Break down each answer choice into all of the potential combinations
with the two possible analogous terms. Since there are four answer
choices and each answer choice could form a pair with one of two
terms, then there are only eight possible relationships to test. Look at
each relationship and see if it would make sense. Test with sentences
to determine if any relationship can be established. By systematicallygoing through all possibilities, you may find something that you would
otherwise overlook.

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Quick Calculations
Quantitative relationships involving numbers may represent only afixed number of possibilities. If you see a problem with numbers anddon’t immediately recognize the relationship, run through all of thepossibilities.
Is the relationship based on sequence?
Example: 3 : 4 :: 15 : (a.16, b. 18, c. 27, d. 25)
3 + 1 = 4, and 15 + 1 = 16
Is the relationship based on sequence and unusual characteristics?
Ask yourself what the numbers have in common.
Example: 5 : 7 :: 13 : (a. 2, b. 5, c. 12, d. 17)
One thing all of these numbers have in common is that they are allprime numbers. Seven is the first prime number after five.
Seventeen is the first prime number after thirteen. It may seem
tricky, but if you think all of the possibilities through in a systematic
fashion, you’ll find the relationship.
Is the relationship based on multiplication?
Example: 9 : 27 :: 22 : (a. 30, b. 66, c. 90, d. 100)
9 * 3 = 27, and 22 * 3 = 66
Is the relationship based on division?
Example: 8 : 4 :: 6 : (a. 1, b. 2, c. 3, d. 7)
8 / 2 = 4, and 6 / 2 = 3© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Is the relationship based on exponents?
Example: 2 : 8 :: 3 : (a. 13, b. 27, c. 31, d. 45)
23 = 8, and 33 = 27

Two raised to the 3rd power equals 2 * 2 * 2 =8, and three raised to the 3rd power equals 3*3*3 = 27.
Is the relationship based on roots?
Example: 16 : 4 :: 25 : (a. 1, b. 2, c. 3, d. 5)√16 = 4, and √25 = 5. The square root of 16 is 4, and the squareroot of 25 is 5.
If you are puzzled by a number problem, don’t go blank. Workthrough the different possibilities systematically until you find therelationship. There are a limited number of possible mathematical
relationships, so just run through all of them until you find the rightone.

Exponents
When exponents are multiplied together, the exponents are added to
get the final result.
Example: x*x = x2, where x1 is implied and 1 + 1 = 2.
When exponents in parentheses have an exponent, the exponents are
multiplied to get the final result.
Example: (x3)2 = x6, because 3*2 = 6.
Another way to think of this is that (x3)2 is the same as (x3)*(x3). Now
you can use the multiplication rule given above and add theexponents, 3 + 3 = 6, so (x3)2 = x6
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Scientific Notation
This usually involves converting back and forth between scientificnotation and decimal numbers (e.g. 0.02 is the same as 2 x 10-2).
There’s an old “cheat” to this problem: if the number is less than 1,
the number of digits behind the decimal point is the same as the
exponent that 10 is raised to in scientific notation, except that theexponent is negative. If the number is greater than 1, the exponent
that 10 is raised to in scientific notation is equal to the number ofdigits ahead of the decimal point minus 1.
Example: Convert 3000 to decimal notation.
Answer: 3 x 103, since 4 digits are ahead of the decimal, the number
is greater than 1, and (4-1) = 3.
Example: Convert 0.05 to decimal notation.
Answer: 5 x 10-2, since the five is two places behind the decimal(remember, the exponent is negative for numbers less than 1).
Any number raised to an exponent of zero is always 1. Also, unless
you’re confident in your mathematical ability, always convert scientificnotation to “regular” decimal numbers before doing arithmetic andtrying to make a comparison between numbers.

Time Management
On technical questions, don’t get lost on the technical terms. Don’t
spend too much time on any one question. If you don’t know what aterm means, then since you don’t have a dictionary, odds are you
aren’t going to get much further. You should immediately recognize
terms as whether or not you know them. If you don’t, work with theother clues that you have, the other answer choices and terms
provided, but don’t waste too much time trying to figure out a difficult
term.
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Spend precious time trying to understand each term only as a lastresort, if that will definitely make a difference in your answer selection.
Answer easier questions before difficult questions. If you have ageneral idea of most of the terms in a question, but are having
difficulty with understanding the relationship, move on. You canalways come back if you have extra time and puzzle over the problem
then. Get the easier questions out of the way before tackling the moretime consuming ones.
Identify each question by type, whether social sciences, naturalsciences, mathematics, humanities, or vocabulary. Usually the terms
and answer choices will tell you what type of question you are facing.
You alone know which question types you customarily handle withease and which give you trouble and will require more time. Save thedifficult questions for last.

Chapter 4: Review for the MAT
The MAT is a test of vocabulary and general information as well as
specific information from a myriad of areas. While it is not possible toreview all content in all of the possible subject areas that may be
included on the MAT, a brief refresher can be helpful. The purpose of
these subject summaries is to help you recall important names,
events, dates and significant concepts in different areas. If you feel

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that you are weaker in one of these areas, it may be beneficial tospend additional time on that topic.
Art and Architecture
Abstract art: an art form that assumes that artistic value resides inform and color; focus is not on the subject of the work
Art deco: 1920’s to 1930’s art movement stressing highly decorativeart
Baroque: late 16th century to early 18th century movement from Italy
that stressed
grand theatrical effects and elaborate ornamentation
Classicism: art attributed to ancient Greece and Rome that ischaracterized by discipline, objectivity and reason
Expressionism: 20th century art in which the expression of the artist is
the subject; focus is on emotion
Futurism: 1910 Italian art movement that stressed motion andmovement`
History
Explorers
Cartier, Jacques (1491 – 1557) St. Lawrence river region
Coranado, Francisoc Vasquez de (1510 -1554) Aztec nation
Drake, Bartolommeu (1450 – 1500) British man who circumnavigated
the globe and helped defeat the Spanish Armada© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Hudson, Henry (d. 1611) Hudson River, Hudson Bay area

The American Revolution
Lexington and Concord; first battles
Bunker Hill, Ft. Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Valley Forge: major
battles
Declaration of Independence
Constitution
American Civil War
Harper’s Ferry; start of the war
Bull Run and Ft. Sumter; first battles
Appomatox; end of war
Literature
Allegory: a narrative poem or prose work in which persons, events,
and places represent or stand for something else
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds in two or more words
Bildungsroman: a novel, usually an autobiography
Blank verse: a form of unrhymed poetry in which each line must haveten syllables
Canto: a major division of a long poem
Couplet: two successive rhyming lines of poetry© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Epithalamion: a song or poem written in celebration of a marriage
Genre: a type or classification of literary work
Haiku: form of verse or poetry made up of three unrhymed lines
containing five,seven and five syllables
Sonnet: a four-teen line poem with rigidly prescribed rhyme schemeMusic
Alto: a high adult male voiceBass: the lowest male voice
Buffo: comic bass, as in opera
Cadence: a progression of chords giving an effect of closing a sentence
Chord: a blending of two or more notes
Coda: section of movement added as a rounding off rather than astructural necessity
Concerto: work making contrasted use of solo instruments
Crescendo: music that becomes louder© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Interval: distance between two notes
Largo: slow
Lento: slow
Nocturne: melancholy composition of one or more instruments
Opera: drama in which all characters sing the story
Presto: fast
Quartet: four musical instruments played together
Rondo: a form of composition in which one section recurs
intermittently
Sonata: instrumental musical composition usually of three or fourmovements
Soprano: highest female voice
Symphony: grand orchestral work in four movements
Tenor: highest normal male voice
Mythology
Adonis: Greek god of male beauty
Apollo: one of the twins of Zeus; Greek god of prophecy© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Ares: Greek god of war
Diana: Roman goddess of the moon, forest and animals
Hera: Greek goddess and twin sister and wife of Zeus. Queen of thegods
Juno: Roman goddess; wife and sister of Jupiter
Neptune: Roman sea god
Odin: Norse king of the gods
Olympus: home of the Greek gods
Thor: Norse god of thunder
Venus: Roman goddess of love
Zeus: Greek king of the gods

Vocabulary
The vocabulary list consists of words which are often used on graduate
test. For select words, synonyms, antonyms and other related
concepts are provided to help you solve the analogies.
Abdicate: to denounce; to discard; to abandon
Aberration: something not typical, deviation
Abhorrence: repugnance, detestation
Abjure: to renounce upon oath
Abnegation: self-denial
Abrogate: to break, as a treaty of law
Abscond: to depart secretly; to hide
Absolve: to set free from obligation or the consequences of guilt
Abstruse: hard to understand; hard to grasp
Abut: to border on; to terminate the boundary© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Accolade: an award or honor; high praise
Acquiesce: to agree silently
Acrophobia: the fear of heights
Acumen: keenness
Adamant: unyielding; stubborn
Anomaly: an aberration; a deviation, an irregularity
Apogee: the point in a satellite’s orbit that is farthest from the centerof the Earth
Arachnophobia: the fear of spiders
Arid: dull; unimaginative; extremely dry
Atrophy: wasting a way
Austral: southern (antonym: boreal)
Balmy: soothing, mild
Banal: commonplace; trite
Biennial” occurs every two years
Broach: to make known for the first time; to open up a subject for
conversation
Brook: to bear or to tolerate
Buccal: pertaining to the cheeks or the inside of the mouth
Buffoon: a clown; someone who amuses with tricks
Burnish: to polish or to make shine
Burnoose: a hooded Arabic cloak
Cache: a hiding place; something hidden in a secure place
Cajole: to persuade a reluctant person; to coax
Candid: frankCapitulate: to surrender; to give in
Carp: to complain
Caustic: acid; sharp
Chaff: waste material from the harvesting of wheat© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Chicanery: artful deception
Choleric: easily angered, hot tempered
Clandestine: secretCloy: to satiate
Coda: a passage that include a musical or literary work
Cooper: a maker of casks or barrels
Cowl: a hood; a cover for an engine
Culinary: having to do with a kitchen or cooking
Cynosure: the center of interest
Dauntless: fearless
Debonair: sauve; sophisticatedDecorous: proper; in good taste; correct
Delusion: a false psychotic belief, a deception
Depraved: morally corrupt; evil
Dialectic: logical argument
Diatribe: a bitter denunciation (antonym: panegyric)
Dint: a force; power
Dissenter: one who disagrees
Dissuade: to persuade someone not to do something
Dolt: a stupid person
Duplicity: concealment of one’s true intentions by misleading words;
deception
Eclectic: from many sources; varied
Effete: exhausted; worn out
Egress: exit; to go out ofEminent: prominent
Erratic: wandering; unpredictable
Exigent: urgent; requires prompt attention
Explicate: to explain© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Expunge: to erase; to strike out
Fagoting: a type of embroidery
Fallacious: misleading; deceiving
Fealty: allegianceFeckless: feeble; worthless
Fervid: very hot; intense
Fitful: irregular
Flag: to slow down; to weaken
Fraught: laden; charged
Frugal: cheap; economical
Fuchsia: vivid pink purple
Fulminate: to denounce
Gainsay: to deny; contradict
Garner: to collect; to accumulate
Gauche: lacking social grace; crude
Goad: to urge; to incite
Gourmand: one who eats and drinks excessively; glutton
Griffin: a mythical animal having the head and wings of an eagle andthe body of a lion
Guffaw: a loud burst of laughter
Gulch: a deep pit; a ravine
Haiku: a type of unrhymed Japanese poem consisting of three lines
Halcyon: peaceful; serene
Hiatus: a gap or interruption
Hoary: gray or white with age
Hone: to sharpen
Hypocritical: dissembling
Hypothetical: not based on evidence; speculated
Idyllic: carefree; lighthearted© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Imbue: to permeate or influence
Impolitic: unwise
Imprecate: to curse
Impugn: to attack
Incisive: keen; direct; decisive
Indigent: poor
Innuendo: a suggestion; an insinuation
Induction: an initiation; reasoning from parts to whole
Inimical: hostile; unfriendly
Inure: to accustom to accept something undesirable; habituate
Jargon: lingo; specialized vocabulary
Jejune: immature; childlike
Jenny: a female donkey
Jetty: a projection or structure extending out
Jocose: witty; funny
Junk: trash; a type of Chinese ship
Junta: a political group or committee
Juxtapose: to place next to something else
Kindle: to inspire
Kinetic: related to motion
Knave: a sly deceitful man
Kudos: praise
Laconic: concise
Lambent: flickering
Lampoon: harsh; attacking an individual
Lassitude: fatigue, weariness
Levity: not serious, frivolity
Lucid: clear; sane; aware
Litigate: to try in court© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Lucre: profit; monetary gain
Lurid: gruesome; shocking; ghastly
Malignant: evil; tending to produce death (antonym of benign)
Mandatory; required; necessary
Maverick: a rebel; a nonconformist
Millennium: a thousand years
Mitigate: to soften; extenuating
Moot: questionable
Munificent: lavish, extravagant
Napery: table linens
Necropolis: cemetery
Nexus: a connection or a link
Noisome: offensive
Nuance: subtle variation; a small detail;
Nullify: to legally void
Obdurate: unyielding
Obloquy: abusive language
Obtrude: to force
Officious: meddling; interfering
Oligarchy: a form of government in which control is placed in thehands of a few
Omnipotent: all-powerful, all-knowing
Onus: burden
Ossify: to become hard as a bone
Oviparous: producing eggs that hatch outside the maternal body
Palliate: to cover up with excuses, to extenuateParadox: something true that appears to be fals
Pariah: an outcast
Parsimony: the quality of being careful with money; thrifty© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Paucity: a small amount; scarce
Peruse: to study; to read carefully
Pervade: to spread throughout
Poltroon: a coward
Proxy: a person authorized to act for some one else
Pundit: an expert; an authority
Quaff: to drink heartily
Qualm: a sudden onset of illness; nausea; uneasy
Quell: to suppress
Quisling: a traitor
Quixotic: foolish; impracticalQuizzical: eccentric; odd
Quondam; former; sometime
Raze: to demolish; to destroy
Recidivism: repeated criminal activity
Recusant: marked by refusal to obey authority
Relegate: to banish
Reprobate: a villain; an immoral person
Roseate: cheerful
Rotund: round, plump
Ruminate: to reflect on something; to ponder
Sanction: to authorize or approve
Sanguine: hopeful
Satiric: using ridicule or sarcasm
Striated: referring to muscle with dark and light bands as opposed tosmooth muscle
Staid: sedate; serious; grave
Surmise: to imagine; to conclude
Sybaritic: sensual© StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.

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Sycophant: parasite
Tacit: unspoken; implied
Tactile: tangible; perception of touch
Tenet: a doctrine upheld by members of an organization
Tepid: lukewarm; room temperature
Terse: polished; refined; concise
Tirade: a long speech
Torque: a twisting or turning force; to cause to rotate or to twist
Tort: a civil wrong
Turbid: muddy
Umbrage: a feeling of offense
Undulate: to fluctuate
Unduly: excessive
Ungainly: hard to handle
Urbane: polished or polite
Utopian: impossible ideal; paradise
Vapid: insipid; spiritless
Verbose: wordy
Viable: able to stand; capable
Vilify: to slander
Virago: a loud overbearing woman
Volatile: easily aroused; explosive
Wan: pale; sickly
Whet: to stimulate; to incite; to make more intense
Wroth: very angry
Xanthic: yellow color
Xenophobia: fear of strangers
Yean: to give birth; used of sheep or goats
Yore: time long past

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Yowl: to cry out loudly
Zealot: one who is enthusiastic, sometimes fanatical about a cause

Final Notes
Always use your time efficiently. Don’t panic. Stay focused. Worksystematically. Read the problem carefully. Eliminate the answer
choices that are definitely wrong. Keep narrowing the search until you
are either left with the answer or must guess at the answer from amore selective group of choices.

Don’t Panic
Panicking will not answer any questions for you. Therefore, it isn’t
helpful. When you first see the question, if your mind goes blank, takea deep breath.

Force yourself to mechanically go through thestrategies listed above.
Secondly, don’t get consumed by the clock. It’s easy to be
overwhelmed when you’re looking at a page full of analogies, yourmind is full of random thoughts and feeling confused, and the clock isticking down faster than you would like. Calm down and maintain thepace that you have set for yourself. As long as you are on track bymonitoring your pace, you are guaranteed to have enough time foryourself. Five minutes may not seem like much time if you have ten
questions left, but remember that you finished all of the otherquestions in that same span of time and you can finish these just as
easily.

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Answer Selection
The best way to pick an answer choice is to eliminate all of those thatare wrong, until only one is left and confirm that is the correct answer.
Sometimes though, an answer choice may immediately look right. Be
careful! Take a second to make sure that the other choices are notequally obvious. Don’t make a hasty mistake.

There are only twotimes that you should stop before checking other answers. First iswhen you are positive that the answer choice you have selected iscorrect. Second is when time is almost out and you have to make aquick guess!

Check Your Work
Since you will probably not know every term listed and the answer toevery analogy, it is important that you get credit for the ones that you
do know. Don’t miss any questions through careless mistakes. If at
all possible, try to save yourself a few minutes at the end to go backover and check you work. Spend those extra seconds on a problem
that was puzzling you. Clean up any minor mistakes that you might
quickly recognize with that last minute review that can make a huge
difference. Most of all, make sure that you’ve answered every
question. Since every question counts the same, you definitely do notwant to have any left blank. Finally, be proud and confident of thetest you’ve just taken.

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