The idea behind analogies is simple. ETS gives you two capitalized words that are related in some way, but you have to figure out their relationship. Then you have to go through a list of five other pairs of words and find the pair that has the same relationship as the capitalized pair. Every analogy will have the same format as the example below:

HAPPY : SMILE :: is the original pair of words, what we will call the “stem pair” from here on. The colon between the words means, “is related to.” The double colon after the stem words means, “in the same way as.” When you read the analogy above, you should read it as “HAPPY is related to SMILE in the same way as . . .”, or you can shorten the sentence and just say, “HAPPY is to SMILE as . . .” Working through the analogy: “HAPPY is to SMILE as sad is to frown.”

There are two structural issues of analogies that can affect the answer: the order of words in a stem or answer pair; and the parts of speech used in the analogies.

In SAT analogies, the order of words in a pair is important. Let’s say, for example, that the question above actually looked like this, with the answer pair in (D) flipped around:

Answer (D) was the correct answer in the last example, but is it now? Is HAPPY related to SMILE in the same way as frown is related to sad? No. When you look for the correct answer to an analogy, the answer you choose must not only contain words that relate to each other in the same way as the stem pair, but the two words of the answer pair must also follow the same order as the stem pair. In the example above, therefore, there is no correct answer (don’t worry, every real SAT analogy will have a correct answer).

The SAT will definitely try to use word order to trick you during the test. Often the test will provide an answer pair that has the same association as the stem pair, except the answer pair will be flipped in the wrong direction. Be careful.

The parts of speech found in a stem pair will always be mirrored in the answer pairs. If, for example, both of the stem words are nouns, then every answer pair will be made up of two nouns. If the stem pair has a noun and a verb, then the answer pairs will always be a noun and a verb:

Knowing this facet of analogy structure can help you on more difficult questions. ETS occasionally includes words that can function as more than one part of speech. Take a look at the following example:

The word “compound” is most commonly used as a verb meaning “to combine,” and your instinct will probably be to try to make a relation between the verb compound and the noun “building.” If you were to do so, you wouldn’t find an answer that fits among the answer choices. Instead, you should notice that all of the answer pairs follow the format NOUN : NOUN, meaning the stem pair must also be NOUN : NOUN. As a noun, compound means a group of buildings protected by a wall. The answer is (C): just as a COMPOUND is composed of many BUILDINGS, so is a forest composed of many trees.