Detecting Analogies

Detecting analogies are very fun questions in the bank exam papers. Questions on Detecting Analogies check the candidate on various aspects of awareness, vocabulary, general knowledge, reasoning and sometimes even aptitude. The candidate is given a group of words or letters or numbers and is asked to find out the rule that governs the given arrangement of numbers. The more the number of terms, the harder the question becomes.

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Questions Based on Vocabulary

Normally we have three to four terms or objects, all connected by a given rule. The rule is unique and one question will have only one answer unless directed otherwise in the question. Here we shall try and see some of these examples and try to get enough practice and familiarity with questions of such types.

Q1: Tripitakas: Talmud: Agamas: Kojiki

1. These are the names of ancient civilizations.
2. They are the names of tribes that lived in the Andamans around 5 C.E.
3. The above are the names of religious books.
4. The terms are the names of Chinese Kings that ruled around the time of Confucius.

Answer: C) Well, Tripitakas are the religious scriptures of the Buddhists. The Talmud is the holy book of the Jews. Agamas is the name given to the holy book of Jains and Kojiki is the name of the holy book of Shintoism. You must have noticed that if you were familiar with only one of the terms, you would easily be able to guess the analogy. However, it doesn’t work always. You should always carefully study all of the words and try to determine the analogy without looking at the options. Let us see other examples.

Browse more Topics under Analogy

• Alphabet Analogy
• Analogous Pairs
• Non-Verbal Analogy
• Number Analogy
• Analogy Practice Questions

Questions Based on General Awareness

Q2: Cassowary: Takahe: Guam Rail: kakapo

1. These are famous places in Vietnam.
2. They are famous places in South Korea.
3. The above are the different species of marsupials.
4. The terms above are the different species of flightless birds.

Answer: The options are a little bizarre if you not a passionate ornithologist (a person who studies birds). How do you answer such questions? Well try and look for the “weak link” in the question. By the weak link, we mean a word or one of the options that are given and you are familiar with. For example, Cassowary and Takahe sound like the names of animals rather than that of birds. Plus Guam Rail is a bit of a star in the given collection. The Guam Rail is somewhat famous and is, in fact, the weak link in the question. However, this method, even if applicable is not prescribed. The analogy questions will challenge your awareness as well as your vocabulary and other skills. Let us see a few more examples.

Questions that have a Weak Link

Q3: Banded Racer: Sand Boa: Checkered Keelback

1. They are the various types of cats.
2. They are various poisonous snakes found in India.
3. The above are different names of a water snake.
4. They are non-poisonous snakes.

Answer: So where is the weak link? Those of you who have read a little biology will see the “Boa” in one of the options. Boas are snakes. So the options don’t represent various types of cats. That doesn’t solve anything. We still have three more options to go through. Well, a Boa constrictor snake is a non-poisonous snake that chokes its prey. That leaves us with the option D as the correct option. Indeed they are all just various non-poisonous snakes found in India. Notice the fact that even though we had only three options, the difficulty level was a bit easy as compared to the previous ones.

Q4: Tomato: Beans: Cucumbers: Corn

1. They are all vegetables.
2. The above are all fruits.
3. These are all roots.
4. These must be modified parts of the stem.

Answer: So, what was your answer? It seems simple, they are all vegetables, right? Well not exactly. Technically they are all fruits. So the answer is B) They are all fruits.

Sentence Based Questions

Sometimes the questions are a bit more descriptive. These kinds of questions provide a sentence that asks you to guess or determine the analogy between two given words, terms or even scrambled words. Let us see a few examples here:

Q5: Cirrhosis is to the liver what meningitis is to _________:

1. Kidneys
2. Knees
3. Stomach
4. Brain

Answer: Cirrhosis is a disease of the liver. Meningitis is a disease that affects the neurons in the body of the affected person. Hence, the answer to this would be meningitis.

Q6: Geology is to Earth what Entomology is to ________

1. Birds
2. Reptiles
3. Insects
4. Engines

Answer: geology is the study of the various processes that occur on and inside the surface of the earth. Similarly, Entomology is the branch of biology that deals with the study of insects. Hence the correct option here is C) insects.

Number Analogy

These type of questions are similar to the other analogies. Let us solve an example:

Q7 : 3131 : 9800030 :: 3 : ___

A) 6              B) 66              C) 666              D) 9

Answer: The detection of the rule here is a bit tedious. However, just follow a few simple trial steps. Try to find a square base, a square root based or a multiplier based rule. For example, in the above example, we have (3131)2 = 9803161. Also. 9803161 – 3131 = 9800030. Therefore, the rule here is x2 – x. Hence, applying it to the second side of the analogy, we have 32 – 3 = 6. Therefore, the answer is A) 6.

Practice Questions

Q1: 77 : 154  :: 88 : ____

Ans: 176

Q2: Electron is to the beta rays what a photon is to _______

Ans: Light.

Q3: He: Ne: Xe

Ans: They are all Noble gases.