help with analogy question

Question

Please can one help me with this anology question?
1. Social media is to rating as...
a) rating is to approval
b) parenting is to discipline
c) moon is to stars
d) knowledge is to power

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear adasek2008 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

I guess my first question is: why are you asking about this? What is the source of this question? Obviously, this is not a question format currently on the GMAT or GRE or LSAT. I will say that something that makes this less-than-ideal question, from a test writer's point of view, is that it presupposes some knowledge of "social media" and how "ratings" function in social media. This may be intuitively obviously to 20-something, but a little less so to those of us who remember several more decades. I am not kindly disposed toward all things that count as "social media." From what I can surmise, folks use "ratings" in social media in encourage things that they "like" and discourage things that they "don't like." It provides a mild form of regulation within the space of social media. a) " ratings " are means of demonstrating " approval ." Social media is not a means of demonstrating ratings. This is wrong. b) " parenting " is a space regulated by " discipline ," roughly as social media is regulated by ratings. This is not a particularly precise analogy, but if were stretching things, this could work. c) The moon has little formal relationship to the stars; they simply happen to be juxtaposed, and the Moon is singularly prominent among them. This could not be a particularly apt analogy for most things. d) knowledge and power have a tremendously ambiguous relationship. Some knowledge leads to tremendous power, either academic, or business, or personal. A knowledge of how to trade stocks well could be quite lucrative. A knowledge about the digestive systems of cephalopods is not going to be especially compelling in most context. There is a very ambiguous relationship between these two words, and this is not appropriate for an analogy question. Of these, the best is probably (b), but I would say: this is a very poor question. The GRE used to have analogies: this is in no way up to ETS' standards for analogies. As a test question, I would give this a grade of about a D. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

adasek2008 · Answer

Thanks Mike for responding but am so sorry I made a mistake as the correct question is highlighted below.

Please can one help me with this analogy question?
1. Social media is to sharing as...
a) rating is to approval
b) parenting is to discipline
c) moon is to stars
d) knowledge is to power

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear adasek2008 , I'm happy to respond again! :-)

Unfortunately, my friend, this is also a very poor question. This lacks the crisp precision and tight quality that characterizes questions on such standardized tests as the GRE, the GMAT, the LSAT, etc. This is a very week question. It appears that it was conceived by someone who doesn't understand analogies very well. The relationship between "social media" and "sharing" could be characterized in a few different ways, and this is part of the problem. We could say (1) social media is a mean of sharing, a tool for sharing (2) social media is a entire construct whose central purpose is sharing (3) social media is one form of sharing, one form among many That's far too loose to be the prompt on any high quality standardized test. More to the point, none of the answer really match any of these. It's true that "approval" could be said to be the purpose of "ratings" (although even that assertion is dubious), but ratings are a mere feature of something larger, unlike social media, which is an entire social construct in its own right. None of these relationship are analogous to the relationship of "parenting" to "discipline." The "moon" and "stars" have no formal relationship, as I expressed above. "Knowledge" and "power" have a wildly ambiguous relationship. This is a very poor question, a very poorly written question. It is confusing precisely because the person who wrote it did not understand how to write test questions with precise logic. I would not worry about it. Mike

adasek2008 · Answer

Thank you very much mike for responding to my questions. I agree with you that the person who set the question really doesn't know how to set analogy questions.

Pls the two questions below are set by the same person can I know the answers and if its answerable before I make a report for question review?

The questions

1. Retsina is to retains as...
a) winemaker is to mortician
b) outside is to inside
c) consumption is to digestion
d) creative is to reactive

2. Intricate is to straightforward as...
a) robbery is to charity
b) pernickety is to structured
c) informant is to invigilator
d) ingratiate is to offend

3) Advertising is to sales as...
a) sunshine is to oxygen
b) crying is to babies
c) weight is to height
d) performance is to ability

Thanks for your quick response

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear adasek2008 I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, first I am going to offer you some feedback. Look at this sentence that you have presented: " Pls the two questions below are set by the same person can I know the answers and if its answerable before I make a report for question review " As I am sure you appreciate, this is not proper grammatically. It's a run-on sentence . You make an " if "/" whether " Diction mistake. I am sure you are capable of writing a higher quality sentence. I am mentioning this because one of the habits of excellence is always to put your best self forward, in any context. Especially when you put your words into a public forum, you never known who might read this: a future colleague or boss or partner or customer or etc. You never get another chance to make a first impression, and first impressions are powerful. If you cultivate the habit of always doing your best, never making excuses for yourself, then you generate something like a momentum toward success. That is very much what I want for you: abundant success in all your endeavors. OK, the questions: 1. Retsina is to retains as... a) winemaker is to mortician b) outside is to inside c) consumption is to digestion d) creative is to reactive This is AWFUL!! First of all, the word " retsina " is a relatively obscure word---it's a kind of sweetened wine. This word would not appear without explanation in a standardized test format. What is truly absurd about this question is that has absolutely nothing to do with the meanings of the words. This is purely about anagrams. If we re-arrange the letter is " retsina ," then we can spell " retains ." If we re-arrange the letter is " creative ," then we can spell " reactive ." This NEVER would appear on a standardized test. Conceivable, this could appear, say, in a book of "think outside of the box" brain teasers, but in a test-prep context, this is entirely inappropriate. 2. Intricate is to straightforward as... a) robbery is to charity b) persnickety is to structured c) informant is to invigilator d) ingratiate is to offend OK, this one actually begins as might a old GRE or SAT analogy. The words " intricate " and " straightforward " are opposite, antonyms. (a) different in several ways, but not true antonyms (b) not antonyms; a very different relationship (c) the word " invigilator " is not at all a common word in America; I believe it is more common in British English. An " invigilator " and an " informant " do roughly opposites things, but people who do opposite things are not antonyms. (d) these two words are simple and clear antonyms This question is actually a solid question with a clear answer. 3) Advertising is to sales as... a) sunshine is to oxygen b) crying is to babies c) weight is to height d) performance is to ability Strange. It would seem that " advertising " generates " sales ;" it is the relationship of a means to an end. This could be a good prompt, but none of the answers fit that relationship. This is not a well-thought-out question. I hope all this helps. Mike :-)

help with analogy question

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