Antonyms measure your
• vocabulary
• ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite
Directions*
Each question below consists of a word printed in capital letters followed by five lettered words or phrases. Choose the lettered word or phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters. Since some of the questions require you to distinguish fine shades of meaning, be sure to consider all the choices before deciding which one is best.
Sample Question
DIFFUSE:
(A) concentrate
(B) contend
(C) imply
(D) pretend
(E) rebel
Strategies for Answering
• Remember that antonyms are generally confined to nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
• Look for the word that is most nearly opposite to the given word.
• Try to define words precisely.
• Make up a sentence using the given word to help establish its meaning.
• Look for possible second meanings before choosing an answer.
• Use your knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to help define words you don’t know.
Answer
The best answer is (A). Diffuse means to permit or cause to spread out; only (A) presents an idea that is in any way opposite to diffuse.
Analogies
Analogies measure your ability to recognize
• relationships among words and concepts they represent
• parallel relationships
In each of the following questions, a related pair of words or phrases is followed by five lettered pairs of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.
Sample Question
COLOR : SPECTRUM :
(A) tone : scale
(B) sound : waves
(C) verse : poem
(D) dimension : space
(E) cell : organism
Strategies for Answering
• Establish a relationship between the given pair before reading the answer choices.
• Consider relationships of kind, size, spatial contiguity, or degree.
• Read all of the options. If more than one seems correct, try to state the relationship more precisely.
• Check to see that you haven’t overlooked a possible second meaning for one of the words.
• Never decide on the best answer without reading all of the answer choices.
Answer
The relationship between color and spectrum is not merely that of part to whole, in which case (E) or even (C) might be defended as correct. A spectrum is made up of a progressive, graduated series of colors, as a scale is of a progressive, graduated sequence of tones. Thus, (A) is the correct answer choice. In this instance, the best answer must be selected from a group of fairly close choices.
Sentence Completions
Sentence completions measure your ability to recognize words or phrases that both logically and stylistically complete the meaning of a sentence.
Directions*
Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are five lettered words or sets of words. Choose the word or set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Sample Question
Early ________ of hearing loss is ________ by the fact that the other senses are able to compensate for moderate amounts of loss, so that people frequently do not know that their hearing is imperfect.
(A) discovery . . indicated
(B) development . . prevented
(C) detection . . complicated
(D) treatment . . facilitated
(E) incidence . . corrected
Strategies for Answering
• Read the incomplete sentence carefully.
• Look for key words or phrases.
• Complete the blank(s) with your own words; see if any options are like yours.
• Pay attention to grammatical cues.
• If there are two blanks, be sure that both parts of your answer choice fit logically and stylistically into the sentence.
• After choosing an answer, read the sentence through again to see if it makes sense.
Answer
The statement that the other senses compensate for partial loss of hearing indicates that the hearing loss is not prevented or corrected; therefore, choices (B) and (E) can be eliminated. Furthermore, the ability to compensate for hearing loss certainly does
not facilitate the early treatment (D) or the early discovery (A) of hearing loss. It is reasonable, however, that early detection of hearing loss is complicated by the ability to compensate for it. The best answer is (C).
Reading Comprehension Questions
Reading comprehension questions measure your ability to
• read with understanding, insight, and discrimination
• analyze a written passage from several perspectives Passages are taken from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Directions*
The passage is followed by questions based on its content. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
