Rank 9 by frequency | 101 questions in corpus (4.1% of all questions)
Analogy questions ask you to find the scenario among the answer choices that is most structurally parallel to something described in the passage. The correct answer mirrors the passage's logical structure, relationship, or dynamic — not its topic. Think of it as the RC cousin of Logical Reasoning's Parallel Reasoning: you're matching the skeleton, not the skin.
Analogy is a structural reasoning question. The stem points at something specific in the passage — a relationship, a situation, a strategy, a dynamic — and asks which answer choice is most closely analogous to it. The five answer choices are almost always drawn from entirely different domains than the passage, which is the test maker's way of forcing you to match on logical structure rather than subject matter.
The underlying skill has four components. Abstraction: seeing a specific passage situation as an instance of a general pattern. Mapping: setting up correspondences between elements of the passage and elements of each answer choice. Discrimination: telling a true structural parallel apart from mere topical resemblance. And structural reasoning: holding all those correspondences in mind while you compare five competing scenarios.
The central distinction on this question type is between structural analogy and surface similarity. A structural analogy matches the logical or relational skeleton: same number of entities, same directional relationships, same qualitative character (essential vs. optional, primary vs. secondary), same dynamic (competition, cooperation, dependency).
A surface similarity, by contrast, matches only content — same topic, same vocabulary, same field. If the passage is about art, a surface-match trap will describe another art situation that has nothing structurally in common with the passage. The correct answer almost never shares the passage's domain; if a choice feels "most like the passage" on a content level, that is often a signal you should look more carefully at the other four.
The abstract relationship in the passage typically takes one of a few recognizable shapes — a causal relationship (A causes B despite C), a hierarchical relationship (X is necessary for Y but Y can exist without Z), a functional relationship (X serves the same role in context A as Y does in B), a means-end relationship (method M achieves goal G but has side effect S), a part-whole relationship, or a competitive relationship (X and Y compete for Z, with X advantaged by W). Naming the shape is the first real step toward finding the right analogy.
Analogy questions come in five stem variations. They all test the same skill, but recognizing the phrasing up front helps you zero in on exactly which passage element needs to be paralleled.
Variation A — "Most analogous to..." (66 questions, 65%). The dominant phrasing and the most explicit framing of the task. Typical stems: "Which one of the following is most analogous to [passage element]?"; "The relationship between X and Y is most analogous to the relationship between..."; "[Passage situation] is most analogous to which one of the following?" The stem names the passage element to be paralleled, and the answers present new scenarios.
Variation B — "Most similar to..." (10 questions, 10%). Uses "similar" instead of "analogous." Example: "Which one of the following is most similar to X as described in the passage?" In practice the questions work the same way, though "similar" may allow slightly more surface-level overlap.
Variation C — "Most closely parallels..." (3 questions, 3%). Example: "Which one of the following situations most closely parallels X?" "Parallels" emphasizes structural correspondence most strongly of any phrasing.
Variation D — "Most like / likened to..." (5 questions, 5%). Examples: "The 'theory of everything' is most like which one of the following?"; "Plaintiffs can best be likened to..." More informal phrasing. "Like" can signal a broader comparison that includes tone or situation, not just logical structure.
Variation E — Other / Mixed (17 questions, 17%). Various phrasings: "Which one of the following quotations best exemplifies the attitude mentioned?"; "Which one of the following most clearly illustrates the phenomenon of X?"; "Not taking X into account when figuring Y is most closely analogous to not taking into account..."
The same four steps solve every Analogy question. The critical move is at the beginning: abstract the passage relationship into its skeleton before you look at the answer choices. Test-takers who jump straight to the choices get pulled toward surface matches because they haven't given themselves anything else to anchor on.
Step 1 — Abstract the passage relationship. Go back to the passage element named in the stem and describe the relationship in general terms, stripping away the specific subject matter. Ask: how many entities are involved? What role does each play? Is the relationship causal, functional, hierarchical, competitive? One entity essential and another optional, or both essential?
Step 2 — Predict the shape. Before reading choices, produce a short structural description in your head — something like "A does X for reason Y, despite cost Z." This is your template. Every choice will be measured against it.
Step 3 — Map each choice onto the template. Identify the entities in the choice, count them, and check directionality. Does the choice have the same number of components? Are the relationships pointing the same way? Is the qualitative character (essential/optional, primary/secondary) preserved?
Step 4 — Eliminate on structural mismatches, not surface feel. A choice that shares the passage's topic but has different structure is wrong. A choice from a totally different field that maps perfectly is right. Trust the mapping, not the familiarity.
The correct answer is a self-contained mini-narrative from a different domain that matches the passage relationship on every key structural element. That means the same number of entities, the same directional relationships (A supports B, not A undermines B), the same qualitative character (essential vs. optional, primary vs. secondary), and the same overall dynamic (competition, cooperation, dependency, independence).
Answer choices on this type run long — averaging 22.0 words, the second longest of any RC question type after Main Point — because each has to set up a complete scenario from scratch. The correct answer is whichever of those five complete scenarios, when mapped onto the passage template, preserves every structural feature without inversion or omission.
Trap 1 — Surface match, structure mismatch. The most common and most seductive trap. The answer shares the passage's topic, field, or vocabulary but has a different structural relationship. If the passage is about art, this trap describes another art situation that involves a completely different dynamic. Defense: notice when a choice "feels like the passage" and explicitly check whether the structural skeleton matches — usually it doesn't.
Trap 2 — Partial structure match. The choice gets one element of the analogy right but inverts or mismatches another. If the passage describes "essential component vs. optional component," this trap describes "two essential components" — matching the part-whole structure but not the essential/optional distinction. Defense: check every feature of the template, not just the most salient one.
Trap 3 — Directional inversion. A choice has all the right components but flips one relationship. A passage where A supports B is paralleled by a choice where A undermines B. Defense: explicitly label arrows when you map.
Analogy carries a base difficulty of 4. Questions drop to 3 when the passage relationship is simple and explicitly described, and the correct answer closely mirrors it in an obvious domain. They stay at 4 when the relationship involves multiple components that all have to be mapped. They climb to 5 when the relationship is subtle or abstract, when wrong answers are structurally close to the correct one rather than obviously off, or when the analogy involves a comparative passage and requires cross-passage mapping.
Real examples span the range. Difficulty 4 (PT68 Q12): "Which one of the following describes a set of relationships that is most closely analogous to the relationships between plants and their primary and secondary substances?" — map primary substances (essential for survival) and secondary substances (non-essential but beneficial) onto answer choices from other domains. Difficulty 5 (PT9 Q13): "Which one of the following situations most closely parallels that of the Oneida delegates in refusing to accept a lump-sum payment of $60,000?" — the structural parallel is refusing a short-term financial offer because accepting would undermine a more important ongoing claim. Difficulty 3 (PT59 Q2): "The large-scale climate trends discussed in passage A are most analogous to which one of the following elements in passage B?" — correct answer: "The highly complex behavior of a dense mass of thousands of ants."
Single passages account for 80 of the 101 questions (79%); comparative passages account for 21 (21%). That makes Analogy disproportionately common on comparative passages: 21% here vs. the 11.4% comparative-passage base rate across all of RC. On comparative sets, the question often asks for an analogy to the relationship between the two passages, not just to an element inside one of them, which adds a layer of cross-passage mapping.
Stems average 25.4 words, which is longer than most RC types because the stem has to specify exactly which passage element to parallel, often with detailed contextual framing. Read the whole stem — the qualifiers tell you what features of the relationship matter.
Recognizing these stems instantly should trigger the Analogy approach: abstract the passage relationship first, predict the shape, then map each choice onto the template.