AFOQT Verbal Analogies practice and strategy

Verbal Analogies format and timing

Source: AFOQT Information Pamphlet (Form T, updated 1 Aug 2015), Tables 1–2. Verbal Analogies is subtest 1 of 12, the first in Part A. Your score is the number you get right, so answer all 25. The test has been computer-only (the E-AFOQT) since 2023; whether that changed any timing isn't published, so these are the Form T figures our timed sets use.

What Verbal Analogies tests

Reasoning about how words relate, at a college vocabulary level. Our sets use both common forms: the first pair plus one word of the second (you supply the last word), or the first pair alone (you pick a whole second pair). The same relationships come up again and again, so learn to name them on sight:

The technique: the bridge sentence

Don't scan the options hoping one feels right. Build a sentence from the first pair, then test it on every option.

1. Say the first pair as a sentence, in order: “a thermometer measures temperature.”
2. Make it specific. Name the job, the part, the degree or the lack. “Goes with” is never specific enough.
3. Drop the third word into the same sentence and try each option in the blank.
4. Check direction. Worker to product is not product to worker; the second pair must run the same way.
5. If two options survive, tighten the verb until only one fits.
6. If a word is unfamiliar, cross out options whose relationship can't match and answer anyway. There's no penalty.

Three worked examples

Example 1. THERMOMETER is to TEMPERATURE as BAROMETER is to ___
A. weather · B. pressure · C. humidity · D. rain · E. mercury

Bridge: a thermometer measures temperature. A barometer measures ___ → B, pressure. Weather and rain are what pressure readings help forecast, mercury is what some barometers contain, and humidity is measured by a different instrument. All four sit near the topic; none fits the sentence.

Example 2. MAP is to NAVIGATE as
A. bake is to recipe · B. recipe is to bake · C. compass is to north · D. kitchen is to chef · E. page is to book

Bridge: you use a map to navigate, so it's a tool and the task it guides. B fits: you use a recipe to bake. A is the same pair reversed, the classic direction trap. C sits in the same topic as the map, which makes it tempting, but a compass points north; north isn't a task. D is a place and a worker, E a part and a whole.

Example 3. TIMID is to COURAGE as CARELESS is to ___
A. accident · B. danger · C. fear · D. speed · E. caution

Bridge: a timid person lacks courage. A careless person lacks ___ → E, caution. Accident is a likely result of carelessness, and fear is something a timid person has. Both are related; neither is a lack. This pattern is easy to miss because the first pair looks like near-opposites.

Common traps

• Related, but the wrong relationship. The option links to the third word, just not by your sentence: accident for careless.
• Reversed direction. The stem runs tool to task; the tempting option runs task to tool.
• Wrong degree. Glad : ecstatic is mild to extreme, so a mild-to-mild pair doesn't match it.
• Second meanings. The first pair tells you which sense of a word is in play.
• Over-reading. If a plain sentence fits exactly one option, stop. Don't invent a cleverer link.

Pacing plan: 25 in 8 minutes

Eight minutes for 25 questions is about 19 seconds each. Once the bridge comes quickly, easy items take well under that, which banks time for the hard ones. Checkpoint: about 12 answered at 4:00. If a question passes 30 seconds, take the best survivor and move on. In the final seconds, make sure every question has an answer.

Which composites it feeds

Verbal Analogies counts toward three of the seven composites: Verbal, Academic Aptitude and Air Battle Manager. Verbal carries a commissioning minimum of 15 for every line officer, and ABM training needs an ABM composite of at least 25 (DAFMAN 36-2664, Table A2.1). It doesn't feed Pilot or CSO.

Composites are percentiles from 1 to 99 against a reference group. The norms aren't published, so any composite we show is an estimate. More in AFOQT scores explained.

Practice it here

Start with the five questions above, no sign-up needed. Then run a timed Verbal Analogies set: 25 questions on the 8-minute clock. Every question is original, and each explanation names the relationship, so you can sort your misses by type. When the section feels routine, take the free diagnostic or a full mock in exam order.

How to solve an AFOQT verbal analogy

1. Say the first pair as a sentence, in order.
2. Make the sentence specific: what the first word does, has, lacks, makes or measures.
3. Put the third word into the sentence and test every option.
4. Check that the second pair runs in the same direction as the first.
5. If two options fit, tighten the sentence until one fails.
6. Answer every question; wrong answers cost nothing.

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