Common Mistakes on the MAT (Miller Analogies Test)

Note: The MAT is a unique graduate school admissions test that measures logical reasoning through analogies. Unlike content-based exams, the MAT tests your ability to see relationships between words, ideas, and concepts. The biggest mistake? Treating it like a vocabulary test. While vocabulary is important, the MAT is fundamentally about understanding relationships—and those relationships can be based on anything from synonyms to cultural literacy to mathematical principles.

A. The "Preparation Process" Mistakes

• Mistake 1: Treating the MAT Like a Vocabulary Test

  • Scenario: The student buys a stack of vocabulary flashcards and memorizes definitions obsessively. On test day, they encounter an analogy like "Mozart : Salzburg :: Picasso : ______" and realize they know all the words but not the relationship (composer to birthplace vs. painter to birthplace).

  • Fix:

    • Focus on relationships, not just words. For every practice analogy, articulate the relationship in a sentence before looking at the answer choices. "Mozart was born in Salzburg; Picasso was born in Malaga." That's the relationship.

    • Build your cultural literacy alongside vocabulary. The MAT draws from history, literature, art, science, mythology, and religion. You need to know that Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, not just what "goddess" means.

• Mistake 2: Ignoring the Practice Tests

  • Scenario: The student reads about analogies but never takes a full-length, timed practice test. They're shocked by the pace required—120 analogies in 60 minutes .

  • Fix:

    • Take multiple timed practice tests. You have about 30 seconds per analogy. This requires rapid pattern recognition, not deep contemplation.

    • Use official MAT practice materials from Harcourt Assessment or reputable prep companies. The more you practice, the faster you'll recognize common relationship types.

• Mistake 3: Not Building a Broad Knowledge Base

  • Scenario: The student focuses only on vocabulary and ignores general knowledge. They miss analogies based on historical events, literary works, scientific concepts, or mythological figures .

  • Fix:

    • Read widely in the weeks leading up to the exam. Scanencyclopedias, almanacs, and cultural literacy resources.

    • Focus on high-yield areas: Greek and Roman mythology, major authors and their works, important historical figures, basic scientific concepts, and world geography.

• Mistake 4: Relying on a Single Study Resource

  • Scenario: The student uses one MAT prep book and assumes it covers everything. They encounter analogy types on the real exam that weren't in their book .

  • Fix:

    • Use multiple resources. Combine official MAT practice tests with prep books from different publishers. Each may highlight different relationship types.

    • Supplement with general knowledge resources: "The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy" by E.D. Hirsch is excellent for MAT preparation.

B. The "Relationship Recognition" Traps

• Mistake 5: Not Identifying the Relationship Before Looking at Answers

  • Scenario: The student looks at the first word pair, then immediately scans the answer choices. They pick the first option that seems vaguely related, often missing the precise relationship .

  • Fix:

    • Always state the relationship in a complete sentence before looking at answer choices. For example, for "physician : stethoscope," the relationship is "professional : tool used by that professional."

    • Then apply that same sentence to each answer choice: "teacher : chalkboard" fits; "carpenter : hammer" fits; "writer : computer" fits. But which is the best match? The MAT expects the most common or precise association.

• Mistake 6: Falling for "Sound-Alike" or "Looks-Like" Traps

  • Scenario: The first word pair is "capitol : capital." The student sees answer choices with words that look similar but have different meanings, like "stationery : stationary." They pick based on the visual similarity rather than the relationship .

  • Fix:

    • The MAT loves homophones and look-alike words. The relationship in "capitol : capital" is "homophones with different meanings." So the correct answer should also be a pair of homophones.

    • Train yourself to recognize this pattern. Common homophone pairs: principal/principle, compliment/complement, affect/effect, council/counsel.

• Mistake 7: Confusing Synonyms with Antonyms

  • Scenario: The analogy is "hot : cold :: up : ______." The student knows hot and cold are opposites, so they look for the opposite of "up," which is "down." They get it right easily. But what about "hot : scalding :: cold : ______"? That's intensity, not antonym.

  • Fix:

    • Identify the relationship type precisely. Common MAT relationship categories include:

      • Synonyms (happy : joyful)

      • Antonyms (happy : sad)

      • Degree/intensity (hot : scalding = cold : freezing)

      • Part to whole (finger : hand = toe : foot)

      • Cause and effect (virus : disease = bacteria : infection)

      • Function (pen : write = knife : cut)

      • Professional : tool (surgeon : scalpel = artist : brush)

      • Creator : creation (Picasso : Guernica = Da Vinci : Mona Lisa)

      • Symbolism (dove : peace = rose : love)

• Mistake 8: Missing the "Second-Order" Relationship

  • Scenario: The analogy is "Yankees : New York :: Dodgers : ______." The student knows the Yankees are a New York baseball team, so they pick "Brooklyn" for the Dodgers. But the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. The correct answer might be "Los Angeles" if the test uses current associations, or "Brooklyn" if it's testing historical knowledge.

  • Fix:

    • The MAT can test both common knowledge and specific cultural literacy. If you know both possibilities, look for context clues in the answer choices. If both "Brooklyn" and "Los Angeles" appear, which one is the better match? Consider the test's date and the likely intended association.

    • For contentious relationships, the correct answer is usually the most widely recognized association. For the Dodgers, that's probably "Los Angeles" for most test-takers today.

C. The "Test-Taking Strategy" Traps

• Mistake 9: Spending Too Much Time on One Analogy

  • Scenario: The student encounters a difficult analogy involving Greek mythology, which they know nothing about. They spend 3 minutes trying to reason it out, losing time for 6 easier analogies .

  • Fix:

    • You have about 30 seconds per analogy. If you're stuck after 45 seconds, make your best guess and move on. Flag it if the format allows, but don't let one tough question derail your pacing.

    • Remember that all analogies are worth the same. Getting 6 easy ones right is better than getting 1 hard one right and missing the others.

• Mistake 10: Not Using Process of Elimination

  • Scenario: The student tries to solve every analogy directly, wasting time on questions where elimination could quickly narrow options .

  • Fix:

    • For each answer choice, ask: "Could this possibly fit the relationship I identified?" Eliminate obviously wrong answers first.

    • Even if you can't identify the exact relationship, you can often eliminate 2-3 choices based on part of speech, category mismatch, or common sense.

• Mistake 11: Misreading the Analogy Format

  • Scenario: The student confuses the standard MAT format: A : B :: C : D (read as "A is to B as C is to D"). They treat it like a proportion and sometimes invert the relationship.

  • Fix:

    • Practice reading analogies aloud: "Hot is to cold as up is to down." This reinforces the directional relationship.

    • Remember that the relationship between A and B must be the same as between C and D. If A is the opposite of B, then C must be the opposite of D.

• Mistake 12: Ignoring Part of Speech

  • Scenario: The analogy is "run : quickly :: talk : ______." The student picks "speak" because it's related to talk, but "quickly" is an adverb modifying "run." The correct answer should be an adverb modifying "talk," like "softly" or "loudly."

  • Fix:

    • Pay attention to parts of speech. If the first pair is noun:verb, the second pair must also be noun:verb. If it's adjective:noun, the second pair must match.

    • In the example above, "run" is a verb, "quickly" is an adverb. So "talk" (verb) needs an adverb, not another verb.

D. The "Content Knowledge" Gaps

• Mistake 13: Weakness in Mythology and Religion

  • Scenario: The analogy is "Zeus : Jupiter :: Odin : ______." The student knows Zeus is the Greek king of gods and Jupiter is his Roman counterpart, but they don't know Odin's Germanic/Norse counterpart .

  • Fix:

    • Review basic world mythology: Greek/Roman (Zeus/Jupiter, Hera/Juno, Poseidon/Neptune, Aphrodite/Venus, Ares/Mars, Athena/Minerva), Norse (Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja), Egyptian (Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus).

    • Know major religious figures: Biblical figures (Adam, Eve, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, Peter, Paul), prophets, and saints.

• Mistake 14: Weakness in Literature and Authors

  • Scenario: The analogy is "Hemingway : The Old Man and the Sea :: Melville : ______." The student knows Hemingway wrote that book, but they can't remember Melville's most famous work .

  • Fix:

    • Know major authors and their most famous works:

      • Melville: Moby-Dick

      • Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

      • Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

      • Orwell: 1984, Animal Farm

      • Austen: Pride and Prejudice

      • Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations

      • Shakespeare: major plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear)

• Mistake 15: Weakness in Geography

  • Scenario: The analogy is "Paris : France :: Cairo : ______." The student knows Paris is the capital of France, so Cairo must be the capital of Egypt .

  • Fix:

    • Review world capitals, major cities, and their countries. Focus on countries frequently in the news and their cultural significance.

    • Know geographical relationships: river : country, mountain : range, city : river.

• Mistake 16: Weakness in Science and Mathematics

  • Scenario: The analogy is "H2O : water :: CO2 : ______." The student knows H2O is the chemical formula for water, so CO2 is the formula for carbon dioxide .

  • Fix:

    • Review basic scientific terms and symbols: chemical formulas (NaCl, CO2, H2SO4), units of measurement (meter, liter, gram), scientific concepts (gravity, photosynthesis, evolution).

    • Know mathematical relationships: pi : circle :: e : natural logarithm, square : cube :: triangle : pyramid.

E. The "Cultural Literacy" Traps

• Mistake 17: Not Recognizing Famous Quotations

  • Scenario: The analogy is "Shakespeare : 'To be or not to be' :: Martin Luther King Jr. : ______." The student knows the Shakespeare quote but can't recall King's most famous speech .

  • Fix:

    • Review famous quotations and their sources: "I have a dream" (MLK), "Ask not what your country can do for you" (JFK), "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (FDR), "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration" (Edison).

• Mistake 18: Ignoring Historical Events and Dates

  • Scenario: The analogy is "1776 : American Revolution :: 1789 : ______." The student knows 1776 is the year of American independence, so 1789 is the year of the French Revolution .

  • Fix:

    • Review major historical events and their dates: 1492 (Columbus), 1066 (Battle of Hastings), 1215 (Magna Carta), 1914-1918 (WWI), 1939-1945 (WWII), 1969 (moon landing).

• Mistake 19: Weakness in Arts and Music

  • Scenario: The analogy is "Beethoven : composer :: Michelangelo : ______." The student knows Beethoven is a composer, so Michelangelo must be a sculptor/painter .

  • Fix:

    • Know major artists and their mediums: Michelangelo (sculpture, painting), Leonardo da Vinci (painting, invention), Picasso (painting), Mozart (composer), Van Gogh (painter).

F. Summary Table: MAT Specific Traps