Passing the Police Officer Exam: Analogy questions

One of the types of question that sometimes appears on the Police Officer Exam is the analogy question.  Each of these questions will ask you to analyze the relationship between two words and then identify a word that has a similar relationship.  These questions are much less common than most of the other question types, and it is possible you won't see any of these questions on the exam.  However, it is important to note that you may still see some of these questions on some versions of the exam so you may want to have an idea of how to approach these questions in case they do appear.
 
Determine the relationship
If you are being asked to answer an analogy question, you should look at the first two words in the analogy and try to determine the relationship that the first two words have with each other before you do anything else.  You are being asked to identify a word that completes the set based on the relationship that the first two words have with each other.  You are trying to find the last word in the analogy and the last word in the analogy must have the same relationship with the third word in the analogy that the first two words have with each other.  
 
Example:
Analogy question states:
Bravery: Cowardice: Hope
 
Question is followed by four options:(A) Despair(B) Good(C) Evil(D) Anger
 
Determine how the first two words are related.  Bravery is the opposite of cowardice so you need to find the opposite of the word 'hope', which is 'despair.'  The correct answer in this particular example would be choice 'A.'
 
Read the analogy as a sentence
If you are having difficulty determining the relationship between the first two words in the analogy, try reading the first part of the analogy as if it were a sentence describing the relationship between the first two words.  Place the first two words of the analogy in a sentence that might describe how the words are related to each other such as:

1. 'the first word is the opposite of the second word'
2. 'the first word is a type of the second word'
3. 'the first word is a part of the second word'
4. 'the first word is used to do something to the second word'
5. 'the first word is required to perform the second word'
6. 'the first word is typically stored or located in or at the second word'
7. 'the first word is a characteristic of the second word'
8. 'the first word is commonly found with the second word'
9. 'the first word is commonly without the second word'
10. 'the first word is a description of the second word'

 
Plugging the first two words into different sentences that describe different types of relationships will allow you to determine if that relationship applies in the analogy.  
 
Example:
The analogy in the example above states:
'Bravery: Cowardice: Hope:'
 
Read the first two words as: 'Bravery is the opposite of cowardice.'  
 
Bravery is actually the opposite of cowardice so this is true and you may assume that the word 'hope' shares the same relationship with one of the options, so you are looking for the opposite of 'hope.'  Place the third word and the option into the same sentence.  This will allow you to tell whether an option is incorrect or not.  If the sentence is still true once you place the third word and the option into it, it is safe to assume that the option is the correct answer.  If the sentence, on the other hand, becomes false once you place the third word and the option into it, it is safe to assume that the option is incorrect.  
 
Using the sentence 'bravery is the opposite of cowardice' to describe the relationship between the first two words, you could read this sentence as 'hope is the opposite of despair.'  Since this sentence is true, you know that 'despair' is the correct answer.
 
Important Note:  Some versions of the Police Officer Exam may include analogy questions that are setup in a different format from the type of analogy question described in this section.  The first two words in the analogy will appear in the question and each of the options will provide you with the second two words that have the same relationship.  If this is the case, these questions can be answered using the same techniques mentioned here, but it is important to note that it can be difficult to identify the correct answer to some of the analogy questions that are setup in this format.  
 
If you are having difficulty finding the correct answer to an analogy question that is set up in this way, place the first two words in a sentence that describes the relationship between those two words in very specific terms.  
 
Example:
Analogy says:
'pound : weight ::'
 
Describe the relationship using this sentence:
'Pounds are used to measure weight.'
 
Options are: (A) ruler : length(B) fat : bigC) degree : temperature(D) dehydration : desert
 
There are two options that logically fit into the sentence in this example: option 'A' would become 'rulers are used to measure length' and  option 'C' would become 'degrees are used to measure temperature'  Both of these sentences are true so you need to use a sentence that describes a more specific relationship between the word 'pound' and the word 'weight.'  
 
Use the sentence:
'A pound is a unit of measurement that is used to measure weight.'
 
This sentence will help you find the correct answer because there is only one answer that fits the sentence.  Option 'A' is describing a ruler, which is a tool that is used to measure length while option 'C' is describing a degree, which is a unit of measurement used to measure temperature.  Option 'C' is the only option that offers a pair of words that have the same relationship as the first pair of words.