What's Your IQ

THE ONE TECHNIQUE

Build a bridge sentence

Link the first pair in a short sentence, then drop the new word in. The more specific the sentence, the fewer answers survive. Pick a bridge and watch the options fall away.

DOCTOR:HOSPITAL::TEACHER: ?

SCHOOLSTUDENTLESSONBOOK

Everything is "related" to a teacher. Nothing is ruled out — this bridge is useless.

YOUR RELATION MAP

Eight relations, and which ones trip you up

Every analogy in the game uses one of these links. Each row shows the bridge that unlocks it — and your score once you've played.

Young & adultPUPPY : DOGA ___ is a young ___.

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Part & wholePETAL : FLOWERA ___ is part of a ___.

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OppositesHOT : COLD___ is the opposite of ___.

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Same meaningBIG : LARGE___ means the same as ___.

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Tool & purposeSCISSORS : CUTYou use a ___ to ___.

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DegreeWARM : HOT___, taken further, is ___.

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Maker & productBAKER : BREADA ___ makes ___.

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Kind ofOAK : TREEAn ___ is a kind of ___.

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Play the game above — each relation gets two analogies, and your score fills in here.

What happens in your head, in four steps

Psychologist Robert Sternberg broke analogy-solving into stages. Most mistakes happen at step two — settling for a link that's too vague.

01EncodePuppy: a young dog. Kitten: a young cat.Recall what each word means.

02InferPuppy → dog: "is a young…"Find the link in the first pair. Make it specific.

03MapPuppy ↔ kittenMatch the first word to the third — both are young animals.

04ApplyA kitten is a young… cat.Carry the link across and check the option that completes it.

INSIDE YOUR BRAIN

Meaning at the back, mapping at the front

Knowing what words mean is one job. Comparing two relationships is another. Pick a region.

Based on Gray's Anatomy, fig. 728 (public domain)

1926the analogy test

The Miller Analogies Test was built entirely from analogies and used for decades in graduate admissions. The SAT also carried analogy questions until 2005.

Miller, 1926 · College Board, 2005

Front poleof the brain

Comparing two relationships — the heart of an analogy — engages the very front of the prefrontal cortex more than judging a single word pair.

Bunge, Wendelken, Badre & Wagner, 2005

SourcesSternberg (1977), Psychological ReviewBunge et al. (2005), Cerebral CortexGentner (1983), Cognitive Science

WHAT THIS GAME TRAINS