An analogy asks you to complete 'A is to B as C is to ?': fish is to water as bird is to air. You identify the relationship in the first pair and find the term — or, in the harder version, the pair of terms — that reproduces that exact relationship in the second. Only one option preserves the logic precisely; the rest are plausible near-relations designed to tempt a loose reading.
Why airlines test it
Analogies measure how precisely you grasp relationships and how well you map a known relationship onto a new situation — the cognitive core of learning by comparison. They also probe language comprehension and vocabulary, which matters directly for an international pilot: aviation is conducted in English, and misreading a word or a relationship can have consequences. Selection boards use them as a compact test of verbal precision and flexible thinking.
In the cockpit
Pilots learn enormous amounts by analogy — 'this aircraft's system behaves like the one you trained on, except…' — and reasoning from a familiar case to a new one is how experience transfers. Clear relational thinking also underpins communication: understanding precisely what a clearance, a NOTAM or a company procedure means, and how one instruction relates to another, is what keeps a crew coordinated. Ambiguity is dangerous, and analogical reasoning is the habit of pinning relationships down exactly.
For example: you convert onto a new type and the instructor says the pressurisation system 'works like the one on your last aircraft, except the outflow valve is electric rather than pneumatic.' Working out exactly what carries over and what does not — same relationship, one changed term — is an analogy, and getting the mapping precisely right is what stops you from applying an old habit in the one place it no longer fits.
How to practise
The Analogies game below offers a Single-Word version and a harder Word-Combination version, where two terms are blanked at once. Work up to the combination format — it forces you to hold both sides of the relationship in mind at the same time, which is where the real reasoning happens.