Miller Analogies Test (MAT)

The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is a standardized test used mainly for graduate school admissions in the USA.

The MAT is published by Harcourt Assessment and consists of 120 questions with a time limit of in 60 minutes.

Only 100 of the questions actually count towards the final score, the remaining 20 are experimental questions which may be used in future tests.

However, you have no way of knowing which questions count and which do not so you need to try to answer all of them.

The MAT aims to measure your logical and analytical reasoning abilities through the use of partial verbal analogies with four answer options.

For example:

note : bar :: word :

a. paper
b. pencil
c. letter
d. sentence

In this example, a (musical) note is a component of a bar (of music). Therefore option d is correct as a word is a component of a sentence. None of the other options complete the analogy satisfactorily.

Unlike analogy questions found in some other tests, notably the GRE and the SAT, the MAT requires more than an extensive vocabulary as the questions will test your knowledge of literature, history, art, science, maths and Western culture generally.

For example:

Mercury : Hermes :: Neptune :

a. Trident
b. Poseidon
c. Mars
d. Aphrodite

In this example, Mercury is the Roman messenger god and Hermes is the Greek messenger god. Neptune is the Roman god of the sea, therefore the answer is b. Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.

You are not allowed a dictionary or any other reference aid and the test can be taken either on a computer or as a paper based test. It can be taken at any time of year at over 500 locations – see harcourtassessment.com for details.

You will receive your score report in the mail two to three weeks after you complete the test.

This report will include a scaled and percentile score. The scaled score is placed on a range of 200 to 400, and is derived from the raw score, which is the number of questions answered correctly.