Opinions on the best answer for this SAT sample question

In My Humble Opinion
1

Over at this website I was working my way through some sample SAT analogy questions, just for fun, and came across this one below to which I apparently got the wrong answer.

So I’m asking here because dopers typically seem to be able to handle themselves in an analogy bar fight when things turn nasty and someone breaks an empty metaphor on the bar and starts pointing it at people. Without looking at the spoilers, what would you have answered?

#9 ZOOLOGY : ANIMALS

A. ecology : pollution
B. botany : plants
C. chemistry : atoms
D. history : people
E. mathematics : geometry

According to the website, the correct answer is

A. ecology : pollution

My answer was

B. botany : plants

The answer seemed trivially simple to me, but I got it wrong. :smack: What am I missing?

2

That has to be a mistake. Botany : plants is so clearly the right answer, and I don’t think ecology : pollution works at all.

3

Weird. I chose what you chose, prior to looking at the spoilers. I agree with you. The one that’s selected as the “right” answer isn’t what I’d pick at all. I see the analogy as <study>:<subject>, and the website selected answer didn’t fit that criterion. The answer the website picked was more <study>:<small part of the subject>. Whatever you’re missing, I’m missing it too.

4

What Crotalus said, only my own reaction was slightly less polite.

Ecology is definitely not the study of pollution.

5

The only possible answer is the one you chose. The “correct” answer makes no sense at all.

6

It’s definitely B. The website must have made a mistake.

7

The fact that it was on indiacareer.com? There might be slight language gap.

8

:confused: Check the link out again. It says indicareer.com. Nothing about other countries there.

9

Me no read so good :frowning:

10

for the record, I also had it down as B.

11

B here too. A is wrong.

12

B is absolutely the correct answer.

13

Well… After actually clicking the link (which is broken), and going to indicareer.com, it appears to be a website based in India.

14

B is the correct answer, but we all know this. Don’t doubt yourself.

15

I even went and looked up “ecology” and “botany” to make sure these words didn’t mean something different from what I thought they did, and nope. They’re what I thought they were, and answering A) is crazy talk.

16

OK, thanks everyone. Some of the previous questions on the site were substantially tougher, and then this lowball comes along and I get it wrong, so I kind of did second guess myself.

Thanks for the replies all.

17

I’ve seen mistakes in test prep books before, I sure it can happen on websites too. It’s obviously B.

18

It’s also outdated–there haven’t been analogy questions on the SAT for several years now.

19

*What?! *That was the best part!

20

Botany:Plants would be the only correct answer. As others are just part of what it studies, like history does include the study of people and ecology does study pollution but they are limited in the example, unlike botany:plants.:smack: