MLAT Paired Associate Memorization 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In the MLAT Paired Associates task, you study word pairs like 'nep = body'. If 'nep' appears later in a sentence, what should you recall?
- The word that sounds similar in English
- The meaning 'body' (Correct answer)
- The grammatical category of 'nep'
- Another word that starts with 'n'
Correct answer: The meaning 'body'
The task requires recalling the English meaning assigned to each artificial word during the study phase.
Question 2: Which cognitive skill is MOST directly measured by the Paired Associates subtest of the MLAT?
- Phonetic coding
- Grammatical sensitivity
- Rote learning ability (Correct answer)
- Inductive reasoning
Correct answer: Rote learning ability
Paired Associates measures rote learning ability—the capacity to memorize arbitrary form-meaning connections.
Question 3: A learner studied 24 word-meaning pairs and correctly recalled 18 on the test. What is their accuracy rate?
- 70%
- 72%
- 75% (Correct answer)
- 78%
Correct answer: 75%
18 ÷ 24 = 0.75, which equals 75% accuracy.
Question 4: On the MLAT Paired Associates section, the artificial words are designed to be unfamiliar. Why?
- To test pronunciation skills
- To eliminate prior knowledge advantages (Correct answer)
- To measure reading speed
- To assess grammatical intuition
Correct answer: To eliminate prior knowledge advantages
Using invented words ensures all test-takers start with equal prior knowledge, isolating pure memorization ability.
Question 5: Which study strategy would LEAST help performance on the Paired Associates subtest?
- Repeating each pair aloud multiple times
- Creating a vivid mental image linking the pair
- Analyzing the grammatical structure of the artificial word (Correct answer)
- Writing each pair several times
Correct answer: Analyzing the grammatical structure of the artificial word
Analyzing grammatical structure is irrelevant since the artificial words have no real grammar; repetition and imagery are more effective.
Question 6: In a Paired Associates test with 4 answer choices per item, what is the probability of answering correctly by random guessing?
- 10%
- 20%
- 25% (Correct answer)
- 33%
Correct answer: 25%
With 4 choices, random guessing yields a 1-in-4 chance, or 25% probability of being correct.
Question 7: Which factor is MOST likely to hurt a test-taker's score on the MLAT Paired Associates section?
- Strong grammatical knowledge
- High verbal IQ
- Poor working memory capacity (Correct answer)
- Extensive travel abroad
Correct answer: Poor working memory capacity
Working memory is critical for holding new word-meaning pairs during encoding and retrieval; poor capacity directly impairs performance.
MLAT Paired Associate Memorization 2
In the MLAT Paired Associates task, you study word pairs like 'nep = body'.
If 'nep' appears later in a sentence, what should you recall?