Similar shapes questions require you to recognise which shape out of a selection has consistencies to one or more sample shapes.

There will probably be more than one similarity between the shapes you’re shown, so you need to work out which one matches the correct suggested shape.

For example, look at the two shapes below. What are the similarities and do they match any of the shapes that are given?

At first you might notice the dots inside the shapes. This is a consistency, but all the suggested answers have dots too, so that doesn’t help us. We can only have one answer.

Another similarity is that both shapes are quadrilaterals, and the only other shape with four sides is C. That works.

There aren’t any other similarities, so we must have found the correct answer.

These questions can seem tricky at first, but with practice you will start to notice patterns and find the similarities much faster.