Non-verbal reasoning tests are built from a small number of question types: series, matrices, odd one out, similar shapes, analogies, codes, and spatial items such as reflections, cube nets and folded paper. Each type asks you to find a rule in a set of shapes, but each has its own best method and its own favourite trap. This guide explains how every type works and how to solve it.
Every type below appears in our free non-verbal reasoning test, with a worked solution for each question.
Series questions
What you see: a row of four or five figures, then a gap. You choose the figure that comes next, or sometimes one missing from the middle.
How to solve it: follow one element at a time across every figure. Does it rotate, move, grow, change shading, or appear and disappear? When you have a rule for one element, move to the next. Then apply every rule to predict the missing figure before you look at the options.
The trap: options that get one rule right and another wrong, such as the correct rotation with the wrong shading. Predicting first protects you from them.
Matrix questions
What you see: a grid, usually three by three, with one cell empty.
How to solve it: read along the rows and down the columns separately, because the rule may run in one direction or both. Common patterns are a count that rises across each row, or each row containing one of each of three shapes. When both directions carry a rule, the missing cell has to satisfy both, which usually leaves only one option.
The trap: a rule that seems to work across the rows but breaks down a column. If the two disagree, recheck your rule against a corner cell, which sits in both a row and a column.
Odd one out questions
What you see: four or five figures. One does not follow the rule the others share.
How to solve it: look for the property that splits the figures into a group and a single exception. Run down a short checklist: number of sides, curved or straight lines, symmetry, shading, number of internal elements, and the position of those elements.
The trap: several obvious differences that are not the rule. If three different properties each make a different figure the odd one out, none of them is the answer. Keep looking for the property that leaves exactly one figure out.
Similar shapes questions
What you see: one or more sample shapes and a set of options. You pick the option that belongs with the samples.
How to solve it: this is elimination rather than recognition.
- List the properties the samples share: sides, corners, symmetry, shading, internal elements.
- Cross off any property that every option also has, because it cannot pick a winner.
- Test what is left against the options, one property at a time.
- Stop when exactly one option remains. If two survive, you have missed a property.
For example, if both samples are four sided and both contain dots, but every option also contains dots, the dots are irrelevant. The answer is the only option with four sides.
The trap: the loud shared feature. Dots, arrows and bold shading are used precisely because they draw the eye. Also, the correct option may be larger, smaller, rotated or reflected compared with the samples. Only the defining property has to match.
Analogy questions
What you see: a pair of figures, then a third figure and a gap. “This is to that, as this is to what?”
How to solve it: describe the change within the first pair in words, then apply exactly the same change to the third figure. For example, if a small white circle becomes a large white circle, the change is “same shape, same shading, larger”. Applied to a small black square, the answer is a large black square.
The trap: options that apply a similar change that is not the same, such as the right size but the wrong shading.
Code questions
What you see: several figures, each with a code of two or three letters. Each letter stands for one feature, such as shape, shading or the direction of an arrow. You work out the code for a new figure.
How to solve it: find two figures whose codes share a letter, and see what they have in common. That tells you what the letter means. Then find two that differ by one letter, and see what is different. Work through each letter position until you can build the new code.
The trap: assuming the first letter always means the most obvious feature. Prove each letter from the examples rather than guessing.
Reflection and rotation questions
What you see: a shape and a mirror line, or a shape and a set of rotated versions. You pick the correct reflection or rotation.
How to solve it: pick one distinctive, asymmetric feature, such as a notch or a shaded corner, and follow it. In a reflection, every point ends up the same distance from the mirror line, on the other side. A vertical mirror swaps left and right, and a horizontal mirror swaps top and bottom. In a rotation, the shape turns but its handedness never changes.
The trap: a rotation offered as a reflection. A shape turned through half a turn faces the opposite way and looks reflected at a glance, but its handedness is unchanged. Only an asymmetric feature separates the two.
Cube net questions
What you see: a flat net of six squares, often with symbols on the faces, and several cubes. You pick the cube the net folds into, or say which face ends up opposite another.
How to solve it:
- Count the faces. A cube net has exactly six squares.
- Pick one face as the base and fold the others up around it.
- Use the opposite face rule. In a straight line of squares, two faces with exactly one square between them end up opposite each other. Two squares that share an edge on the net are always neighbours on the cube, never opposite.
- Eliminate rather than build. One impossible pairing rules an option out.
Worked example. Three squares sit in a row: P, Q and R from left to right. Square S is above Q. Below Q is square T, and below T is square U. Which face is opposite S?
Read the vertical strip S, Q, T, U as a line of four. The first and third are opposite, so S is opposite T, and Q is opposite U. P and R hang either side of Q with one square between them, so they are the last pair. The answer is T. Six faces make exactly three pairs, which confirms you have not double counted.
The trap: options that show the right faces with a symbol turned a quarter turn. Note which edge of each face a symbol points to before you fold.
Folding and punched hole questions
What you see: a sheet of paper folded once or more, with holes punched through it. You pick how it looks when unfolded.
How to solve it: unfold one step at a time, in reverse order. Each unfold reflects every hole across that fold line, doubling the count. One punch through paper folded in half gives two holes; folded in half twice, it gives four.
The trap: forgetting that each hole is reflected across the fold, not simply copied to the other side.
Plan view and 3D questions
What you see: a solid made of blocks, and several flat outlines. You pick what the solid looks like from directly above, or from one side.
How to solve it: imagine standing directly above the shape. Height disappears, so a tall block and a short block with the same footprint look identical. Trace the outline first, then add any internal lines where one level meets another.
The trap: adding detail that can only be seen from the side.
How the types fit together
Most tests mix several of these types, and many questions combine more than one rule. The skill underneath is always the same: break the figure into elements, find the rule for each, and predict before you look. To see each type worked through with answers, read our non-verbal reasoning examples. For an overview of the test itself, see what non-verbal reasoning is, and for timing and test day advice, read how to pass a non-verbal reasoning test.
Practise every question type
Knowing the method for each type is the first step. Recognising which type you are looking at, and applying the method in under a minute, comes from practice. A timed non-verbal reasoning practice test will show you which types slow you down.
