Number Series Test
Which of five bands you land in, from Pattern Spotting Is Still Forming up to Series Specialist. Steady Steps, Growing Steps, Two Series and Chained Rules, each scored separately so you can see which kind of rule costs you marks. A routine for the kind of series you miss, plus the roles where finding a rule in a column of numbers is part of the day.
What You'll Discover
Your number series band
Your number series bandWhich of five bands you land in, from Pattern Spotting Is Still Forming up to Series Specialist
Four sub-scores
Four sub-scoresSteady Steps, Growing Steps, Two Series and Chained Rules, each scored separately so you can see which kind of rule costs you marks
What it means for practice
What it means for practiceA routine for the kind of series you miss, plus the roles where finding a rule in a column of numbers is part of the day
Sample Result
🔬 Research & Sources
A number series question looks small, but it asks for a whole routine: write the gaps, check the ratios, split the row, test the rule on every number. The 24 questions are original series written by JobCannon in four groups of six, so a result says which kind of rule slowed you down, and a gap-reading slip and a chained-rule slip are fixed by different practice. Every question has exactly one correct option, checked by a program that searches a large space of candidate rules and confirms only one answer is supported, and the wrong options come from common slips. This is an in-house practice test with no published norms and no reliability or validity study, and it is not any publisher's battery.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is my score calculated?
Each of the 24 series has exactly one correct next number, identified by its value rather than by where it sits among the four options. A correct pick earns 3 points and a wrong pick earns 0, with no penalty for guessing. Your percent correct sets one of five tiers, and your answers in the four groups of rule give four sub-scores. JobCannon checks your answers on its server, so the key never reaches your browser.
Can a question have more than one right answer?
In theory any row of numbers can be continued in endless ways, so every series here was checked by program against a wide set of plausible rules: adding or multiplying a fixed amount, gaps and gaps of gaps, odd and even places, sums of earlier terms, squares and cubes. Each question has exactly one option that fits a reasonable rule, and series where two options both fit were dropped.
Are the wrong answers realistic, or just random numbers?
No. Each wrong option is a mistake a careful solver really makes, such as carrying on the wrong step, dropping a minus sign, continuing the other series in an interleaved row, or applying the first rule to the whole row. That makes the test a fair check of whether you found the rule, rather than a hunt for the number that looks different from the rest.
Does the position of the right answer follow a pattern across the questions?
No. The options are listed from smallest to largest, and the right answer sits in each of the four positions equally often, six times each across the 24 questions. It is also not systematically the largest, the smallest or the middle number, so clicking the same position every time or always picking the biggest number scores about what chance does.
Do the questions use negative numbers or fractions?
Negative numbers can, because a few series count down past zero or flip their sign at every step, so a correct answer can be below zero. Every number shown and every option is a whole number, so you never need to work with fractions or decimals, although a few series grow by a factor such as one and a half, which gives whole numbers throughout.
What should I do when I cannot see the rule?
Work through the same short checklist each time. Write the gaps between neighbours, then the ratios, then the gaps between the gaps. Split the row into odd and even places, and try adding the previous two terms. If none of these fits, mark your best guess and move on, since the test has no countdown timer and a wrong answer costs nothing beyond the points you would not have earned.
What do the four sub-scores mean?
Steady Steps covers series that repeat one move, such as adding the same amount or multiplying by the same factor. Growing Steps covers series where the gaps change, plus squares and cubes. Two Series covers rows with two sequences woven together or two steps that alternate. Chained Rules covers series built from earlier terms or with a rule that changes as the row goes on.