Abstract Reasoning Test Practice
An abstract reasoning test shows you sequences, grids or sets of shapes and asks you to identify the rule connecting them, then apply it. It measures how quickly you spot patterns without relying on words or numbers. A small, repeating catalogue of rules - rotation, reflection, addition, subtraction and alternation - covers almost everything you'll see.
Abstract reasoning tests, also called non-verbal or inductive reasoning tests, replace words and numbers with shapes. You're shown a sequence, a grid or a set of figures and asked to work out the rule connecting them, then pick what continues it or which figure breaks it. Employers use them heavily in graduate schemes and technical, engineering and analyst screening, often as an early filter.
The format feels intimidating the first time you meet it, because there's no obvious starting point and the shapes carry no familiar meaning. In practice the rules are drawn from a short, repeating list: rotation, reflection, a shape being added or removed, or elements alternating in a fixed order. Checking for these in a fixed order beats staring at the whole grid at once.
Below are original sample questions written out in words, since this page can't show pictures, followed by the specific rule each one uses and a study method built around spotting the rule catalogue quickly rather than hoping the answer jumps out.
The format at a glance
- Format
- Shape sequences, square grids with one cell missing, and odd-one-out sets, shown without words or numbers
- Time limit
- Strictly timed with a short per-question budget; exact limits vary by test publisher
- Question types
- Next-in-sequence, missing-cell matrix completion, and odd-one-out
- Scoring
- Each item is right or wrong against a comparison group; there's no partial credit for a plausible guess
- Who uses it
- Graduate schemes, and engineering, technical, analyst and other STEM-adjacent screening rounds
What it measures
Pattern recognition, not knowledge
Abstract reasoning measures how well you can infer a rule from a small number of examples and apply it to a new case, with no reliance on vocabulary, arithmetic or prior subject knowledge. It's built to be equally unfamiliar to every candidate, which is why employers often use it alongside, or instead of, tests that lean on language or maths.
The rule catalogue
Almost every abstract reasoning item is built from a short list of transformations: rotation, reflection (mirroring), addition or removal of an element, alternation between two states, and progression in size, shading or count. Complex-looking items usually combine two of these rather than inventing something new, which is why practising the catalogue itself pays off faster than practising individual questions.
Why timing matters
These tests are usually run under tight per-item time pressure, so they measure recognition speed as much as raw ability to solve a puzzle given unlimited time. Two candidates who could both eventually solve every item will score differently if one spots the rule in five seconds and the other in forty-five.
Sequence, matrix or odd-one-out
A sequence asks what comes next in a line of figures. A matrix asks what fills a missing cell in a grid, often requiring you to check the rule across a row and down a column separately. An odd-one-out set asks which figure breaks a rule the rest share. Each shape of question rewards a slightly different scanning order.
Practice questions with worked answers
Written by us to mirror the published format. Work each one out before you read the explanation — the method is the part that transfers, the answer is not.
- Q1sequence
A sequence of four boxes, each containing one black arrow. Box 1: arrow points up. Box 2: arrow points right. Box 3: arrow points down. Box 4: arrow points left. Which direction does the arrow point in box 5?
- Up
- Right
- Down
- Left
Correct answer
Up. The arrow rotates 90 degrees clockwise from one box to the next: up, right, down, left. That's a repeating four-step cycle, so box 5 restarts the cycle at the same direction as box 1: up. Spotting a fixed rotation amount early lets you predict every later box without re-checking the whole sequence.
- Q2matrix
A 3x3 grid of cells, each containing a number of black dots. Row 1: cell 1 has 1 dot, cell 2 has 2 dots, cell 3 has 3 dots. Row 2: cell 4 has 2 dots, cell 5 has 3 dots, cell 6 has 4 dots. Row 3: cell 7 has 3 dots, cell 8 has 4 dots, cell 9 is blank. How many dots belong in cell 9?
- 3 dots
- 5 dots
- 4 dots
- 6 dots
Correct answer
5 dots. Each cell's dot count equals its row number plus its column number, minus one: cell 7 (row 3, column 1) has 3+1-1=3 dots, cell 8 (row 3, column 2) has 3+2-1=4 dots, so cell 9 (row 3, column 3) has 3+3-1=5 dots. Checking the rule against two cells in the same row before answering confirms it holds rather than guessing from a single example.
- Q3odd-one-out
Five figures. Figure A: a large circle with a small triangle inside it. Figure B: a large square with a small triangle inside it. Figure C: a large triangle with a small triangle inside it. Figure D: a large pentagon with a small triangle inside it. Figure E: a large circle with a small square inside it. Which figure does not belong with the others?
- Figure A
- Figure B
- Figure E
- Figure C
- Figure D
Correct answer
Figure E. Every figure pairs a different large outer shape with a small triangle inside it. Figure E keeps a large circle as the outer shape but swaps the inner shape for a square, breaking the one rule shared by the rest of the set. The outer shape is a distractor here; the inner shape is what actually matters.
- Q4sequence
A row of bars, each made of black and white stripes. Bar 1 has 5 stripes. Bar 2 has 4 stripes. Bar 3 has 3 stripes. Bar 4 has 2 stripes. Bar 5 has how many stripes, if each bar has exactly one fewer stripe than the one before it?
- 0 stripes
- 2 stripes
- 3 stripes
- 1 stripe
Correct answer
1 stripe. This is a straightforward subtraction rule: each term is one less than the previous term (5, 4, 3, 2, so next is 1). Subtraction sequences like this are one of the handful of rule types abstract reasoning tests reuse, alongside addition, rotation, reflection and alternation - worth checking for first since they're the fastest to confirm.
- Q5matrix
A 2x2 grid of cells. Top-left cell: an arrow pointing up-left, positioned in the top-left corner of the cell. Top-right cell: an arrow pointing up-right, positioned in the top-right corner - a horizontal mirror of the top-left cell. Bottom-left cell: an arrow pointing down-left, positioned in the bottom-left corner - a vertical mirror of the top-left cell. What belongs in the bottom-right cell?
- An arrow pointing down-right, positioned in the bottom-right corner
- An arrow pointing up-left, positioned in the bottom-right corner
- An arrow pointing down-left, positioned in the top-right corner
- An arrow pointing up-right, positioned in the bottom-left corner
Correct answer
An arrow pointing down-right, positioned in the bottom-right corner. The grid applies two mirrors at once: reading across a row mirrors the arrow horizontally, and reading down a column mirrors it vertically. The bottom-right cell gets both mirrors applied to the original top-left arrow, which flips up-left into down-right, and its position moves to match its own corner of the grid. Matrix items often stack two simple rules like this rather than using one complicated rule.
How scores are read
Spotting the rule in one pass
You recognise the transformation from the first two or three frames without needing to check every option against it. This pace matches what most timed formats expect, though exact cut-offs are set by each employer and publisher, not by a public scale.
Working it out by elimination
You get to the right answer but need to test each option against the rule in turn. Fine for untimed practice or accuracy-focused formats, but it costs time on tightly timed ones.
Guessing on the harder half
Items that stack two rules, or use a subtler transformation like alternation, only get answered by default guess. This is usually the specific gap worth extra practice.
Published cut-offs vary
No abstract reasoning publisher makes its pass mark public, and different employers set different bars for the same test. Treat any band above as a description of your process, not a guaranteed outcome.
Try the free JobCannon Abstract Reasoning Test
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How to prepare
Learn the rule catalogue, in order
Check for rotation first, then reflection, then addition or removal of an element, then alternation, then progression in size or shading. Working through a fixed checklist is faster than staring at the whole grid hoping a pattern jumps out, and it works on almost any publisher's version of this test.
Set a strict per-item timer
Give yourself a fixed number of seconds per question when practising, then stop and mark your best guess when time runs out. This trains the skill the real test actually measures - fast recognition - rather than untimed puzzle-solving, which feels different under pressure.
Predict before you look at the options
Work out what you think comes next before scanning the answer choices. This stops a plausible-looking wrong option from talking you out of a rule you'd already correctly spotted, which is a common way accurate reasoners still lose points.
Review errors by rule type, not by question number
After a practice set, sort your wrong answers by which transformation they used - rotation, addition, alternation and so on - rather than by their position in the set. This shows you which specific rule type is actually weak, instead of a vague sense that some questions in general felt hard.
Scan matrices by row and by column separately
A matrix rule often changes across a row and independently down a column. Check each direction on its own before assuming one single rule explains the whole grid, especially on 3x3 items, since many candidates only check rows and miss a separate column rule sitting right next to it.
Warm up with easy items first
Do a handful of straightforward items before a timed practice block or the real test. Pattern recognition speed improves noticeably after even a short warm-up, and starting cold on a genuinely hard item wastes time you'll want later, when the questions get harder.
It's a non-verbal test that shows you sequences, matrices or sets of shapes instead of words or numbers, and asks you to identify the rule connecting them and apply it to find a missing or next figure. It's used to assess pattern recognition without relying on language or maths knowledge.
In practice the terms are used interchangeably by most employers and publishers. Both describe tests that ask you to infer a rule from a limited set of shape-based examples and apply it, rather than recall a fact or follow a worded instruction.
Work through sample items that describe each rule type - rotation, reflection, addition, subtraction, alternation - and time yourself doing them, since speed matters as much as accuracy on the real test. This page's sample questions are a free, unaffiliated starting point.
Yes, largely because the underlying rule types are finite and repeat across publishers. Familiarity with the catalogue of transformations speeds up recognition, which is the part these tests actually time, even though the raw pattern-spotting ability itself changes more slowly.
There's no universal pass mark. Each employer and test publisher sets its own threshold for a given role, and that number generally isn't published, so treat any specific score you see online as a guess rather than a fact.
No. They're built specifically to avoid language and arithmetic, using only shapes, patterns and figures, which is why they're often chosen for roles or candidate pools where a level playing field across different first languages or educational backgrounds matters.
They're common in graduate recruitment schemes and in engineering, technical, analyst and other STEM-adjacent hiring, often as an early-stage filter before interviews even start, since the format screens a large applicant pool quickly, consistently and without any language bias.
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