Non-verbal reasoning: shape rules, sequences and space
Non-verbal reasoning in the ISEB Common Pre-Test uses diagrams rather than words: shapes, grids, dots, shading, arrows and nets. Every question contains a rule that is consistent and visible, and the answer is the option that obeys it. No outside knowledge is required - what is tested is systematic observation and the ability to compare options against a rule you have identified.
What the rules are usually made of
- Number: sides, vertices, dots, lines, enclosed regions, shapes inside shapes.
- Shading: black, white, grey, striped, and where shading moves.
- Rotation: 45° or 90° clockwise or anticlockwise, tracked shape by shape.
- Reflection: a mirror image cannot be rotated to match the original, so check whether a slope leans left or right.
- Size and position: elements growing, shrinking, swapping corners, moving along an edge.
- Cubes and nets: opposite faces of a cube never touch; fold a net in your head one face at a time.
- Combination and folding: which two shapes join to make a square; what a hole pattern looks like unfolded.
Worked example
A sequence shows four figures. The first is an arrow pointing north with one dot; the second points east with two dots; the third points south with three dots. What comes next? Two rules run together: the arrow turns 90° clockwise each time (north, east, south), and the number of dots rises by one. The fourth figure must therefore point west and carry four dots. An option pointing west with three dots breaks the dot rule; an option pointing north with four dots breaks the rotation rule.
Traps that cost marks
Tracking one changing feature and ignoring a second, such as shading or dot count. Confusing a reflection with a rotation - a mirrored shape is not simply a turned one. Forgetting that in a 3×3 matrix the rule must hold both across rows and down columns. Choosing the first plausible option without checking every option against the rule. Counting lines that cross as extra sides.