NNAT3 Level B

Four nonverbal reasoning areas: pattern completion (which piece finishes a design), reasoning by analogy (which shape relates the same way), serial reasoning (what comes next in a sequence), and spatial visualization (how shapes combine, fold, or rotate). All items are pictures, so a child never has to read or write to answer.

The publisher sets the current item count and administration time, and these can change between editions and formats, so check Pearson's NNAT3 materials or ask your school for the exact figure. In practice, most young children finish comfortably within a single class period, and the test is untimed or generously timed depending on the administration.

No fixed pass mark exists. Results are compared with national norms and reported as percentiles and stanines, and schools set their own cutoffs for gifted screening or program placement. A percentile tells you how the child performed relative to same-age peers, not whether they passed or failed anything.

Retake rules belong to the school or district, not to the test itself, and many programs allow retesting only after a set interval or not at all. Ask the coordinator before the first sitting what the policy is, and treat a single low score as one data point rather than a verdict.

The early items are simple - pick the shape that completes a pattern - and difficulty climbs gradually toward multi-step analogies and rotations. Most children find the beginning easy and the last few items genuinely challenging; that spread is intentional so the test can distinguish a wide range of reasoning levels.

Start with pattern completion, because it teaches the basic rule of the test: find the missing piece that makes the whole design consistent. Then move to analogies, where the child must spot the relationship between two shapes and apply it to a third. Sequences and folding or rotation puzzles come last, since they build on those habits.

Rushing to the first answer that looks similar, ignoring one feature (such as color or size) while matching another, and losing track of a sequence's direction. Another common slip is choosing an answer that fits the first half of the pattern but breaks later. Encourage the child to check every answer against all parts of the puzzle.

Keep sessions to ten or fifteen minutes, use everyday objects and drawn shapes, and ask the child to explain their choice out loud - reasoning aloud is the real skill being built. Avoid timed drills and score talk. Familiarity with the puzzle types reduces anxiety far more than volume of practice.

No. Schools typically combine the score with teacher ratings, classroom work, and other assessments, and each district weighs these differently. The score is one piece of evidence about reasoning ability, not an automatic ticket or a label.