Nonverbal Domain - OLSAT Level B
The Nonverbal domain of the OLSAT Level B removes reading from the problem. Items show pictures, geometric shapes, and patterns, and the student must find the rule that connects them. The tested skills are classification, analogy, series completion, and matrix reasoning with attributes such as size, color, shading, number, orientation, and position.
Core rules and concepts
- Classification: exactly three figures share a feature; find the feature that excludes only the fourth.
- Analogies: describe the change from the first figure to the second, then apply that same change to the third figure.
- Series: track each attribute separately. A series may rotate 90° clockwise at every step while shading alternates.
- Matrices: read both a row rule and a column rule, then check that the answer satisfies both.
- Attribute counting: count sides, corners, dots, or enclosed regions when the shapes look similar.
Worked example
A 2×2 matrix. Top-left: small black circle. Top-right: large black circle. Bottom-left: small white circle. Bottom-right: ?
Row rule: size changes from small to large. Column rule: shading changes from black to white. The missing figure must be large and white, so the answer is a large white circle. A small white circle copies the bottom-left figure and ignores the row rule; a large black circle ignores the column rule.
Traps that cost marks
- Applying one rule and stopping. In a matrix, an answer that fits the row but breaks the column is a trap choice.
- Reversing the direction of a rotation or forgetting that the turn is counterclockwise.
- Matching the last figure in a series instead of continuing the change.
- Choosing a figure that is different for an irrelevant reason in classification, such as being the only one drawn at a slant when three others share a dot count.
- Counting only the obvious attribute and missing a second one, such as number of dots, that also changes.