Pictorial Reasoning: Analogies, Classification, Series, Paper Folding
Pictorial Reasoning uses drawings rather than words: picture analogies (A is to B as C is to ?), picture classification (which picture does not belong), picture series (what comes next), and paper folding (how many holes appear when a folded sheet is punched and reopened).
Find the rule, then the answer
Never choose by what "looks nice." State the rule in a sentence first - "the arrow turns a quarter turn to the right each time" - then eliminate any choice that breaks it.
Classification
Three pictures share a feature the fourth lacks: number of parts, symmetry, living versus non-living, or what the object is used for. Test the most obvious feature first; if all four share it, move to a subtler one, such as having an enclosed area.
Series
Check changes in this order: number, size, shading, position, then rotation. A series can combine two rules, for example alternating shape while growing by one.
Paper folding
Each fold doubles the layers. One punch through two layers gives two holes when unfolded, placed as mirror images across the fold line - unless the punch sits on the fold itself, which leaves a single hole.
Worked example. A square is folded in half once, left to right, and one hole is punched through both layers away from the crease. Opened out, the paper shows two holes side by side, the same distance from the crease, mirrored. A test-taker who draws one hole has forgotten the second layer.
Traps
- Copying the last picture instead of continuing the change.
- Matching by color when the rule is shape.
- Forgetting that two folds make four layers, so one punch can yield four holes.
- Punching on the crease and still counting two holes.