Figural Reasoning: Shapes, Series, and Number Patterns
Figural Reasoning is the abstract, non-verbal side of Level C: figural analogies, figural classification, figural series, number series, and numeric inference (number matrices and number analogies). Little reading is required, but the same rule-finding discipline applies.
Figural items
Describe each change in geometry words: rotate 90° clockwise, flip over a vertical line, add a side, shade half, move the dot from inside to outside. In a figural analogy, the relationship between the first two figures must be applied to the third in the same direction and by the same amount.
Number series
Try rules in a fixed order: constant difference (3, 7, 11, 15 - add 4), then constant multiplier, then a combined rule (× 2 + 1), then two interleaved sequences, where positions 1, 3, 5 follow one rule and 2, 4, 6 another.
Numeric inference
Find a rule that holds for every row or column of the grid, not just the first one you spot, and only then apply it to the missing cell.
Worked example. 2, 5, 11, 23, ___. The differences are 3, 6, 12 - doubling, so the next difference is 24 and the term is 47. Confirm with the multiplier rule: 2 × 2 + 1 = 5; 5 × 2 + 1 = 11; 11 × 2 + 1 = 23; 23 × 2 + 1 = 47. Two independent rules agreeing is the confidence signal you want before committing.
Traps
- Assuming a constant difference because the first two gaps happen to match.
- Rotating counter-clockwise when the model rotates clockwise.
- Using a rule that fits one row of a matrix but fails another.
- Choosing an answer that is merely "close" instead of exactly derived.