Academic Aptitude - Nonverbal
Academic Aptitude - Nonverbal
The nonverbal subtest assesses pattern recognition and spatial reasoning without relying on vocabulary. Items may show series of figures, classification sets, matrices, rotations, reflections, or completed patterns. You must infer the rule from the visible changes.
Core rules
- Separate each feature. Track shape, size, orientation, shading, number of elements, and position independently. A single series may change two features at once.
- Name the transformation. Is the figure rotating clockwise, reflecting across a vertical axis, moving one grid space, or gaining a side?
- Use the simplest rule that fits all frames. Do not invent a complex rule when a single rotation explains the sequence.
- Test answer choices by applying the rule forward. Eliminate any option that violates even one confirmed feature.
Worked example
A square contains a dot in its top-left corner. In each frame the square rotates 90° clockwise while the dot stays fixed to the same corner of the square. After one step the dot is top-right; after two steps it is bottom-right. The correct next figure must show the dot bottom-right, not bottom-left. A choice with the dot in the correct corner but the square reflected, not rotated, is wrong because reflection changes the dot’s relationship to the square’s edges.
Traps
Assuming an alternating pattern after only two frames; confusing reflection with rotation; ignoring the number of elements because shape matches; and choosing a figure that fits the last frame but not the whole series.