Nets of cubes: 11+ non-verbal reasoning
A net of six squares, each with its own design. Which cube could it fold into?
What the questions look like
A flat net and five cubes, each drawn showing its front, its top and its right side. The wrong cubes show two faces side by side that are opposite each other on the folded cube, the right three faces in the wrong order round the corner (a mirror image), or a design that isn’t on the net.
Find the opposite faces
In a straight row of squares, faces with one square between them end up opposite.
Rule out impossible pairs
Opposite faces can never be seen at the same time.
Check the order round the corner
Fold the net in your head from one face and see which face goes on top and which on the right.
A worked example
Which cube could be made from the net?
The row of four: a dot, blank, a ring and black. Faces with one square between them are opposite: the dot and the ring, the blank face and black.
The cross and the grey face, above and below the row, are opposite too. So no cube can show a cross beside grey.
Fold it up with the ring at the front: the cross goes on top, and the black face on the right. That cube is one the net can make.
Try 8 questions
New questions every time, in the style of GL Assessment’s papers, and marked when you finish.
The usual mistakes
Putting opposite faces together
Choosing a cube that shows two faces which are opposite on the net.
Choosing a mirror image
The right three faces in the wrong order round the corner.
Not checking every face
Missing a design that isn’t on the net at all.
The other kinds of question
Each has its own page with a worked example and questions to try. What non-verbal reasoning is, and who tests it.
With Exam Prep, Thena sets practice papers in your child’s test’s style and goes over every mistake with them on her board: £49 a month with the Solo plan.
Questions about nets of cubes
How do you find opposite faces on a net?
In a straight row of squares, the faces with one square between them end up opposite each other. Faces that are opposite can never be seen side by side on the cube, which rules out a lot of options straight away.
Why are two options with the same three faces not both right?
Three faces meet at a corner in a set order going round it. The same three faces in the other order is the cube’s mirror image, which the net can’t make.
Thena goes over every question your child gets wrong
She draws it on her board, finds where it went wrong and works it through with them, then gives them one like it to do alone.
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