Folding and punching holes: 11+ non-verbal reasoning
A square of paper is folded, holes are punched through it, and it’s opened out. Where are the holes now?
What the questions look like
The folds are drawn one at a time, with a dashed fold line and an arrow showing which half moves, then the folded paper with its holes. The options show the sheet opened out.
Each fold doubles the holes: every hole punched is reflected in the fold line, the same distance from it on the other side.
Count the layers
One fold makes two layers, two folds make four: that’s how many holes each punch makes.
Open the last fold first
Reflect each hole in that fold line.
Then the fold before
Reflect all the holes again in the earlier fold line.
A worked example
Which figure shows the paper opened out?
The left half is folded over onto the right half, along the dashed line.
Two holes are punched through both layers, in the right half.
Opened out, each hole has a twin in the left half, the same distance from the fold: four holes in all.
Try 8 questions
New questions every time, in the style of GL Assessment’s papers, and marked when you finish.
The usual mistakes
Forgetting the reflections
Choosing the sheet with only the punched holes.
Reflecting in the wrong line
Mirroring the holes top to bottom after a fold down the middle.
Losing count with two folds
Opening only one fold, so there are two of each hole instead of four.
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 folding and punching holes
How many holes will there be?
Each fold doubles them: one fold makes two holes for every one punched, and two folds make four. Then each hole is reflected in the fold line, the same distance from it on the other side.
What’s a good way to practise?
With real paper and a hole punch. Fold a square once, punch a hole, and guess where the holes will be before opening it. A few minutes of that makes the questions on paper much easier to picture.
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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