Turned figures: 11+ non-verbal reasoning
Which option is the first figure turned? Some options are its mirror image turned, and no turn can make those match.
What the questions look like
A figure, often made of squares with some shaded, and five options. One is the figure turned a quarter, half or three-quarter turn. The others are mirror images, or have a square shaded in the wrong place.
Pick a part to follow
Choose something easy to spot, such as the black square.
Line it up
In each option, imagine turning it until that part sits where it does in the figure.
Check a second part
If a second part (the grey square) is on the same side, it’s a turn. On the other side, it’s a mirror image.
A worked example
Which figure is the first one turned?
The figure: a column of three squares with the black one at the top, and a grey square to the right of the bottom one.
Turned a quarter turn clockwise, the column lies along the top, the black square at the right end, and the grey square hangs below the left end.
Its mirror image has the grey square on the left. Turn it any way you like: when the black square lines up, the grey one is on the wrong side. It isn’t a turn.
Try 8 questions
New questions every time, in the style of GL Assessment’s papers, and marked when you finish.
The usual mistakes
Picking a mirror image
It has all the right squares, so it looks right. Checking a second part shows it’s flipped.
Turning the outline but not the shading
Picturing the shape turn but leaving the black square where it was.
Turning the wrong way
A quarter turn clockwise and anticlockwise end up in different places.
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 turned figures
How can you tell a turned figure from a mirror image?
Line up one distinctive part, such as the black square, so it sits where it does in the first figure. Then check a second part. If it’s on the same side, the figure has been turned; if it’s on the other side, it’s a mirror image, and no turn will ever make it match.
Is it all right to turn the page?
On paper, yes, and it helps while learning. The aim is to be able to picture the turn without it, which comes with practice.
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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