Sample question 1
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Answer options
Answer
Figure C
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Free CAST preparation · 10 questions in 10 minutes
CAST abstract reasoning
Ten questions in ten minutes — one minute each, the tightest clock in the exam. Five figures in a series, the sixth missing, and one rule to find and carry forward.
CAST abstract reasoning is the language-free test: five figures in a series with the sixth missing, and five candidate figures to complete it. There is nothing to read and nothing to know. You find what changes from one figure to the next, and carry it one step further.
It is also the fastest test in the exam. Ten questions in ten minutes is one minute each, which is why format familiarity matters more here than raw reasoning ability. A candidate who recognises "this is a rotation plus a count" in five seconds has fifty-five seconds to solve it; a candidate meeting the format for the first time does not.
What actually changes between figures
Each series is governed by one or more independent rules, each acting on a single property of the figure:
- Shape — the series steps through a fixed alphabet of shapes, in order.
- Rotation — the figure turns by a constant angle each step, clockwise or anticlockwise.
- Size — elements grow or shrink through a fixed ladder of sizes.
- Shading — the fill steps between unshaded, partial and solid.
- Number — how many elements the figure contains rises or falls.
- Position — an element moves through fixed slots in the tile.
Every one of these is a cycle, not a one-way walk. When a property reaches the end of its ladder it starts again at the beginning. Missing that is the single most common reason a candidate reads the rule correctly and still picks the wrong figure.
A method that fits in a minute
- Compare figure 1 to figure 2 and name every difference you can see. Do not solve yet.
- Check each named difference against figures 2 to 3. A real rule repeats; a coincidence does not.
- Apply every surviving rule to figure 5 and form a picture of what figure 6 must look like before you look at the options.
- Now look. If two options both fit, you have missed a rule — go back to the one property you did not check.
Why the practice bank does not run out
Abstract items here are generated rather than drawn from a fixed set, and each one is machine-checked before it is served: the intended answer must be the only figure among the five that satisfies every rule, and the five must be visually distinguishable from one another. Wrong options are built by perturbing the real rules — a rotation one step short, a count that ignores the wrap — rather than drawn at random, which is what makes them worth practising against.
Once the format is automatic, sit it under the clock alongside the other two in the full mock.
What costs candidates marks here
Stopping at the first rule
More than one thing usually changes at once. Finding the rotation and answering immediately leaves the shading rule unchecked, and the options are built so that gets you a near-miss rather than a wrong-looking figure.
Missing the wrap-around
A change cycles rather than running off the end. The largest size starts again at the smallest, a solid shape starts again unshaded. An option that ignores the wrap is always among the five.
Reading the grid as a grid
The figures are one sequence read left to right, top row first. They are not columns and not pairs, and the missing sixth place is simply the next one in that sequence.
Spending three minutes on one item
Ten minutes for ten questions gives you no recovery time at all. An item you cannot see in ninety seconds is an item to guess and leave, because it is costing you two you could have had.
Free CAST abstract reasoning sample questions
Worked in full, answers and explanations included. These are real items from the practice bank, shown exactly as they appear when you sit them.
Sample question 2
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Answer options
Answer
Figure D
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Sample question 3
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Answer options
Answer
Figure E
Each step, the figure turns 150° clockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° clockwise.
Sample question 4
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Answer options
Answer
Figure E
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Sample question 5
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Answer options
Answer
Figure A
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Sample question 6
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Answer options
Answer
Figure A
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Sample question 7
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Answer options
Answer
Figure C
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Sample question 8
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Answer options
Answer
Figure B
Each step, the figure turns 150° anticlockwise. So the missing figure is a single wedge, turned another 150° anticlockwise.
Keep going, free
The samples above are eight of many. Practice is untimed, marks every answer as you give it, and never asks for a card.