EPSO abstract reasoning

You get five figures in a series with the sixth missing, and five candidates to complete it. Find what changes from one figure to the next, and carry it one step further.

You have one minute per question, so knowing the formats is what saves the time. Spot a rotation plus a count in 5 seconds and you have 55 left to solve it.

What changes between figures

Each series runs on one or more rules, each acting on one property:

• Shape. Steps through a fixed set of shapes, in order.
• Rotation. Turns by a fixed angle each step.
• Size. Grows or shrinks through fixed steps.
• Shading. Moves between unshaded, partial and solid.
• Number. How many elements there are rises or falls.
• Position. An element moves through fixed slots.

Every one of these is a cycle, so at the end of the ladder it starts again at the beginning. Missing that is the most common reason for reading the rule right and still picking wrong.

A method that fits in a minute

1. Compare figure 1 to figure 2 and name every difference. Do not solve yet.
2. Check each difference against figures 2 to 3. A real rule repeats. A coincidence does not.
3. Apply every surviving rule to figure 5 and picture figure 6 before looking at the options.
4. Now look. If two options fit, you missed a rule. Go back to the one property you did not check.

Practice that never runs out

We generate the items rather than draw them from a fixed set, so you never run out. Wrong options are built by bending the real rules.

Once the format feels automatic, sit it under the clock with the other two in the full mock exam.