Abstract Reasoning Rule Families: A Checklist to Crack Any Sequence

Why a checklist works

The number of rule types used in abstract sequences is limited. Test writers combine them, disguise them and apply them to different shapes, but the underlying families are few. If you check each family in the same order every time, you will rarely miss a rule, and you will stop wasting time on features that do not change.

The key habit is to isolate one feature. Look only at the number of elements across all five figures; then look only at the shading; then only at the position of a single element. Trying to see everything at once is what causes the 'blank stare'.

Family 1: Counting

Count anything that can be counted: shapes, sides, corners, lines, intersections, dots, enclosed areas. The count may increase by a constant amount (1, 2, 3, 4), alternate (2, 4, 2, 4), or follow a slightly more complex progression (1, 2, 4, 7, adding one more each time).

A frequent disguise is counting the total number of sides across all shapes in a figure rather than the number of shapes. A triangle and a square together have seven sides; a pentagon and a line segment may count as six.

Family 2: Position and movement

Track one element at a time. Does it move around the corners of the frame clockwise? Does it move one cell along a grid, wrapping around at the edge? Does it move two steps each time, or a growing number of steps?

When several elements move, they often move at different speeds or in opposite directions. Follow each one separately and predict its position in the missing figure before looking at the options.

Family 3: Rotation and reflection

Arrows, asymmetric shapes and lines are often rotated by a fixed angle — 45°, 90° or 180° — in a consistent direction. Check the angle between consecutive figures, not between the first and last.

Reflection is easily confused with rotation. A shape that 'flips' so that its left and right sides swap has been reflected, and no rotation will produce the same image. Look for asymmetric details such as a small notch or a dot on one side.

Family 4: Shading and colour

Shading can alternate (black, white, black), move from one element to the next, or depend on another feature — for example, the shape in the top position is always black. Some sequences change the shading of one element each step until all are shaded.

Family 5: Size and transformation

Elements can grow or shrink, gain or lose sides (triangle, square, pentagon), or be replaced by another shape in a fixed cycle. When a figure seems to change completely from one step to the next, check whether each element follows its own cycle independently.

Family 6: Addition, subtraction and superimposition

In some sequences, a figure is created by combining the two before it: lines present in both disappear, lines present in only one remain (or the opposite). These rules are less common but very time-consuming if you do not recognise them, so it is worth knowing that they exist.

Family 7: Alternation and interleaved sequences

Sometimes figures 1, 3 and 5 follow one rule while figures 2 and 4 follow another. If no rule seems to work across consecutive figures, compare every second figure. Alternation is also used for single features, such as a shape that appears in odd-numbered figures only.

Handling combined rules

Harder questions combine two or three rules: for example, a dot moving clockwise, the number of triangles increasing by one, and the shading alternating. The method does not change — find each rule separately — but the way you use the answer options becomes important.

Once you have identified the first rule, eliminate every option that breaks it. Then apply the second rule to the remaining options. Often only one option survives after two rules, so you do not need to identify the third at all. This elimination approach is the fastest way to handle complex sequences.

The checklist in one place

Run through this list in order, spending a few seconds on each item:

• Number: how many shapes, sides, lines or dots?
• Position: where is each element, and how does it move?
• Rotation and reflection: does anything turn or flip?
• Shading: what is filled, and how does that change?
• Shape and size: does any element change type or size?
• Combination: is a figure built from previous ones?
• Alternation: do odd and even figures follow different rules?

How to practise

When you review an abstract question, write the rules in words: 'black dot moves one corner clockwise; number of lines +1'. This makes your knowledge explicit and transferable to new sequences. Keep a list of the rule types that took you longest to see, and look for them first in future questions. After a few weeks, most candidates notice that they identify the first rule in seconds, which leaves time for the difficult combinations.