Abstract reasoning: finding the rules in a series

6 min read · updated October 2026

You see five frames and must pick the sixth from five options. In ten minutes for ten items you have a minute each, including the time to compare five candidate answers. The difficulty comes from several things changing at once.

The attributes to track

• Rotation of an asymmetric glyph by a fixed angle, sometimes alternating direction or combined with mirroring.
• Position of a small element moving around the frame, sometimes at an increasing step.
• Count of marks going up or down, occasionally linked to another attribute (the number of sides of the central shape).
• Shape and fill cycling through a short sequence.
• Size growing, shrinking or oscillating.
• Background and frame: a line rotating behind the figure, a border changing style.

Method

1. List the elements in frame 1. Each element usually follows its own rule.
2. For each element, compare frames 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 to state the rule in words ("rotates 45° clockwise", "one more dot").
3. Predict frame 6 before looking at the options, then eliminate options that break any rule.
4. If two options remain, the difference between them tells you which rule you have not yet identified.

Wrong options are built to break exactly one rule each: no rotation, rotation in the wrong direction, one position too far, one mark too many. Checking every rule against the option you favour is what prevents a near miss.