Non Verbal Reasoning Tips & Recommendations……

Our last post focused on avoiding silly mistakes. This latest article is purely focused on reviewing Non Verbal Reasoning and providing a series of Tips and Recommendations on how to improve your Non Verbal Reasoning Skills:

SUMMARY:

The notes below include some techniques and tips in order to help you improve your skills in working through Non Verbal Reasoning Questions
Non Verbal Reasoning Questions are a part of 11+ exams and usually very time constrained
The questions are focused heavily on reviewing drawings, shapes or codes.
There will be a requirement to work out sequences, similarities and differences between these figures. Or they will be required to break the code
The NVR tests are set such as to test the ability of your child to use critical thinking and logic to solve problems.
There are 6 types of questions covered in the attached paper

QUESTION TYPE 1 : IDENTIFY THE ODD ONE OUT

These types of questions are designed in order to review a number of images and identify the odd one out

TIPS & NOTES:

For the bottom picture, identify the common features first:

ü All have the same shape glass

ü All have stars and circles

ü All have a straw at an angle

ü All stars, circles, glasses and straws are the same size

ü Difference. There is a correlation between the number of stars above the straw and circles below the straw.

ü ANSWER C

QUESTION TYPE 2 : COMPLETING A SEQUENCE

Which picture comes next in the sequence?

TIPS & NOTES:

Look at ONE feature at a time from LEFT TO RIGHT:

ü Write down ABCDE on a piece of paper

ü The large image shading alternates from one image to the next. Answer can ONLY BE B,C OR D

ü The small picture represents the prior picture. OUT OF B, C & D, this only leaves one option

ü ANSWER C

QUESTION TYPE 3 : WORKING OUT A CODE

What is the code that is imbedded in the pictures?

TIPS & NOTES:

There is a methodical way to approach these questions:

ü Identify common letters in top right

ü J & S are common. Connect letters to features

ü The features S have in common are white arrows. J have black arrows. Therefore, answer is either A,B or D

ü Look at bottom letters and identify common features. T = Direction of arrow

ü Arrow up so can’t be R or T

ü ANSWER A

QUESTION TYPE 4 : Identify Common Features

Which set does the figure belong to?

TIPS & NOTES:

The trick here is to ringfence common features by Set:

ü SET A: All shapes are straight line shapes

ü SET B: Have a series of curves in every box

ü ANSWER SET A

QUESTION TYPE 5 : WHICH FIGURE IS MOST ALIKE?

Looking at pictures on the right to see which one has features common to ones on the left

TIPS & NOTES:

Summarise the COMMON features for images on the left. This is key:

ü Feature 1: Images are the same. Answer is A, B,C or E

ü Feature 2: All images are linked. Answer is A,B or C

ü Feature 3: Bottom image is the smallest. Answer is A or C

ü Feature 4: Top & Middle Image are the same size

ü ANSWER C

QUESTION TYPE 6 : IDENTIFY THE MISSING SHAPE

Which is the missing shape from a series of shapes?

TIPS & NOTES:

This often involves counting lines, shapes and looking at direction:

ü A box is being drawn one line at a time. Direction of lines. Clockwise. It’s A, D or E

ü Triangle added in centre one at a time. Anticlockwise. A or E

ü Cross from first box disappearing box by box.

ü ANSWER E

In meantime, there are also some great additional online resources. For example, this post here

11+ Study Tips

Non Verbal Reasoning Tips