11+ Non-Verbal Reasoning: Question Types Explained

Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR) tests how a child works with shapes, patterns and space — no words required. It’s often the least familiar part of the 11+, which makes practice especially valuable. Here are the main question types explained.

Figure analogies

The shape version of a word analogy: work out how one pair of pictures relates, then apply the same change to complete a second pair. The change might be a rotation, a colour swap or an added element.

Series and sequences

A row of shapes changes step by step, and the child picks what comes next. The pattern could be a shape growing, rotating, or gaining a line each time.

Odd one out

Four or five shapes share a rule, and one breaks it. Spotting the shared rule — same number of sides, same shading, same symmetry — is the key.

Matrices

A grid (often 2×2 or 3×3) with one cell missing. The child works out the pattern across rows and down columns to choose the missing shape.

Rotations and reflections

Identifying how a shape has been turned or mirrored. These test spatial awareness and can be tricky under time pressure.

Codes and spatial puzzles

Shape “codes” link letters to features of a figure, while spatial questions involve nets, cubes and folding — imagining how a flat shape folds into 3D. These reward careful, methodical thinking.

How to get better at Non-Verbal Reasoning

NVR improves fastest with exposure and pattern-spotting practice. The more varied questions a child sees, the quicker they recognise the underlying rules. Freshly generated NVR questions — rather than the same few repeated — are ideal, which is exactly what our shape engine produces.

See how your child does with our free 11+ practice test, or read our guide to Verbal Reasoning question types.