Reflection & Rotation

Two of the most important skills in Non-Verbal Reasoning are understanding reflection (flipping a shape) and rotation (turning a shape). Many NVR questions — including analogies, series, and matrices — rely on these transformations. This lesson will teach you exactly how each one works.

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What Is Reflection?

A reflection is what you see when you look in a mirror. The shape is flipped over a line (called the mirror line or line of reflection).

Horizontal Reflection (Left-Right Flip)

The shape is flipped as if there were a vertical mirror between the original and the reflection.

Original:       Reflected:
  F                 Ꟊ
                (backwards F)

Everything that was on the left moves to the right, and everything on the right moves to the left. But the shape does NOT flip upside down.

Vertical Reflection (Top-Bottom Flip)

The shape is flipped as if there were a horizontal mirror below it.

Original:       Reflected:
  ▲                 ▼
(triangle         (triangle
pointing up)     pointing down)

Everything that was at the top moves to the bottom, and vice versa. But left and right stay the same.

Key Rules for Reflection