AR Practice and Pattern Library

This final lesson focuses on how to structure your Abstract Reasoning practice for maximum score improvement. Knowing the theory is not enough — you need deliberate, targeted practice with systematic review. This lesson shows you how to build a personal pattern library, track your weaknesses, and know when you have reached your potential.

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The Importance of a Pattern Library

A pattern library is a personal catalogue of every pattern type you have encountered during practice. It serves two purposes:

1. Recognition speed: The more patterns you have stored, the faster you recognise them in new questions. This directly translates to speed.
2. Coverage: If you have encountered 50+ different pattern types, the probability of seeing a completely novel pattern in the exam is low. Most patterns will be variations of ones you have already seen.

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How to Build Your Pattern Library

Step 1: Practise and Record

After every practice session, for each question:

1. Write down the rule(s) for Set A and Set B (or the sequence pattern for Types 3/4)
2. Categorise the rule under SCANS
3. Note whether you got it right or wrong
4. If wrong, note why — did you misidentify the rule? Miss a compound rule? Get confused by distractors?

Step 2: Organise by SCANS Category

Structure your library like this:

Shape Rules

#	Rule	First encountered	Times seen	Times missed
S1	All boxes contain at least one triangle	Practice set 1, Q3	4	0
S2	All shapes have curved edges	Practice set 2, Q7	2	1
S3	Total number of sides = specific number	Practice set 1, Q5	7	2
S4	Only regular polygons present	Practice set 4, Q12	1	1
S5	At least one shape with 5+ sides	Practice set 3, Q1	3	0

Colour Rules

#	Rule	First encountered	Times seen	Times missed
C1	One of each fill type (black, white, grey)	Practice set 1, Q1	5	0
C2	All shapes are the same colour	Practice set 2, Q2	3	0
C3	Conditional: large = black, small = white	Practice set 3, Q8	2	2
C4	Number of black shapes = number of white shapes	Practice set 5, Q4	1	0

Arrangement Rules

#	Rule	First encountered	Times seen	Times missed
A1	Vertical line of symmetry	Practice set 2, Q10	3	1
A2	Shapes contained inside other shapes	Practice set 3, Q3	2	0
A3	No shapes overlap	Practice set 4, Q6	1	0
A4	Arrow points toward the smallest shape	Practice set 6, Q1	1	1

Number Rules

#	Rule	First encountered	Times seen	Times missed
N1	Exactly N shapes per box	Practice set 1, Q2	6	0
N2	Total sides = fixed number	Practice set 1, Q5	7	2
N3	Odd/even number of shapes	Practice set 2, Q4	3	0
N4	Number of intersections = fixed	Practice set 5, Q11	1	1

Size Rules

#	Rule	First encountered	Times seen	Times missed
Z1	All shapes the same size	Practice set 3, Q5	2	0
Z2	Three different sizes present	Practice set 4, Q2	2	1
Z3	Largest shape has fewest sides	Practice set 7, Q9	1	1

Compound Rules

#	Rules combined	SCANS categories	Times seen	Times missed
X1	3 shapes + alternating colours	Number + Colour	2	1
X2	Triangle present + total sides = 12	Shape + Number	1	1
X3	Symmetrical arrangement + all shapes same size	Arrangement + Size	1	0

Conditional Rules

#	Condition → Consequence	SCANS categories	Times seen	Times missed
D1	Large → black, Small → white	Size → Colour	2	2
D2	Even sides → top, Odd sides → bottom	Shape → Arrangement	1	1
D3	Circle → always inside another shape	Shape → Arrangement	1	0

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Reviewing by Pattern Category

Weekly Review Process

1. Sort your library by "times missed" (highest first)
2. The patterns you miss most often are your priority weaknesses
3. Find or create practice questions specifically targeting those patterns
4. Practise those patterns until your miss rate drops below 20%
5. Re-sort and identify the next set of weaknesses

The 80/20 Rule for AR

In most candidates' libraries, 80% of their errors come from 20% of pattern types. Identifying and drilling those specific pattern types produces the largest score gains with the least effort.

Common Weakness Patterns

Based on aggregate candidate data, the most commonly missed pattern types are:

Rank	Pattern type	Why it is hard
1	Conditional rules (size→colour)	Candidates miss the dependency relationship
2	Total sides = N	Requires counting, which is slow under pressure
3	Compound rules (2+ rules)	Candidates find one rule and stop looking
4	Arrangement-based rules (symmetry)	Hard to verify quickly across all boxes
5	Exception-based rules	The exception violates the "general" rule, causing confusion

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Tracking Your Progress

Metrics to Track

Metric	What it tells you	Target
Overall accuracy	How often you get the right answer	75%+ for strong score
Accuracy by question type	Which format you struggle with	Even performance across types
Accuracy by SCANS category	Which pattern types you miss	>80% for each category
Average time per question	Your speed	≤14 seconds
Flag rate	How often you cannot find the pattern	<20% of questions flagged
Flag accuracy	How often your flagged guesses are correct	>25% (better than random)

Graphing Your Progress

Plot your accuracy and speed over time (practice sessions on the x-axis):

Typical progress curve:

Accuracy
100% |                                      ___________
     |                              ______/
     |                      ______/
     |               _____/
     |          ___/
     |     ___/
 50% | ___/
     |/
     |
  0% +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8
                    Practice sessions

Speed follows a similar curve but is often delayed — accuracy improves first, then speed catches up.

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Deliberate Practice Techniques