You are viewing a free preview of this lesson.
Subscribe to unlock all 10 lessons in this course and every other course on LearningBro.
Before you can master Abstract Reasoning, you must understand exactly what the subtest is asking you to do. Every AR question — regardless of its type — is built on a single foundational concept: a rule governs a set of shapes, and you must identify that rule. This lesson dismantles that concept thoroughly so that you never walk into a question unsure of what is being tested.
Imagine you are given twelve boxes, each containing a collection of abstract shapes. The first six boxes are labelled Set A. The second six are labelled Set B.
Here is the critical insight: every box in Set A obeys the same rule. It does not matter that the boxes look different from one another — they all share a hidden property. Similarly, every box in Set B obeys a different, consistent rule.
Your job is to figure out what those rules are.
Think of it this way: Set A is a club with a membership criterion. Every box that is "in the club" satisfies the criterion. Set B is a different club with a different criterion. A test shape is a prospective member — you must decide which club it qualifies for, or whether it qualifies for neither.
A rule is any consistent, objective property shared by every box in a set. Rules are always about the shapes themselves — their type, number, colour, size, position, or relationships. Rules are never about subjective aesthetics or hidden meanings.
| Valid rules | NOT valid rules |
|---|---|
| "Every box contains at least one triangle" | "The boxes look nice" |
| "The total number of shapes is always even" | "The shapes seem random" |
| "All shapes are black" | "It feels like Set A" |
| "The largest shape is always in the top-left corner" | "The boxes are more complex" |
Rules must be absolute: they apply to every single box in the set without exception. If you think you have identified a rule but one box violates it, your rule is wrong.
Type 1 questions are the most common format in the AR subtest and the format you will spend the most time practising. Here is the exact structure:
For each test shape, select one of three options:
Set A boxes:
Set B boxes:
Identifying the rules:
Look at Set A. What do all six boxes have in common?
Look at Set B. What do all six boxes have in common?
Test shape 1: One large white triangle, two small white circles
Test shape 2: One large black square, one small white hexagon
"Neither" is one of the most important — and most misused — answer options. Many candidates feel uncomfortable choosing it because it seems like giving up. It is not. "Neither" is a legitimate, deliberate answer.
A test shape belongs to Neither when:
Common trap: A test shape might share visual features with Set A (e.g., contains triangles, like several Set A boxes) but not actually follow Set A's rule. Visual similarity is irrelevant — only rule compliance matters.
While Type 1 (Set A / Set B / Neither) dominates the subtest, the other three types are all variations on the same fundamental concept.
| Question type | Core task | Key difference from Type 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Determine if a test shape belongs to Set A, Set B, or Neither | The baseline format |
| Type 2 | Determine which of the next shape continues a sequence | No sets — you identify a progressive change |
| Type 3 | Complete an analogy ("A is to B as C is to ?") | You identify a transformation, not a static rule |
| Type 4 | Given Set A and Set B, select which of 4 options belongs to a specified set | Like Type 1, but you choose from options rather than classifying a single test shape |
Every type requires the same underlying skill: identifying a pattern or rule from visual information. The techniques you learn for Type 1 directly transfer to the other types.
Rules in AR questions are constructed from a small number of building blocks. Understanding these building blocks is essential because it tells you what to look for.
The simplest rules involve one attribute:
Many questions — especially harder ones — involve two or more attributes combined:
Some rules describe relationships between shapes within a box:
As you progress through this course, you will build a systematic mental model for approaching AR questions. The foundation of that model is this:
In the next lesson, we will begin examining specific pattern categories, starting with shape-based patterns — the most intuitive and common rule type.