LEARN THE REASONING, NOT A PICTURE
A guide to visual reasoning question types
Pattern completion, analogy, serial reasoning and spatial visualization are useful labels for discussing visual problems. Here we use them as teaching categories, not as four separately scored NNAT3 sections or a claim about the exact mix at each level.
Updated October 8, 2026 · Independent parent guide
Explore the four teaching guides
Pattern completion
Follow lines, boundaries and regions into a missing piece.
Explore this guideReasoning by analogy
Find a relationship and apply it to a new picture.
Explore this guideSerial reasoning
Track a consistent change across a sequence or arrangement.
Explore this guideSpatial visualization
Reason about how shapes turn, combine or fit.
Explore this guideA comparison routine that works across categories
- Look at the whole display. Notice the arrangement before focusing on one bright shape.
- Describe a relationship. Separate shape, position, size, color and direction.
- Test the relationship. Check it against the completed information.
- Compare every choice. A partial match may preserve one clue and violate another.
Why a wrong choice can look right
A distractor may repeat the starting picture, apply the change to only one object, move a shape too far or alter a feature that should remain fixed. In learning practice, ask which clue an answer follows and which clue it misses. This is more useful than labeling the mistake “careless” without identifying it.
Categories can overlap
A missing-piece task may require spatial reasoning as well as boundary matching. An analogy can involve movement, a turn or a change in size. Use these labels to organize teaching, while checking the actual problem in front of the child. We do not claim a verified category quota table for A–G.
Start with an explanation
The original sample gallery lets you attempt a problem and then reveal its reasoning. Its purpose is to show how to inspect a question, not to estimate a score.