Spotting the question types

The figure that cannot belong to the group the others make

提示First ask what four of them have in common.

为什么In these papers the others are often the same figure at different turns — and the odd one is its mirror image, which no amount of turning can produce.

They are the same figure at different turns

提示Spin one in your head and it becomes the others.

为什么The answer is that figure turned again. A flipped option can look tantalisingly close, but a mirror image is not a turn, so it can never belong.

A mirror image is not a turn, so it cannot join the group

提示The family is built by spinning, and flipping is a different move.

为什么Two or three figures may be shown in the group — more figures simply give you more views of the same shape to compare against.

Find the change repeated from panel to panel and apply it once more

提示Read the row like a story — what happens at each step?

为什么Compare neighbouring panels one pair at a time. More than one thing can be changing at once — count sides, watch shading, track position.

Anywhere in the row, not just at the end

提示The question mark may fall in the middle — read the rule from both sides of it.

为什么The rule still runs the whole row. Work forwards from the panels before the gap and check backwards from the ones after it.

No — it is the same rule-finding as an ordinary series

提示The frames hold the panels; the pattern still marches along.

为什么Do not let an unusual layout rattle you: find what repeats from frame to frame and carry it on, exactly as in a row of squares.

The one rule that turns the first figure into the second

提示They are a worked example — the change they demonstrate is what you copy.

为什么Apply exactly the same change to the third figure. If the first grew and turned, the answer must grow and turn in the same way.

Across the rows and down the columns

提示Read it like a table — sideways and top to bottom.

为什么Along a row one feature stays the same; down a column another does. The missing cell must satisfy its row and its column at once.

Every other point going round — two sets that alternate

提示Skip one as you travel the circle and a family appears.

为什么The six points hide two interleaved triangles, each repeating one design. Read the missing point from the two it alternates with.

Matching corners differ by one uniform change

提示Top goes with top, left with left — then spot the single tweak applied to all of them.

为什么Find the change by comparing a complete pair of corners, then apply it to the corner whose partner is missing.

One feature of the shape, such as its outline or its shading

提示The first letter tracks one thing, the second another — the examples teach you which.

为什么Match the test shape’s features to the worked examples and reuse the letters they were given. The letters themselves mean nothing until the examples define them.

No — the examples define what every letter means

提示A and B are just labels here; the worked shapes hand you the dictionary.

为什么Horizontal and vertical layouts are the same puzzle read in different directions. Decode the mapping first, then code the test shape.