IQ Test Labs

Discover your intellectual strengths

touch_app

Cognitive abilities

Matrices examples

Pattern recognition tips
  • Solve culture-fair matrices using the four-step method.
  • Decode the structure of matrices.
  • Anticipate common items, zones, actions, and properties.
  • Solve matrices faster and with greater accuracy.

Culture-fair matrices worked examples.

There are usually four to six elements for each question that provide the necessary information for piecing the puzzle together.

Example 1:

worked example 1

Relevant elements:

  1. Items: shapes (small).
  2. Zones: rows.
  3. Actions: move.
  4. Properties: item set - there are three item sets: squares, triangles and circles.
  5. Properties: position - the items are positioned in the grid.

In the third row, all shapes move diagonally.

Example 2:

worked example 2

Relevant elements:

  1. Items: half lines.
  2. Zones: rows.
  3. Actions: rotate.
  4. Properties: angle.

In the third row, the top half lines move CW, and the bottom half-lines move CCW.

Example 3:

worked example 3

Relevant elements:

  1. Items: large rings/dots.
  2. Items: smaller rings/dots.
  3. Zones: irregular cells.
  4. Actions: match.
  5. Properties: item set. there are three large items sets (rings, dots, and solid rings).
  6. Properties: item set. there are three small items sets. (dot and ring combinations)
  7. Properties: angle. there are two angles separating item set 2, 60° and 180°.

There should be three of each item set. The missing items are the large blue dot, with smaller dot/rings at 60° to each other.

Example 4:

worked example 4

Relevant elements:

  1. Items: squares, rectangles and triangles.
  2. Items: smaller dots.
  3. Items: parts.
  4. Zones: rows.
  5. Actions: include.
  6. Actions: merge.
  7. Properties: position.

For each row, there are two individual basic shapes that merge to form a new shape.

The merged shape contains everything in the component parts.

The shapes merge to create three compartments.

Example 5:

worked example 5

Relevant elements:

  1. Items: squares and arrows.
  2. Zones: rows.
  3. Actions: increase.
  4. Actions: rotate.
  5. Properties: number sequence.
  6. Properties: angle.

In every row, the arrows increase by one in each column, and the box rotates 45°.