One corner first
The Short Answer
A hidden shape question shows a small shape and several busy figures, and asks which figure contains it — at the same size and the same way up, not turned and not flipped. The extra lines are there to break the shape up so the eye slides past it, so the method is to pick one distinctive corner, hunt for that alone, and trace the rest of the sides only in the figures that survive.
What the question shows you
On the left, one small shape. On the right, five busy figures full of criss-crossing lines. That small shape is hiding inside exactly one of them.
And here is the part most pupils skim past, which is worth reading twice:
It is the same size, and the same way up. Not turned. Not flipped over. Exactly as printed.
All those extra lines are not decoration. They are there to break the shape up so your eye slides straight past it.
One Corner First
The method has a name so that it can be remembered under pressure.
Do not look for the whole shape. That is the mistake, and it is a reasonable one — it just does not work, because nobody can scan a busy figure while holding six sides in mind at the same time.
Pick one corner and say what is special about it. Is it a square corner? A sharp point? A wide, shallow one?
Hunt for that one feature, and cross off every figure that has not got it.
Then, in the ones that are left, trace the rest of the shape round from that corner. Every side has to be there, lying along a line already in the figure.
The three traps, and the habit
The mirror image. The shape is there, but flipped over. The turned version. Right shape, wrong way up. The right shape at the wrong size.
All three are deliberately on the paper, and all three are excluded by the same sentence: same size, same way up.
And then the fourth one, which is a habit rather than a trap: you find the corner, you feel pleased, and you stop checking. Always trace the rest.
Connecting shapes, alongside
These travel together on the paper, and share the same idea — seeing something that is there but not obvious.
You get three shapes with little letters on some of their sides, and you picture them joined so that sides carrying the same letter are touching. Two useful facts:
Sides sharing a letter are always the same length, so if you are unsure which pair up, compare them by eye.
And the rule that catches everybody: you are allowed to turn a shape round. You are not allowed to flip it over.
Where do pupils lose marks?
Looking for the whole shape at once, and finding it slow and discouraging.
Accepting a turned or flipped version.
Stopping at the corner without tracing the remaining sides.
Accepting a shape at the wrong size because it looks right.
How can we practise this at home?
Draw a small shape — a triangle with one distinctive corner works well — then draw a mess of straight lines across a page, making sure the shape is in there somewhere.
Swap papers. The searching is good practice and the drawing is better, because to hide a shape well you have to understand exactly which extra lines make it disappear.
Free: a Non-Verbal Reasoning workbook
Questions across the Non-Verbal Reasoning question types, with the method printed at the top and full answers at the back. One workbook for the whole strand, not a sheet per question type.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why look for one corner rather than the whole shape?
Because nobody can scan a busy figure while holding six sides in mind at once. One distinctive corner — a square corner, a sharp point — is a single thing to hunt for, and hunting for a single thing is fast. It also lets you eliminate: any figure without that corner is out, before you have looked at anything else.
Can the shape be turned round inside the figure?
No, and this is the detail most pupils skim past. It is there at the same size and the same way up, exactly as printed. Which is useful rather than restrictive: it means a version that is turned, or flipped, or a different size is definitely wrong, and all three of those appear among the options on purpose.
What is the mistake that comes after finding the corner?
Stopping. A child finds the corner, feels the small satisfaction of it, and chooses. But the corner only narrows the field — every remaining side has to lie along a line already in the figure. Tracing round from the corner takes a few seconds and is the difference between a good guess and an answer.
How does this relate to connecting shapes questions?
They travel together on the paper and share the underlying idea of seeing something that is there but not obvious. In connecting shapes you are given shapes with lettered sides and asked to picture them joined, with matching letters touching. The rule that catches everybody is the same one as here: you may turn a shape round, but you may never flip it over.
Sources
- GL Assessment — 11+ familiarisation materials and question type descriptions Published 2025.
- Clever Clogs Academy — our own Year 4 and Year 5 lesson records, Winslow Published September 2025 to July 2026.
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to GL Assessment or Buckinghamshire Council. Test arrangements change; always check the council's own pages for the current year's dates.
We Teach This Method Every Week in Winslow
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