Look for the rule, not the odd shape
The Short Answer
An odd one out question shows five figures, four of which share a rule. The reliable approach is to find the rule first rather than hunting for the shape that looks strange, because the figures that catch the eye — the biggest, the darkest, the tilted one — have been drawn that way on purpose. Once the rule is named, the odd one out is simply the figure that breaks it.
You are not looking for the odd shape
This is the thing that separates pupils who find these easy from pupils who find them impossible.
You are looking for the rule. Four of the five figures have something in common, and the job is to work out what that something is. Once the rule is named, the odd one out falls straight into your lap — it is simply the one that breaks it.
Go hunting for the strange-looking one first and you will be pulled towards whichever figure is biggest, or darkest, or tilted. The examiner drew those on purpose.
Rule first, answer second. Say it out loud if it helps: four of them all have five sides.
The RULE check
A checklist, run in the same order every time, so no time is spent wondering what to try next.
R — Round the outside. Count the sides of the big shape; notice straight or curved edges. U — Units inside. Count the little dots, shapes or lines. L — Look at the shading. How much is filled in? E — Even. Could you fold it in half so both sides match? And — right at the end — is one of them flipped rather than turned?
The order matters. R and U are things you can count, and counting is fast and reliable. Shading and symmetry take longer, so they only get a turn if counting has found nothing.
When the rule is a link
Sometimes every figure is different and every count is different, and a child freezes.
That is information. When nothing matches, the rule is a link rather than a match.
Triangle, three dots. Square, four dots. Pentagon, five dots. No single feature is constant — the number of dots is following the number of sides.
Check all five against the link, and the one where it breaks is the answer.
Four traps, and the one check that beats them all
The tilt trap. One shape is drawn on its side and looks wrong. But turning a shape never changes anything you can count — a pentagon on its side still has five sides.
The size trap. One option is noticeably bigger. Size is almost never the rule; it is there to catch the eye.
The first-difference trap. You spot one thing that is different, feel the small rush of found it, and stop. Every option is different in some way — that is how they are drawn.
The two-of-five trap. Two figures share something and one of them starts to feel like the answer. A rule that only two follow is not a rule.
The mirror trap
If a mark is lost on odd one out in the real test, there is a good chance it is here.
Four options are the same figure rotated; one is a reflection. At exam speed the eye cannot tell those apart — it simply can't. So don't ask the eye.
Pick a single detail — a dot in a corner, a short line, a notch — and ask which way it sits relative to the rest of the figure. Go round the four matching shapes in order. If the figure is rotating, that detail travels round with it and always sits in the same place relative to its neighbours. In the reflection, it has swapped sides.
How can we practise this at home?
Five drawings, four sharing something, one not. Two minutes to make, and the making teaches as much as the solving.
The instruction that matters is "say the rule in a sentence before you point". A child who says "that one looks wrong" has not done the question. A child who says "four of them have a right angle" has finished it.
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 the rule rather than the odd shape?
Because hunting for the strange-looking one pulls you towards whichever figure is biggest, darkest or tilted — and those have been drawn that way deliberately. Four of the five share something; work out what, say it out loud — 'four of them have five sides' — and the odd one out falls into your lap. Rule first, answer second.
What is the RULE check?
A fixed checklist, run in the same order every time. R — Round the outside: count the sides, notice straight or curved edges. U — Units inside: count the dots, shapes or lines. L — Look at the shading: how much is filled. E — Even: could it fold in half so both sides match, and is one of them flipped rather than turned? R and U come first because counting is fast and reliable; shading and symmetry take longer.
What if the checklist finds nothing?
Then the rule is probably a link between two features rather than a single feature. Triangle with three dots, square with four, pentagon with five — no single element is constant, but the number of dots follows the number of sides. Check all five against the link and the one that breaks it is the answer. This is the hardest form of the question and it is genuinely on the paper.
How does my child know their rule is right?
By counting how many figures follow it. A rule has to be shared by exactly four. If it works for four and fails for one, that is the answer. If it fails for two, the rule is wrong and it is time to go back to the checklist — not to guess between the two. That single check catches most of the errors on this type.
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.
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