The pair on the left defines the change
The Short Answer
A shape analogy shows a pair of figures that demonstrate a change, then a third figure to apply that change to. The pair on the left defines the change; the figure on the right is where it gets used. At 11+ level expect two changes running at once, and an option built from each half of the rule so that half-solving always has something tempting to choose.
What the question is really asking
The first figure is to the second as the third is to your answer.
The important sentence is this one: the pair on the left defines a change. The figure on the right is where you apply it. Nothing else about the pictures matters — not what the shapes are, not whether they look alike.
At 11+ level, expect two changes running at once, and occasionally three.
The P.A.I.R. method
P — Pin down the change from the first figure to the second, and put it into words. A — All of it. Sweep the figure once for each attribute: position, rotation, shading, size, number, outline. I — Impose the whole change on the third figure before you look away from it. R — Rule out. Predict, then eliminate — never the other way round.
The A is where the marks are. A pupil who stops at the first change is systematically wrong on the harder half of the section.
The six changes
Rotation — a quarter, a half, three quarters. Direction matters. Reflection — a mirror image. Easily confused with a half turn. Shading — including striped fills, which turn with the shape. Size and number — growing, shrinking, one more, one fewer. Outline — solid, thick, dotted. Combinations — two or three of the above, at once.
Separating two changes
Do not try to see both at once.
- Work out change one. Say it. Hold it.
- Now ignore it completely and look for change two.
- Impose both on the third figure.
- Then eliminate. An option satisfying only one is wrong, however right it looks.
There is almost always an option built from exactly that error — usually two of them, one for each half of the rule. So a child who half-solves does not find themselves stuck. They find themselves confident.
Where do pupils lose marks?
Applying only one of two changes. The biggest cause of lost marks at this level.
Confusing a half turn with a mirror image, having formed the habit on symmetrical figures.
Reading the change backwards — working from the second figure to the first. Common when the change is a shrink or a shading swap, where both directions look equally natural.
Choosing a copy of the second figure, which is the clue rather than the answer.
Reading the options before deciding.
How can we practise this at home?
Two pieces of paper and a pencil. Draw a figure, draw it changed, and ask your child to say the change in a sentence — not to point at it. "It has turned a quarter turn clockwise and the shading has swapped." If they cannot say it, they have not pinned it down.
Then give them a third figure and ask for the answer before they see any options, which is the whole of the P and the I.
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
What is the method you teach?
P.A.I.R. Pin down the change from the first figure to the second, and put it into words. All of it — sweep the figure once for each attribute: position, rotation, shading, size, number, outline. Impose the whole change on the third figure before you look away from it. Rule out — predict, then eliminate, never the other way round. The A is where the marks are.
Why is a copy of the second figure such a tempting wrong answer?
Because it feels familiar. It has just been looked at closely, it is definitely relevant, and it is sitting there among the options. But the second figure is the clue, not the answer — it shows what the change does, and the change has to be applied somewhere else. Naming this trap once is usually enough to stop it.
How do you tell a half turn from a mirror image?
On a symmetrical figure you cannot, because they give the same result — which is precisely why the habit of guessing forms. On an asymmetrical figure they are completely different. The reliable test is to check a specific corner rather than the overall look: pick one feature and ask which side of the figure it now sits on. A turn keeps the order of features; a flip reverses it.
Why not read the options first?
Because every wrong option was written from a real pupil error, and one of them will talk you out of the right answer before you have decided what the right answer is. Predict first, using the third figure and the change you have named, and only then look. It feels slower and it isn't.
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
Groups of no more than six pupils with two qualified teachers, in person or online. Come and see a session before you decide.