The answer often looks least like the examples
The Short Answer
These questions give two or three example figures that share one feature, and five options of which exactly one shares it too. The answer is frequently the figure that looks least like the examples, because the question is about a feature rather than an appearance. The test for whether you have found the rule is simple: a real rule eliminates four options.
The format, and the warning
Two or three example figures share one feature. Five options, and exactly one of them shares it too.
And now the warning, which is the whole post:
Visual similarity is a trap. The answer is frequently the figure that looks least like the examples.
Take a pentagon and a house shape. Not remotely alike to look at. But count the sides: five each. And only one option has five sides — it may be small, it may be black, it may look nothing like either of them, and it is unambiguously the answer.
Find one thing they share. Rule out anything without it. Repeat.
That is the method, and it is deliberately phrased as elimination rather than construction.
Don't try to picture the right answer and then hunt for it. Rule the wrong ones out.
Here is the test for whether you have actually found the rule:
When nothing is obvious
Work one element at a time, in a fixed order.
Outline — what shape, how many sides, curved or straight. The line itself — solid, dashed, thick. Shading — white, black, grey, striped; and if striped, which way the stripes run. Size. Inner shapes — what they are, how many, how they are shaded, how they are arranged.
Fixed order, every time. And don't linger — if an element gives nothing in a couple of seconds, move on. Hesitating is what costs the paper.
Links between two elements
Sometimes no single element is shared at all. That is when you look for a link.
The triangle has three small shapes. The square has four. The pentagon has five. No element is constant; the relationship is.
Other links worth knowing: the small shape being the same shape as the big one, or the shading of the inside following the shading of the outside.
Only go hunting for a link once the single-element checks have failed. Links are rarer, and looking for them first wastes time.
Where do pupils lose marks?
Appearance over feature. The option that most resembles the examples is there on purpose. The test is whether you can say your reason in a sentence — if you can't, you haven't found a reason.
A feature that doesn't discriminate. True of the examples, true of four options, useless.
Stopping at the first match. If two options satisfy the feature, the feature isn't the rule.
Missing a link, when every single element has failed.
How can we practise this at home?
The useful drill is not solving but justifying. Point at any two objects in the room and ask what they share — properly share, not vaguely resemble. Two things with four legs. Two things made of glass. Two things with a hinge.
That is the same mental move as the question, and it transfers surprisingly directly, because the difficulty was never about shapes.
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 is the answer often the figure that looks least alike?
Because the shared feature is usually something countable rather than something visible at a glance. A pentagon and a house shape look nothing like each other and both have five sides — and the option with five sides might be small, black and quite unlike either of them. The figure that most resembles the examples is put there on purpose.
How does my child know they have found the rule?
A rule eliminates four options. If the feature they have found only rules out one or two, it is a distraction rather than the answer, and the right move is to go back and find another — not to guess among the survivors. That single test does more work than any amount of staring.
What order should the features be checked in?
A fixed one, every time. Outline first: what shape, how many sides, curved or straight. Then the line itself: solid, dashed, thick. Then shading: white, black, grey, striped — and if striped, which way the stripes run. Then size. Then the inner shapes: what they are, how many, how they are shaded, how they are arranged. And don't linger: if an element gives nothing in a couple of seconds, move on.
When should my child look for a link between two features?
Only once the single-feature checks have failed. Sometimes no element is shared at all and the relationship is what is constant — the triangle with three small shapes, the square with four, the pentagon with five. Links are rarer, so hunting for them first wastes time on the many questions that do not need them.
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.