11+ Non-Verbal Reasoning Analogies Explained

Analogy questions show one pair of shapes with a relationship between them, then ask your child to apply the same relationship to a new shape and pick the matching answer. It's the same "find the rule, then apply it" skill as matrix reasoning, but condensed into a single pair instead of a whole grid. That means less evidence to work from and less room to catch a guess that went wrong.

What this question type covers

• Shape-pair analogies: "shape A is to shape B as shape C is to ?" One transformation links the first pair, and the same must be applied to the second.
• Relationships typically involve: rotation, reflection, size change, shading change, or a change in the number of a repeated element

Worked example 1: Single transformation

Shape A is a small black square. Shape B is a large black square (same shape and shading, just bigger). Shape C is a small white circle. Which answer option completes: A is to B as C is to?

The method is the same every time: describe the relationship between A and B in words, then apply exactly those words to C.

• A to B: "gets bigger; everything else stays the same"

Apply that to C (a small white circle) and the answer is a large white circle: same shape, same shading, just bigger.

Answer: a large white circle.

Worked example 1b: Two transformations at once

Shape A is a small white triangle pointing up. Shape B is a small black triangle pointing down (shading changed and flipped). Shape C is a small white square. Which answer option completes: A is to B as C is to?

Always check whether there is more than one change between A and B before applying anything to C.

• A to B: shading changes (white to black) AND the shape flips or rotates (pointing up to pointing down)

Both changes carry over to C. Applying "flip shading" and "rotate 180 degrees" to a small white square gives a small black square, rotated 180 degrees from its original orientation.

Answer: a small black square, rotated 180 degrees.

For a square specifically, a 180-degree rotation can look visually identical to the original if the shape has no internal detail. This is exactly the kind of case where checking the printed answer options carefully matters, because a symmetric shape can make a genuine transformation look like "no change."

The mistakes we see most often

1. Describing the change vaguely ("it looks different") rather than naming each specific transformation (bigger, rotated, flipped, shaded differently). Vague descriptions are much harder to apply accurately to the second pair.
2. Missing a second transformation, exactly as in worked example 1b. Children who spot the shading change but not the rotation (or vice versa) pick an answer that's only half right.
3. Being distracted by the specific shape rather than the transformation. The relationship between A and B rarely depends on it being a triangle or square specifically; it's about what happened to whichever shape was used.
4. Confusing rotation with reflection. A shape rotated 180 degrees and a shape reflected can look similar for simple shapes but behave differently for asymmetric or detailed ones. This distinction matters more as shapes get more complex.
5. Working backwards from the answer options rather than working out the expected answer first. That makes it easy to accept a "close enough" option that's actually wrong.

A practice strategy parents can use at home

Have your child say the transformation out loud in a fixed sentence structure every time: "it changes by ___, and ___," naming every change, not just the first one they notice. This forces a complete description rather than a partial one, which directly targets the most common mistake here: missing a second transformation.