11+ Preparation
Adaptive NVR practice across sequences, analogies, and odd-one-out — rendered as dynamic SVG diagrams so no two sessions look the same. GL Assessment-style, legacy CEM-style and FSCE-aware.
What is non-verbal reasoning?
Non-verbal reasoning tests the ability to identify patterns, relationships, and rules in visual information — shapes, sequences, rotations, and spatial arrangements — without any language involved. It's a measure of abstract reasoning: the ability to think logically about information you haven't been taught.
NVR isn't taught in primary schools. Children who have spent years mastering reading, writing, and arithmetic arrive at an NVR question and find that none of those skills seem to apply. That unfamiliarity is the problem — not ability. With consistent early practice, NVR becomes one of the most improvable subjects in the 11+.
The key insight: Children who start NVR practice in Year 3 or 4 typically find it becomes almost intuitive by Year 5. Those who start in Year 5 often spend the first few months just getting comfortable with the format — time they could have spent building genuine mastery.
Question types
A series of shapes follows a rule — rotation, size change, fill pattern, or number of elements. Identify the rule and select what comes next.
Shape A is to Shape B as Shape C is to ? The relationship may be a rotation, fill change, or doubling of elements. Find the matching fourth shape.
Five shapes are shown. Four share a hidden common property. One doesn't. Find the one that doesn't belong — and understand why.
At higher difficulty levels, multiple rules operate simultaneously — a shape may be rotating while its fill changes and the number of sides increases. Children need to learn to analyse one variable at a time rather than trying to hold everything in working memory at once.
Year-by-year progress
Questions feel strange at first. The goal is understanding, not speed. Learn to analyse one variable at a time: shape, then fill, then rotation, then size. Short sessions — 10–15 minutes, 2–3 times a week.
Question types start to feel recognisable. Accuracy improves before speed does — which is the right order. The adaptive engine advances difficulty as mastery grows.
With enough practice, pattern recognition becomes fast and intuitive. NVR becomes a genuine strength rather than a worry — and a real source of marks on the day.
How questions are generated
All NVR questions in 11Plus Tips are rendered as dynamic SVG diagrams — shapes, fills, patterns, rotations, and sizes are generated programmatically. This means no two sessions look identical, which prevents children from memorising specific questions rather than learning the underlying rules.
The adaptive engine serves questions at the child's current mastery level — gradually introducing more complex rules (combined rotations, layered fill patterns, changing element counts) as simpler ones are secured.
Further reading
Adaptive practice. Dynamic diagrams. 7-day free trial, then £20/month.
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