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SHL inductive reasoning test: what it asks and how to practise
SHL's Verify inductive reasoning test asks you to work out the rule in a set of shapes or sequences and use it to say what comes next. SHL has more than one version, with different lengths and formats, so first find out which you have been sent. The skill is the same in all of them, and it is the one preplaud's matrix and visual-series practice trains: finding the rule, fast.
The versions, as SHL describes them
Verify Inductive Reasoning (2014)
| Questions | Up to 18 |
|---|---|
| Time allowed | 24 minutes |
| Question format | Multiple choice |
| Scoring | Computer adaptive |
| What it measures | Working out the pattern in a set of images and identifying the correct next image from the options |
Verify Interactive: Inductive Reasoning
| Questions | Up to 15 |
|---|---|
| Time allowed | 18 minutes |
| Question format | Interactive, activity-based |
| Scoring | Computer adaptive |
| What it measures | Inferring rules, patterns or sequences, and using them to predict outcomes. The information is shapes and alphanumeric sequences |
What to practise
- Finding the rule in a grid of shapes: matrices, with the individual rules in progression, addition and subtraction and distribution.
- Picking the next picture in a sequence: visual series.
- Number patterns: number series. SHL mentions alphanumeric sequences, and preplaud's series are numbers, not letters, so this practises the reasoning rather than the exact items.
The matrices guide sets out the five rules most grids use and a routine for solving them. Every practice question here is generated and checked to have exactly one right answer. None is copied from an SHL test.
What preplaud does not do
The Interactive version is activity-based, not plain multiple choice, and preplaud does not practise that way of answering. SHL's fact sheets show an example question for each version.
How to prepare
- Find out which version you have and how long it is. The invitation says; do not assume.
- Learn the common rules one at a time, in untimed practice.
- Check one rule at a time against the options and rule options out, rather than trying to see the whole answer at once.
- Then practise under the clock. 18 questions in 24 minutes is about 80 seconds each; 15 in 18 minutes is about 70. Every track here has a timed mode, and the free mock test shows your pacing.
Start now
Practice here is free up to level 3, with 15 new questions a day on a free account and no account needed to try.
Other pages: abstract and inductive reasoning in general, the SHL numerical test.
Sources
- SHL: Verify Inductive Reasoning (2014), test fact sheet (18 questions, 24 minutes, multiple choice, adaptive, what it measures)
- SHL: Verify Interactive, Inductive Reasoning, assessment fact sheet (15 questions, 18 minutes, interactive, adaptive, shapes and alphanumeric sequences)