Figure Sequences is the subtest Indian candidates lose most marks on, and the reason is almost never intelligence. It is unfamiliarity. Nothing in a standard Indian engineering or commerce degree looks like it.
The useful thing about the format is that it is closed. The official task descriptions define a limited set of behaviours, and every question — easiest to hardest — combines rules from that set. You are not looking for creativity. You are running a checklist.
Two constraints hold throughout: figures do not vanish, and they do not overlap. If your reading of a rule would make a figure disappear or share a cell, your reading is wrong. That constraint alone eliminates wrong options quickly.
Rules 6 and 7 look identical for the first three matrices and diverge only at the edge. Getting them the wrong way round is the most expensive single error in the subtest, because it produces a confidently wrong answer rather than an obvious dead end.
The test is what happens immediately after contact:
You usually cannot tell from a single contact. Look for a matrix where the figure is at or near an edge and note its next position rather than its current one. If the given matrices never show a boundary contact, the rule cannot be bounce or slide, and you can drop both from consideration.
The common mistake is trying to absorb the whole matrix at once. Most questions contain two or three independent figures, each with its own rule. Track one across all four matrices, write its rule down mentally, then start again with the next. Attempting them in parallel is what makes the section feel impossible.
Before deciding a figure moves "one field right", check the gap between matrix 1 and 2, then between 2 and 3. If those distances differ, you are looking at the x+1 rule. Combined with a boundary contact, x+1 produces the hardest questions on the paper — and it is invisible if you only ever compare two consecutive matrices.
The subtest gives you 20 questions in 25 minutes: roughly 75 seconds each. That is enough to identify two or three rules methodically, and not enough to recover from a wrong start. If a question has consumed 90 seconds with no rule identified, choose the best remaining option and move on. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave one blank.
Practise the recognition, not the answers. Memorising specific questions is worthless here, because the figures will be different on the day. What transfers is the speed at which you name the rule. That is why our mocks generate fresh items rather than recycling a fixed bank.
Practise Figure Sequences under real timing →
The official task descriptions define a closed set of seven behaviours: colour change, rotation, straight-line movement, diagonal movement, growing step size under the x+1 rule, bouncing off boundaries, and sliding along the outer border. Figures never vanish or overlap.
The figure's step size grows by one each transition: it moves one field, then two, then three. It is invisible if you only compare two consecutive matrices, so always measure the distance across at least three.
Look at the figure's position immediately after it reaches an edge. Bouncing reverses direction through 180 degrees along the same line; sliding turns about 90 degrees and continues around the perimeter.
Twenty questions in twenty-five minutes, which is about 75 seconds each.
No. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so you should never leave a question blank.
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