Each box differs from the one before in its shape, its shading and its dot. Choose the box that completes the series. Four boxes in a row, then a fifth box marked with a question mark. Box 1: a shaded octagon, with a dot at the middle of the right edge. Box 2: an unshaded heptagon, with a dot at the bottom-left corner. Box 3: a shaded hexagon, with a dot at the middle of the top edge. Box 4: an unshaded pentagon, with a dot at the bottom-right corner.

Figure 1 (A box containing a shaded pentagon, with a dot at the middle of the left edge.)

Each box differs from the one before in its…

Each box differs from the one before in its shape, its shading and its dot.

HardOriginal question

Each box differs from the one before in its shape, its shading and its dot. Choose the box that completes the series.

Figure 1

Correct answerYour answerFigure 2 A box containing a shaded square, with a dot at the middle of the left edge.

Correct answerYour answerFigure 3 A box containing a shaded square, with a dot at the bottom-right corner.

Correct answerYour answerFigure 4 A box containing an unshaded square, with a dot at the middle of the left edge.

Correct answerYour answer

Show the answer and explanation

CorrectNot quiteAnswer B

Correct answer: B

The shape loses one side each time: octagon, heptagon, hexagon, pentagon, so next comes a square.
Shaded and unshaded shapes alternate, starting shaded, so the fifth shape is shaded.
The dot moves 3 places clockwise round the box each time (the 4 corners and 4 edge midpoints are the 8 places): from the bottom-right corner it goes to the middle of the left edge.
Figure 2 shows a shaded square, with a dot at the middle of the left edge.

Worth noting

Track one element at a time across all four boxes, and check each option against every rule; each wrong figure here breaks exactly one of them.

Ten questions from Non-verbal Reasoning, at your own pace.

Ten questions from Non-verbal Reasoning, at your own pace.