Inductive reasoning test: finding the rule

An inductive reasoning test gives you examples and leaves the rule out. You look at a row of numbers, a grid of shapes or a group of pictures, work out what connects them, and use that to fill a gap or find the item that does not belong. SHL describes its inductive tests as measuring your ability to identify underlying patterns in information. Aon has three inductive subtests. This guide shows the formats you are likely to meet and a way of working that applies to all of them.

What an inductive reasoning test measures

Induction goes from the specific to the general. Take the series 3, 6, 12, 24. Most people see that each number doubles and answer 48. That is a good conclusion, though only a likely one, because the rule is something you inferred from four examples.

Here is why that matters. The series 1, 2, 4 could continue with 8 (doubling) or with 7 (add 1, then 2, then 3). Both rules fit the first three numbers. A well-made test gives you enough examples to rule out every rule but one, so the habit to build is checking your rule against every example, not just the first two.

Deductive reasoning runs the other way, from given rules to a conclusion that must follow. If your test mixes both, read the guide to the deductive reasoning test as well.

Inductive task types you will meet

Matrices are the format in Matrigma from Assessio and the Alva Labs logic test, both used by Swedish employers. They use a 3×3 grid of shapes with one cell empty, and you pick the piece that completes it. In Alva’s test each task has six options. Because the tasks use shapes rather than words or numbers, they are often called abstract reasoning, and the abstract reasoning test guide goes deeper on that format.

Aon uses other formats. In scales ix you find the rule in a pattern and pick the one item out of nine that does not fit it. In scales cls you work out the rules in a few groups of images and then sort new images into the right group. Scales clx is described as spotting common patterns among items to draw logical conclusions.

Number and letter series are the third family. SHL’s inductive factsheet says the information is shown as shapes and alphanumeric sequences, and our number series test guide covers series on their own.

The SHL inductive reasoning test

SHL Verify Interactive Inductive takes 18 minutes and has at most 15 questions, which works out to about 72 seconds each. Inductive reasoning is also one of the three parts of SHL Verify Interactive G+, the combined test of 36 minutes.

The interactive format is the part that surprises people. In the examples SHL shows, you get three small grids with colored cells and tap cells in an empty grid to draw the fourth. In another, you drag a line between scattered nodes such as 1, A, 2, B in the right order. You build the answer yourself, so there are no options to eliminate. SHL’s practice page has an inductive test in an interactive and a standard multiple-choice version. Our SHL practice test includes grid and line tasks of this kind, and the SHL test page covers the whole test.

Rules to check, one at a time

Most figure tasks are built from a short list of changes. Test them one by one instead of staring at the whole grid:

• the number of shapes or dots
• position, as when a shape moves one step per cell
• rotation or mirroring
• fill or shading
• size
• overlay, where two cells combine to make the third

Harder tasks run two rules at once, for example a count that rises along each row while the fill changes down each column. Find one rule, confirm it on every row, then look for the second. With options, cross out every answer that breaks a rule you have confirmed.

Time per task

The time limits vary a lot. Aon scales ix gives you 5 minutes for 20 tasks, about 15 seconds each. Scales cls gives you 12 minutes for 12 tasks, and clx takes 6 minutes. Adaptive Matrigma gives you one minute per task, and Alva gives you two. Practice with the limit of the test you will actually take, because 15 seconds and two minutes call for different habits.

How to practice

Practice helps most with the format and the pace. In a meta-analysis of 50 studies, scores rose slightly on a second attempt, and most when the same type of test came back. Keep your sessions timed and read the explanation for every task you miss.

SHL and Aon have their own practice tasks, so look at those first. Then take our free logic test: 12 matrix tasks, one minute each, with the rule explained after every task and new tasks each time. For series, try the number series test. Our tasks are our own and imitate the task types, and we are not connected to any test publisher.