Free · no account · about 12 minutes
A free non-verbal reasoning test for children
Shapes, patterns and sequences. No reading, no arithmetic, nothing your child has to have been taught. It measures the same kind of thinking a CAT4 non-verbal paper or an 11+ non-verbal paper measures, and it takes about twelve minutes.
Start the testWhere to go
- Take the test24 shape puzzles, about 12 minutes. It gets harder when your child gets one right, and easier when they do not.
- CAT4 practiceWhat the CAT4 is, when your child sits it in the UAE, and how this test relates to the non-verbal battery.
- 11+ non-verbal reasoningThe question types on a GL non-verbal paper, with a worked example of each.
How it works
- 1. Your child answers 24 puzzles, six of each of four kinds: sequences, matrices, analogies and odd-one-out.
- 2. Each right answer moves them up a level, each wrong one moves them down. There are 6 levels, so the test settles on what they can actually do rather than asking everyone the same questions.
- 3. You get the level they reached straight away, and the breakdown by kind of puzzle, with timings, by email.
Why there is no IQ score here, and why you should not trust one that is free
This test measures the same kind of thinking an IQ test measures. That part is true and we will say it plainly. What it does not do is give you a number.
An IQ score, and the CAT4's own SAS score, are norm-referenced. They mean something only because the test was first given to a large, carefully chosen sample of children the same age, and your child is being placed against that sample. We have not done that, so any number we printed would be invented. So would anyone else's free one.
What you get instead is what actually happened: how many of each kind of puzzle were right, the hardest level your child solved, and how long they took. Those are facts about the sitting, and they are the useful part anyway.
Before you start: this test is visual
Non-verbal reasoning means shapes, so a child needs to be able to see them. Every shape carries a written description that a screen reader will read out, and nothing depends on telling colours apart, because the shapes are filled with stripes, dots or solid black rather than colour. The whole test works from a keyboard. Even so, we would rather say up front that this one is visual than have anyone find out the hard way.
Common questions
Do I need an account?
No. We ask for your email only when you want the full breakdown, and every report email has a one-click link to delete it.
What do you store about my child?
Nothing that identifies them. No name, no date of birth, no school. We ask which school year they are in, as a range, and that does not even change the test.
Can they take it twice?
Yes. Every puzzle is generated fresh, so no two sittings are the same paper and a repeat is not a memory test. Four weeks between goes is about right.
How is this different from the Skills Check?
The Skills Check measures what your child has been taught: maths and English against their school year. This measures how they think, with nothing taught in it at all. Most parents who want one want both.