Identify these questions

A more difficult type of numerical reasoning question is when patterns are done in groups but consider individual characters in their pattern.

You are limited to the individual group to come up with the pattern, but have to also rely on other groups in order to ‘validate’ that the pattern you come up with is sensible.

Questions that have patterns within groups can look like this:

{ 22 = 4 } { 41 = 5 } { 15 = 6 } { 14 = ? }

A: 5 B : 6 C: 7 D: 8

You can see here that it’s not like a typical number pattern where you add numbers up and down.

But rather, the number pattern is within the characters of the group itself.

There are variations of this question where you have to work backwards in order to get the answer.

Let’s see how to answer them now.

The strategy to answer these questions

To answer these questions:

• Look at the resulting number first and see if you can work backwards to find ‘options’ with existing characters. E.g. 4 = 2 x 2, 4 = 2 + 2
• Check with other groups to see if any of the patterns can be replicated across. E.g. 5 = 4 + 1
• Once you have confirmed your pattern across other groups and are confident, then use that to apply to the unknown to find the answer.

To answer these questions successfully, you will also be applying everything you’ve learnt in the previous checkpoints and looking for things like addition and multiplication if numbers are going ‘up’ and subtraction and division if numbers are going ‘down’.

Then, failing that, checking for the use of exponentials, surds, stand-ins etc….

Example Question/s

Watch video for explanation of the following question/s:

[122=4] [133=9] [206=0] [211=2] [321=?]

A: 5 B : 6 C: 7 D: 8

1(6)2; 2(10)3; 5(16)3; 2(?)7.

A: 14 B : 18 C: 20 D: 22

Key rules to remember

• Look at the resulting number first and see if you can work backwards to find ‘options’ with existing characters. E.g. 4 = 2 x 2, 4 = 2 + 2
• Check with other groups to see if any of the patterns can be replicated across. E.g. 5 = 4 + 1
• Once you have confirmed your pattern across other groups and are confident, then use that to apply to the unknown to find the answer.

Practice time!

Now, it's your turn to practice.

Click on the button below and start your practice questions. We recommend doing untimed mode first, and then, when you're ready, do timed mode.

Every question has two solutions videos after you complete the question. The first is a quick 60 second video that shows you how our expert answers the question quickly. The second video is a more in-depth 5-steps or less explainer video that shows you the steps to take to answer the question. It's really important that you review the second video because that's where you'll learn additional tips and tricks.

Once you're done with the practice questions, move on to the next checkpoint.

Now, let’s get started on your practice questions.

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