Non-verbal Reasoning · Tracking a Position
The Marker Track
The tall square moves the same number of places each time. Count the move, then pick the track that comes next.
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Why this works
In the first track the tall square is in place 7. In the second it is in place 5, so it has moved 2 places to the left. Nothing else about the figures changes: they are the same pictures in the same order, and only where the tall square sits is different. Moving 2 places to the left again from place 5 lands it in place 3. The ends of the track do not join up, so a move that would run off the end is not an answer at all, and counting the gaps between the figures instead of the places they sit in is what puts the tall square one place too far.
Helping a child through The Marker Track
It runs in 2 steps
- 1. Count the move. Look at the two tracks. How many places does the tall square move, and which way?
- 2. What comes next?. Now pick the track that comes next.
Hints, least revealing first
- Find the tall square in the first track and again in the second. Count the places it landed on, not the gaps it jumped over.
- Which way did it travel? The move keeps going the same way, so start from where it is in the second track and count on again.
- The tall square moves 2 places to the left each time, and the ends of the track do not join up.
When they finish it: “Counted it out and landed it.”
2 11+ skills this exercise practises
Each of these has its own page, with a worked example on it.
- Compare visual attributesCompare shape, position, angle, number, size, or shading across figures.
- Track order and positionTrack how elements exchange places or move through ordered positions.
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Embed this exercise
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One exercise is a start, not a plan
A free diagnostic across all four subjects shows which non-verbal reasoning skills to practise next, and in what order.