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SUBSET OVERVIEW TIMINGS (for question types 1 + 4)

•55 questions
•11 sets of shapes
•13 mins
•15 secs/question
SUBSET PURPOSE
To test your ability to
recognise patterns quickly.
Though seems irrelevant,
much of a doctors job
involves recognising
patterns of diagnosis,
identifying research trends
and extrapolating data etc.
• Though you have 15 seconds per question, instead of sticking to
that, it’s much more beneficial to monitor the time for a whole set
together.
• So tell yourself that for a ”set” you’ll have 70 seconds
• Instead of equally diving that 70 seconds by 5 for each question in
a set it’s much more worthwhile for you to spend more time at the
beginning on the first question
• Spend up to 45 seconds trying to identify the pattern of the set
• Once you have the pattern it’ll take you much less than 25
seconds to select which set the shape belongs to
• This approach will mean you’re getting more answers right as
you’ve allowed yourself time to identify the pattern
• If you can’t identify the pattern after 45 seconds, then guess, flag
and move on.

QUESTION TYPES IDENTIFYING THE PATTERN (TYPE 1, 4)

1. Set A, B or Neither – you will be shown 2 sets of
shapes and patterns (A+B) and then presented with
an additional test shape. You will be asked to
decide whether the additional test shape fits in set
A, B or in neither. These make up the majority of
your questions so it’s important you practice
identifying patterns as much as possible.
2. Sequences– you will be given a series of shapes
and patterns and asked to select the shape that will
appear next in the series. You will be given 5
separate sets
3. A is to B as… – you will be given 2 example
shapes and shown that this shape is to that. You’ll
then be presented with another shape and asked
which of the answer options follows the same
transformation as in the example. You will be
given 5 separate sets
1. Which belongs to A / B? – for these questions
you’ll be shown 2 sets of shapes (A+B) as in
question type 1, but this time instead of being
presented with 1 test shape you’ll be
given 4 and asked to choose which
belongs to set A and then which
belongs to set B.
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• The pattern is essentially the common
characteristic that runs through each
shape in a set e.g. each shape as a
black circle or each shape has a 5
sides
• The patterns in Set A and B tend to
complement each other e.g. if the
pattern in Set A is that each shape has
5 sides, Set B’s pattern may be that
each shape has 7 sides
SEQUENCES (TYPE 2)
• For sequences (question type 2) it’ll
tend to be something thing that might
change from each shape to the next
e.g. the number of coloured circles
increases by 1 as your progress or the
number of sides in the shape
increases by 1.
MAPPING (TYPE 3)
• For the A is to B style questions you
need to try and describe how you’d
transform shape A in to shape B and
then apply the same rule to the
question you’re given.
Extra tips:
• Though 15 secs per question initially seems
impossible, you’ll soon come to realise that
timing isn’t as bad for AR – the main issue in
AR is being able to identify the pattern so it’s
important you use the timings mentioned
earlier to help you do that.
• Use a fixed strategy and go through the sets
systematically to help you identify the
patterns. More on this soon.
• Consider making your own little cheat sheet
of all the patterns you come across through
your practice to help you become more
familiar with the different types. Categorise
these patterns under the headings used
below…
COMMON PATTERNS
Based on Shape
• A specific shape in each pattern
• A specific number of sides in each
pattern/shape
• Convex/concave shapes
• Regular/irregular shapes
Based on Colour
• Common colour (shaded/unshaded)
• Certain objects shaded/coloured e.g. there’s
always a black circle and a white square
• Certain number shaded?
• Ratio of shaded to unshaded
Based on Arrangement
• A specific object is always in the top right,
top left etc.
• Relative position of an object e.g. the square
is always to the left of the circle
• Arrows pointing in a certain direction
Based on Number
• Total items in the patterns
• Total number of sides
• Number of certain shapes e.g. there’s always
3 circles
• Odd/even numbers of items e.g. the number
of sides is always even
• Number of angles/intersections
Based on Size
• Big/small shapes
• A specific shape is relatively
bigger/smaller
to another shape (e.g. the
triangle is always
bigger than the square).
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USE ”SCANS”
A way you can go through the AR questions
systematically to help you identify the pattern is
by using the mnemonic “scans”.
Shape
Colour
Arrangement
Number
Size/ symmetry
During the 1 minute preparation time you might
want to note SCANS down on your whiteboard.
APPROACH FOR IDENTIFYING PATTERNS
1. For each set, have a brief glance (5 seconds)
looking at the set overall to spot any
obvious patterns – try and move a bit further
back from the screen and just glaze your
eyes over the set and something obvious
might jump out.
2. After that use the mnemonic above to work
through common patterns looking at each
pattern in the set much more closely.
Choose the simplest two boxes in a
particular set and check for any similarities
between them
3. Even if you find 1 pattern, still finish
working through SCANS as some sets will
have multiple patterns
4. If you find a characteristic that’s shared
between 2 boxes you need to check that it
holds true for the rest. You also have to
make sure that the particular thing you’ve
identified isn’t a pattern in both sets.
e.g. if all the shapes in Set A and B all have
a black circle, there’s going to be another
pattern unique to each set that you need to
identify.
Some trickier sets will have multiple patterns in
them, don’t worry about this too much as if
time is running out you should just use the 1
pattern you’ve found and do your best to select
the sets based on that.
Identifying patterns in this way is applicable to
both type 1 and type 4 questions – both of
these questions require you to do the same
thing, the only difference is the way the
question is asked.
PATTERN TRICKS
There are some shapes which when they arise
in AR you should think about certain
characteristics which could form the pattern:
• Crescents: curved vs straight lines
• Triangles: equilateral vs isosceles vs right-
angled
• Stars: number of points
• Arrow: rotation, direction
• Intersections: number of points, number of
lines, regions formed, shapes that intersect
• Clocks: angles between the hands, sum of
numbers being pointed to, pointing to
odd/even numbers, pointing to certain
multiples, hands on certain sides of the clock
• Same shapes in both sets: consider
arrangement and size
COMPLEX PATTERNS
• These patterns are extremely difficult as they
use a dependent factor
• e.g. if the circle is black the arrow will point
up, if the circle is white the arrow will point
down
• If you can’t identify the pattern using all the
SCANS variables and nothing seems to
match this could be a complex pattern
• Don’t worry if you can’t identify these
straight away as it is something you’ll just get
better at with practice – they are the
questions which most students will get
wrong too
• A lot of it is just trial and error too so the
more you write down patterns you come
across the better you’ll get.

NUMBERS TO LEARN COMMON SEQUENCES

Learning some of these figures will help you Based on Shape
save time as you won’t have to spend time • Likely to stay constant – sequences won’t
counting them up when the clock is running: really involve a change in shape as that is
• 5-sided star = 10 sides too obvious
• Arrow = 7 sides
• Plus sign = 12 sides Based on Colour
• Alternating colour
• The coloured areas rotate around the box
ROTATION + SYMMETRY
Square Based on Arrangement
• 4 lines of symmetry • Rotating shapes
• Rotational symmetry order 4 • Shape changes position
• Mirror images
Rectangle
• 2 lines of symmetry Based on Number
• Rotational symmetry order 2 • Number of sides
• Number of shapes
Equilateral triangle • Number of intersections
• 3 lines of symmetry
Based on Size
• Rotational symmetry order 3
• Alternating between big and small shapes
Isosceles Triangle
• 1 line of symmetry
• Rotational symmetry order 1
Extra tip:
You can use the same systematic approach of
Parallelogram going through SCANS for sequence questions
• No lines of symmetry (type 2) , however remember with sequences
• Rotational symmetry order 2 you’re looking for something that changes
rather than something that stays the same.
Rhombus
• 2 lines of symmetry
• Rotational symmetry order 2
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