Matrix reasoning test
A matrix reasoning puzzle shows a 3×3 grid of figures with the last cell missing. Find the rules along the rows and pick the figure that completes the grid.
Choose your level
Play Easy10 puzzles · the answer after each oneWhat a matrix puzzle tests
Matrix puzzles are one of the classic ways to measure fluid reasoning: spotting rules in material you have never seen before. They need no language and no general knowledge, which is why they appear in many reasoning tests. Each cell holds one or more figures, and features such as the number of shapes, their size, fill pattern, turn and small marks on the cell edges change according to rules that run along each row.
How the puzzles here are built
Every puzzle on this page is generated by our own code from five kinds of rule: a feature stays the same, changes by a fixed step, cycles through three values, adds the marks of two cells together, or keeps only the marks that differ. Easy puzzles use one rule; hard ones combine three and add a feature that changes at random and does not matter. Each puzzle is checked automatically so that exactly one option fits every rule, and the wrong options are balanced so that the answer cannot be spotted by looking at the options alone. Colour never carries information.
How to approach them
Look at one feature at a time across the first row, then check it against the second row. Predict what the missing cell must contain before you look at the six options, then rule out every option that breaks any rule. Practice is untimed here: pick an answer to see whether it was right and why.
In the IQ test
Matrices make up the first part of the free IQ test: 7 of the 16 questions in the quick test and 14 of the 32 in the full test, from easy to hard.
Read the guide · Take the IQ test