What does a child have to do to complete a visual series in the 11+?

Apply a repeated visual change to select the next figure. It is one of 22 named non-verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the pattern strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

What is the trap in an 11+ complete a visual series question?

Check which way the row is going. Going the wrong way along the row is the commonest slip. The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.

What is not part of complete a visual series in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: One repeated rule only. A question past that line is testing a different named non-verbal reasoning skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.

Which other 11+ skills should we practise alongside complete a visual series?

The skill map connects it to track object count. A visual series may compose a count-change rule. That skill has its own page here.

How can my child practise complete a visual series for free?

Use Sequence Scrubber, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a visual series, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Non-verbal Reasoning · Pattern

Complete a visual series

Apply a repeated visual change to select the next figure.

Practise it now

Scrub the timeline to feel what the pattern is doing, then choose the frame that comes next.

Loading the interactive exercise. Nothing you do here is saved or scored.

A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

Reading a row of figures

Work along the row and find the one change that happens every time.

Only where the dot sits round the circle changes along this row, and it changes by one place clockwise round the circle each time.

a dot at the top of the circle
a dot at the lower left of the circle
a dot at the left of the circle
a dot at the upper left of the circle

Answer: a dot at the upper left of the circle

How you get there

Along the row the figures go a dot at the bottom of the circle, then a dot at the lower left of the circle, then a dot at the left of the circle. The only change is one place clockwise round the circle every time, so carrying that change on from a dot at the left of the circle gives a dot at the upper left of the circle.

Why the other answers tempt

Check which way the row is going. Going the wrong way along the row is the commonest slip.

If they are stuck, say this

Work out both how much the figures change by and which way the change goes, because some of the options are close but not right.

Now do it live in Sequence Scrubber

Kitchen-table script for parents

Try this together

A friendly mini script for the breakfast table, school run or a quiet two minutes. Read it aloud as written, or make it your own.

Ready? Let's try Complete a visual series together. Take a look at the picture. Here is what matters: Only where the dot sits round the circle changes along this row, and it changes by one place clockwise round the circle each time. Here comes the question: Work along the row and find the one change that happens every time. A handy clue is: Work out both how much the figures change by and which way the change goes, because some of the options are close but not right. Nice work. Here is the thinking: The only change is one place clockwise round the circle every time, so carrying that change on from a dot at the left of the circle gives a dot at the upper left of the circle. So our answer is: a dot at the upper left of the circle. One sneaky trap is: Check which way the row is going. Going the wrong way along the row is the commonest slip. Can you show me the first move in your own words? No rush; one calm step is enough.

What this exercise is doing

Sequence Scrubber

Scrub the timeline to feel what the pattern is doing, then choose the frame that comes next.

Hard sequences run two rules at the same time, so you have to track them separately. Here the arrows turn 45° further every frame (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°…) and the number of arrows climbs by one every frame (1, 2, 3, 4…). Frame five must obey both: five arrows, turned to 180°.

What to say if they get stuck

Drag the handle slowly. Watch the arrows turn - how far do they swing between one frame and the next?
Now stop watching the turn and count the arrows instead. Something else is growing.
Two rules run at once: the turn adds 45° each frame, and one more arrow joins each time.

Open Sequence Scrubber on its own page to share it

Where complete a visual series sits in the 11+

The 11+ does not test these skills in isolation, and practising one in the wrong order wastes the practice. These are the skills the curriculum map connects this one to.

This is built out of: Track object count
A visual series may compose a count-change rule.

How complete a visual series differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises several skills, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: apply a repeated visual change to select the next figure, and it stops where one repeated rule only.

Track object count
Track how the number of visual elements changes across figures. Count is the target attribute; shape identity is secondary.
Track pointing direction
Track the direction of one or more oriented marks. Excludes whole-figure rotation unless all parts turn together.

Related non-verbal reasoning skills

Compare visual attributesCompare shape, position, angle, number, size, or shading across figures.
Complete a visual matrixCombine row or column rules to select one missing figure.
Complete a visual analogyTransfer the visual relationship from one figure pair to complete a second pair.
Identify a visual odd one outSelect the figure that violates the shared visual rule.

All non-verbal reasoning 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about complete a visual series

Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.

: Apply a repeated visual change to select the next figure. It is one of 22 named non-verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the pattern strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
: Check which way the row is going. Going the wrong way along the row is the commonest slip. The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.
: Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. Work out both how much the figures change by and which way the change goes, because some of the options are close but not right.
: The skill map draws the line here: One repeated rule only. A question past that line is testing a different named non-verbal reasoning skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The skill map connects it to track object count. A visual series may compose a count-change rule. That skill has its own page here.
: Use Sequence Scrubber, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a visual series, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Non-verbal reasoning is the paper families most often leave until last

A free diagnostic covers matrices, series, odd one out, rotation, reflection and the 3D questions, and shows where the time is worth spending.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic