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Non-verbal Reasoning · Position

Track order and position

Track how elements exchange places or move through ordered positions.

Practise it now

The tall square moves the same number of places each time. Count the move, then pick the track 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.

Following the move

Count how many places the marker moves, then move the third one the same way.

The marker does not change. It moves one level lower.

A
B
C
?

Analogy: a small pale grey bead on level 4 is to a small pale grey bead on level 3 as a small pale grey bead on level 5 is to what? The pictured terms are a small pale grey bead on level 4; a small pale grey bead on level 3; a small pale grey bead on level 5. The pictured options are a small pale grey bead on level 4; a small pale grey bead on level 3; a pale grey bead on level 5; a pale grey bead on level 4.

a small pale grey bead on level 4 is to a small pale grey bead on level 3 as a small pale grey bead on level 5 is to what?

  1. a small pale grey bead on level 4
  2. a small pale grey bead on level 3
  3. a pale grey bead on level 5
  4. a pale grey bead on level 4

Answer: a small pale grey bead on level 4

How you get there

The only thing that changes between the first two figures is the level the bead sits on: a small pale grey bead on level 4 becomes a small pale grey bead on level 3, so the change is one level lower. Making the same change to a small pale grey bead on level 5 gives a small pale grey bead on level 4.

Why the other answers tempt

A marker one place out has not followed the rule, even though it looks close.

If they are stuck, say this

Work out both how many places the marker moved and which way it went, then apply the whole move to the third figure.

Now do it live in The Marker Track

What this exercise is doing

The Marker Track

The tall square moves the same number of places each time. Count the move, then pick the track that comes next.

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.

  1. Step 1. Count the move. Look at the two tracks. How many places does the tall square move, and which way?
  2. Step 2. What comes next?. Now pick the track that comes next.

What to say if they get stuck

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. The tall square moves 2 places to the left each time, and the ends of the track do not join up.

Open The Marker Track on its own page to share it

Where track order and position 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 one piece of

Complete a visual matrix

A matrix may compose a positional exchange rule.

How track order and position differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises one other skill, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: track how elements exchange places or move through ordered positions, and it stops where element attributes remain fixed unless separately stated.

  • Compare visual attributes

    Compare shape, position, angle, number, size, or shading across figures. One named or inferable attribute change.

Questions parents ask about track order and position

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.

Track how elements exchange places or move through ordered positions. It is one of 22 named non-verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the position strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

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