What does a child have to do to complete a letter connection in the 11+?

Infer the relation linking letter pairs and complete one missing pair. It is one of 26 named verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the logic strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

What is the trap in an 11+ complete a letter connection question?

A rule that fits the first worked pair is only a guess: the second pair exists to rule out the readings that also fit the first. 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 letter connection in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: One invariant pair relation. A question past that line is testing a different named 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 letter connection?

The skill map connects it to identify an analogy relation. Relational comparison transfers from semantic to symbolic pairs. That skill has its own page here.

How can my child practise complete a letter connection for free?

Use Letter Link, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a letter connection, 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.

Verbal Reasoning · Logic

Complete a letter connection

Infer the relation linking letter pairs and complete one missing pair.

Practise it now

OA is to MD as RN is to ?

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.

Checking a rule against the second pair

BQ becomes FV, and ID becomes MI. Using the same connection, what does KM become?

Work two pairs through and see why one worked pair can never settle it.

Answer: OR

How you get there

Here the first letter moves 4 places forward and the second moves 5 places forward, which is what turns BQ into FV and ID into MI, so KM becomes OR. 2 worked pairs are given on purpose: with only one, "swap the letters over" and "reflect the alphabet so A becomes Z" would both fit as well, and they land on different answers. Lay the pairs on an alphabet strip and count the hops from each letter to the one it becomes, then check that count against the second worked pair before you use it, because a rule that fits one pair is a guess.

Why the other answers tempt

A rule that fits the first worked pair is only a guess: the second pair exists to rule out the readings that also fit the first.

If they are stuck, say this

Write the alphabet out and count the hops from each letter to the one it becomes. Then check the same count works on the second worked pair.

Now do it live in Letter Link

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 have a go at Complete a letter connection together. Work two pairs through and see why one worked pair can never settle it. Here comes the question: BQ becomes FV, and ID becomes MI. Using the same connection, what does KM become? Before we race ahead, let us choose one good first step. Here is a helpful clue: Then check the same count works on the second worked pair. Nice work. Now let us follow the thinking: Lay the pairs on an alphabet strip and count the hops from each letter to the one it becomes, then check that count against the second worked pair before you use it, because a rule that fits one pair is a guess. So our answer is: OR. There is one sneaky trap to watch for: A rule that fits the first worked pair is only a guess: the second pair exists to rule out the readings that also fit the first. Can you show me that first move again in your own words? Brilliant. No rush; we are practising a method you can reuse, not trying to win a speed contest.

What this exercise is doing

Letter Link

OA is to MD as RN is to ?

The first letter moves 2 places back and the second moves 3 places forward. OA becomes MD, and OS becomes MV, so RN becomes PQ. Two worked pairs are given on purpose: with only one, "swap the letters over" and "reflect the alphabet" would both fit as well, and they land on different answers. A second pair is what leaves exactly one relation standing.

What to say if they get stuck

Lay both worked pairs on the alphabet strip. Count the hops from each letter to the one it becomes.
Check your rule against the SECOND worked pair as well - a rule that only fits one pair is a guess.
Here the first letter moves 2 places back and the second moves 3 places forward. Do exactly that to RN.

Open Letter Link on its own page to share it

Where complete a letter connection 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.

The same thinking arrives from: Identify an analogy relation
Relational comparison transfers from semantic to symbolic pairs.

Related verbal reasoning skills

Evaluate stated factsIdentify what must follow from a small set of supplied facts.

All verbal reasoning 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about complete a letter connection

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.

: Infer the relation linking letter pairs and complete one missing pair. It is one of 26 named verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the logic strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
: A rule that fits the first worked pair is only a guess: the second pair exists to rule out the readings that also fit the first. 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. Write the alphabet out and count the hops from each letter to the one it becomes. Then check the same count works on the second worked pair.
: The skill map draws the line here: One invariant pair relation. A question past that line is testing a different named verbal reasoning skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The skill map connects it to identify an analogy relation. Relational comparison transfers from semantic to symbolic pairs. That skill has its own page here.
: Use Letter Link, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a letter connection, 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.

Verbal reasoning is a set of question types, not a subject to revise

A free diagnostic works out which of the codes, analogies, word puzzles and logic types are already secure, and which are not.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic