Find the mirror line first, then flip every part of the figure across it, dots and marks too.
Practice test 1 is free. No card needed.
Mirror image questions are solved by finding the mirror line, then flipping every part of the figure across it. Children in Year 5 now sit ASET Abstract Reasoning in Year 6, on 6 March 2027.
Checked by the SelectiveReady team on 12 October 2026 · Updated 27 October 2026 · How we check facts
Independent. Not affiliated with the WA Department of Education.
In our questions, a mirror image hides in a grid: one box is a flipped copy of another. That makes them Complete the Pattern questions, where your child must choose the option that fits most logically and simply into the space marked with a question mark.
Abstract Reasoning is the last of the four tests. By then your child has been working for a while, so a flip method that runs on habit saves effort.
These three are our own, from easier to harder, and drawn as pictures. Each shows the answer and the working. Hold the page up to a real mirror together and find the part each wrong option didn't flip.
Which figure completes the pattern?
Answer: D
Answer: D
Imagine a mirror standing down the middle of each row. The middle box looks the same in a mirror, and the right box is the left box seen in the mirror: everything swaps left and right. So the flag must point left and the dot moves to the top-right corner, giving D. A moves the dot but forgets to flip the flag.
Which figure completes the pattern?
Answer: B
Answer: B
Imagine a mirror lying flat along the middle row. The bottom row is the top row seen in that mirror, so each shape is flipped top to bottom. The flag keeps its pole on the left, but the flag part drops to the bottom, still pointing right, so the answer is B. A spins the flag round instead, which moves the pole to the right side.
Which figure completes the pattern?
Answer: C
Answer: C
In each row, the middle box is the first box flipped left to right, and the last box is the middle box flipped upside down. In the bottom row, that flip puts the dot in the top-right corner and lays the flag along the bottom, pointing up at the left end, so the answer is C. D moves the dot but leaves the flag as it was.
Draw the mirror line first, because every other step depends on where it runs. Rough working is fine in the question booklet, but markers never see it, so a pencil line across the grid costs nothing.
A mirror standing down the middle swaps left and right. A mirror lying flat across the middle swaps top and bottom.
A shape that is the same on both sides of the line looks unchanged in the mirror. That is a clue to where the line is.
The shape, any dot and any mark all move to the other side of the line.
In a top-to-bottom flip, the left side stays on the left. A turn would move it.
When a row flips twice, work out the first flip, write it down, then do the second.
Each trap is a part of the flip that's easy to skip. As you read the working together, ask which slip below your child might make, and use its check on later questions.
Start with a hand mirror and paper, so your child sees a flip happen before doing one in their head. The real test is 35 questions in 20 minutes, and the handbook says to work even more quickly than the other tests. Let speed come once flips are reliable.
These questions show how a flip works. Practice test 1 is free and shows whether your child spots one quickly among other rules. More in our ASET abstract reasoning sample questions.
Practice test 1 marks every answer and shows results by skill: what your child already does well and the three skills to work on next.
Practise for the real test
Practice test 1 is free. Then packs from A$109 for 12 months, or A$9 a week, per exam.