Read them with your child to see the rule behind each pattern and the trap it sets.
Practice test 1 is free. No card needed.
Abstract Reasoning checks how quickly your child spots the rule in a run of shapes, not what they've learnt. These 8 worked questions cover its 2 types, before the test on 6 March 2027 in Perth, Bunbury and Albany.
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.
It's the last test of the morning, and it uses shapes instead of words or numbers. Your child has to recognise connections, make reasoned choices and decide if they make sense. Children in Year 5 now sit it on 6 March 2027 in Perth metro, Bunbury and Albany, for Year 7 entry in 2028.
The handbook names 2 question types. In Next in Sequence, your child must find the rule for the sequence and choose what most logically and simply comes next. In Complete the Pattern, they choose the option that fits most logically and simply into the space marked with a question mark.
The clock is the hard part. The handbook says to work even more quickly than the other tests, so one figure that runs long costs marks elsewhere. There are no marks taken off for wrong answers, so a guess always beats a blank.
| The test | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Abstract Reasoning | 35 questions, 4 options each | 20 minutes |
| Next in Sequence | Complete the Pattern | |
|---|---|---|
| The question | Which figure comes next in the sequence? | Which figure completes the pattern? |
| Where the rule is | In the change from one figure to the next | Across the rows or down the columns of a grid |
| The handbook's example | the inner black triangle moves clockwise one space while the spotted shape moves anticlockwise two spaces | the shape at the right of each row is made by combining the shapes in the first two boxes |
| On this page | Five of the eight questions | Three of the eight questions |
Each question shows the answer and the working. Read them with your child, and ask your child to name the rule in their own words.
We wrote these for this page, to the Department's format. They are not from any real test, and none appears in our Practice tests.
These four warm up. Look at one thing at a time: position, direction, size, colour. The fourth has two changes happening together, so look for both.
Which figure comes next in the sequence?
Answer: C
Answer: C
Find what changes each step. The black circle moves one corner clockwise (the way a clock's hands turn): top left, top right, bottom right, bottom left. One more move takes it back to the top left, so the answer is C. A is the most tempting wrong choice, but it moves the black circle backwards, anticlockwise.
Which figure comes next in the sequence?
Answer: A
Answer: A
Look at which way the arrow points. Each step it turns an eighth of a full turn clockwise: up, up-right, right, down-right. One more eighth of a turn makes it point straight down, so the answer is A. B turns it two steps at once, and C has not turned at all.
Which figure completes the pattern?
Answer: D
Answer: D
Check each row and each column. Every row and every column has one circle, one square and one triangle, and one small, one medium and one large shape. The bottom row still needs a square, and the right-hand column still needs a small shape, so the answer is a small square, D. C has the right shape but the wrong size.
Which figure comes next in the sequence?
Answer: B
Answer: B
Two things change at once. The circle grows small, medium, large, then starts again at small, and its colour swaps between black and white every step. After a small white circle comes a medium black circle, so the answer is B. C has the right size but forgets the colour swap, and A skips the medium size.
These four are harder. Two are grids, and the last hides a jump that grows each step. A quick sketch on scrap paper is usually faster than holding every change in your head.
Which figure comes next in the sequence?
Answer: C
Answer: C
Watch the shapes and the black colour separately. Each step, every shape moves one place clockwise round the three positions, but the top position is always the black one. The triangle moves to the top and is black, so the answer is C. A lets the black colour travel with the circle instead of staying at the top.
Which figure completes the pattern?
Answer: A
Answer: A
Compare the boxes across each row. Each box is the one before it turned a quarter turn clockwise, as if the whole box were spun on a table, so the shape turns and the dot travels with it. Turning the middle box of the bottom row gives an upside-down flag with the dot on the right, so the answer is A. C is a flipped flag, not a turned one.
Which figure completes the pattern?
Answer: D
Answer: D
In each row, the small black shape in one box grows into the big white shape of the next box, and the last box's small shape matches the first box's big shape. In the bottom row, the small circle becomes the big circle, and the triangle from the first box goes inside it. That gives D. B swaps which shape is big and which is small.
Which figure comes next in the sequence?
Answer: B
Answer: B
Count how many places the black circle jumps round the ring of eight circles each time. It moves clockwise one place, then two places, then three. Next it must move four places, from the bottom-left corner up and round to the top-right corner, so the answer is B. A repeats the jump of three instead of growing to four.
How you go through the answers together matters most. Eight questions talked through slowly teach more than a page rushed.
Read it aloud and ask your child what it's asking and which facts matter. That's the habit the real test rewards.
Your child names the change in words, such as 'the dot moves clockwise each step', then checks it against the working.
Each explanation names the tempting wrong option. Ask your child why it looks right: that's the trap to watch for.
Each question links to its skill page, with a method and three more worked questions.
The wrong options here are built to catch a quick glance. Go through these as you read the explanations together: each trap has a simple check.
Going the wrong way round: A tempting option moves the shape anticlockwise when the rule is clockwise. Trace the path with a finger.
Turning too far, or not at all: In the arrow sequence, one option turns two steps at once and another hasn't turned.
Right shape, wrong size: In a grid, check every feature the rule controls, not just the shape.
Forgetting the second rule: When size and colour both change, an option with the right size can still miss the colour swap.
Letting colour travel with the wrong shape: Sometimes the colour belongs to a position, not to a shape.
Mixing up a flip and a turn: A mirror image can look like a quarter turn. Rotate the page to check.
Repeating a jump that should grow: If the jumps go one, two, three, the next is four, not three again.
Each question belongs to one skill. If one kind feels hard, start with that skill's page: it explains a method and works through three more questions.
| Skill | Questions on this page |
|---|---|
| ASET shape sequences | 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 |
| ASET rotation | 2, 6 |
| ASET two-rule shape patterns | 4 |
| ASET mirror images | See its page |
| ASET abstract reasoning shape rules | See its page |
How the whole test works is on our page about the abstract reasoning GATE test.
Eight questions show the types. A full test shows whether your child can keep the pace for 20 minutes, straight after Quantitative Reasoning, which is a different skill.
Practice test 1 has Abstract Reasoning at its real length and time, with every answer explained. Afterwards you'll see results by skill, so you know which kinds of question cost the most marks.
No. We wrote them ourselves, to the format the Department publishes, with 4 options for each question.
Past ASET papers are not published. Our ASET practice test page links to the Department's free Practice ASET, in 4 parts.
Faster than in the other tests: the handbook says to work even more quickly than the other tests, under a minute a question. A good check is that your child should be about halfway through the questions when half the time is left.
Guess. On the ASET there are no marks taken off for wrong answers. With about a minute to go, the handbook says to fill in an answer for every remaining question.
Not a lot. The handbook says the ASET is not curriculum-based and advises preparation in moderation, because most forms of preparation have limits. Our guide on how to prepare for the GATE test sets out a calm plan.
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.