Free spatial reasoning test

Free spatial reasoning test online: 12 rotation, reflection, mirror-image and cube-net diagrams, drawn fresh each attempt, with explanations and a result to share.

FREE PRACTICE · NEW QUESTIONS EVERY ATTEMPT

Spatial reasoning test

Choose the rotated, reflected or folded result. Filled cells stay filled. A rotation turns the shape without flipping it; a reflection flips it. Every diagram has a text description for screen readers.

12 questions8 minutes62 in the bank

Choose your pace Timed practice · 8 minutes Learn at your pace · no countdown

Each attempt draws 12 of 62 questions, and a retake avoids the ones you have just seen. One point per correct answer, no penalty for guessing. Skip and return to questions; answers and explanations appear after you finish. Your progress stays on this page until you reload or leave.

What a spatial reasoning test measures

Spatial reasoning is the ability to hold a shape in your mind and move it: turn it a quarter turn, flip it over, fold a flat net into a box, and know what you would see. It is tested in recruitment for engineering, design, architecture, surveying, logistics, technical apprenticeships, the armed forces and other jobs that read drawings or pack three-dimensional space.

Test publishers ask the question in a handful of ways, and this test covers the four that appear most often: rotation (which option is the shape turned by a stated angle), reflection (which option is the mirror image), mirror-image spotting (three rotations and one flipped copy, find the odd one out) and cube nets (which faces end up opposite each other when a net is folded).

How this free test works

12 questions, drawn from a bank of 62: four rotations, three reflections, two mirror-image puzzles and three cube-net questions per attempt. A retake avoids the items you have just seen.
Original diagrams. Shapes are placed on 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 grids and checked so that all eight turned and flipped versions differ, which means no option is accidentally the same picture as another. The cube-net questions use all eleven nets of a cube, folded by the same rule each time, with the face letters shuffled.
8 minutes timed, or untimed while you practise.
Explanations after you finish, including the row-and-column rule for each transformation and the opposite-face pairs for each net.
An optional shareable result with a permanent link, preview image and Add to LinkedIn profile button.

Sample spatial reasoning questions

Rotation. Picture an L on a 3 × 3 grid: the whole left column is filled, plus the bottom-middle cell. Turn it 90° clockwise and every cell at (row, column) moves to (column, 4 − row): the left column becomes the top row, and the foot of the L, which pointed right along the bottom, now hangs down from the left end of that row. Track one distinctive cell first, the foot in this case, then the rest.

Cube nets. In a cross-shaped net with A above C, B to the left of C, D to the right of C, E below C and F below E, the opposite pairs are A-E, B-D and C-F. Faces that are two squares apart in a straight line on the net become opposites; faces that touch on the net stay adjacent.

Mirror image. Three of four options are rotations of the original and one is a flipped copy. The flipped copy is the one you cannot reach by turning the page; it is the one whose “handedness” has changed.

How to improve your spatial reasoning score

Track a landmark cell, not the whole shape. Pick an off-centre or corner cell and follow where it goes; the rest of the shape follows the same rule.
Learn the four rules. Clockwise: (row, column) → (column, size + 1 − row). Counterclockwise: (row, column) → (size + 1 − column, row). Vertical mirror keeps the row and reverses the column; horizontal mirror keeps the column and reverses the row.
A rotation never changes handedness. If an option looks like the shape but “the other way round”, it is a reflection, not a rotation.
For nets, find the strip. On any net, a row of three faces puts its two ends opposite each other, and the middle face is opposite whichever face hangs off the strip on the far side.
Sketch. Redrawing a shape on paper is allowed and often faster than imagining it.

Reading your result

The result guide explains the calculation, the four score ranges and which of the four skills to practise. This is unsupervised practice, not a certificate and not an IQ measure.

Abstract reasoning test: pattern rules across a sequence of panels, using the same grids.
Logical reasoning test: deduction from stated rules.
Attention to detail test: spotting a one-character difference under time.

Frequently asked questions

Is the spatial reasoning test free?

Yes. All 12 questions, the score, explanations and a public result link are free, with no account and no email address.

Are the diagrams the same every time?

No. The shapes are generated: every rotation, reflection and mirror-image item uses a shape whose eight turned and flipped versions are all different, so every option is a genuinely different picture, and the cube nets are drawn from all eleven nets with the faces relabelled. A retake avoids the items you just saw.

Is this a spatial awareness test or a spatial IQ test?

It is a practice test for the spatial ability questions employers and apprenticeship schemes use: turning and flipping shapes in your head and folding nets. It gives a percentage of questions answered correctly, not an IQ score, and it has no norm group.

How is the score calculated?

One point per correct answer, zero for wrong or unanswered questions, and the percentage is correct answers divided by 12, rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Do the diagrams work with a screen reader?

Every diagram carries a text description listing its filled cells by row and column, and every cube net lists where each face sits. The questions can be answered from the descriptions alone, though more slowly.