Non-Verbal Reasoning Odd One Out
The SORT method in eight minutes — two real questions, solved step by step.
In odd one out you get given five figures, and you have to find the one that is most unlike the others. That is the whole question.
That sounds like a matter of opinion. It is not: four of the figures share a hidden rule, one breaks it, and that one is your answer.
So do not hunt the odd one. Hunt the four.
The method
Four beats: scan all five, one feature at a time, relationships, test the four to one. They spell SORT.
- Step 1 of 4
Scan all five
Every one of them, before you decide anything. One of them will already catch your eye. That is not evidence — the odd-looking one is bait. - Step 2 of 4
One feature at a time
Run the SHAPES+S checklist in order, asking the same thing of each feature: does this split the five four to one? Sometimes one feature settles it on its own. Run the rest of the list anyway, in case something bigger turns up. - Step 3 of 4
Relationships
Once the whole list is done, ask how the features relate to each other. Does one part influence another? Does a part match another part? Where does a line cut the shape? Where do the parts sit, compared with each other? How much of the shape is shaded? This is the step that cracks the hard ones. - Step 4 of 4
Test the four to one
In your head, finish the sentence: "all of them have as many ticks as black dots, except this one, which has one tick too many." If you cannot finish it, your rule is wrong.- All five the same? Nothing. Cross it off and move on.
- All five different? Nothing either. It was varied to catch your eye.
- Three against two? Never the answer. Keep looking.
Count first. Sides, dots, parts, bends, corners. A count is fast and nobody can argue with it. About 25 to 35 seconds a question.
A second worked example
Five figures, each an outline shape with one small dot inside it. Which figure is the odd one out?
Sometimes a single feature settles it. The method does not change — and the list still gets finished.
Rules to watch
The features to scan are the seven on the SHAPES+S checklist. In odd one out, never leave out the last one, symmetry: it is one of the most common odd-one-out rules there is.
If none of them splits four to one, you are at R. The rule is about how two parts go together — the hard end of this type, and where most exam-level questions live.
Things to watch out for
Four relationships come up again and again. The video shows each one on a real question, and each is only an example of the rule, not the rule itself.
- A part matches a part. The most common of the lot. In this example, the two black triangles inside each shape point the same way — and in the odd one, they don't.
- Where a line cuts the shape. In this example, the line runs from a corner to the middle of a side in four of them. In the odd one it runs corner to corner.
- Where the parts sit. Where they are, or which way they point, compared with each other. In this example, the dot sits against the triangle's shortest side in four of them. In the odd one, it sits against the longest.
- Proportion. How much of the shape is shaded. In this example, exactly half is striped in four of them. In the odd one, it is three-quarters.
Traps
- A difference on an axis where everything differs. Much the most common, planted on purpose. All five shapes are different kinds, or sizes, or directions, and one is bound to catch your eye. But if all five differ, no figure is odd there.
- A part that means nothing at all. A dot or an extra edge, put there to be looked at. Every other question type taught you a difference is a clue. Here, some are furniture. Test it: four to one?
- Touching read as overlapping. At small size a shallow overlap and a touching point look almost the same. Look for one outline passing through another. If no line crosses, they only touch.
- Symmetry taken from the outline. The outline folds in half, so the figure feels symmetrical. Fold the whole figure.
- Size judged against the row. The biggest figure stands out, but the outlines are all different sizes on purpose. Compare each inner shape with its own outline.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the figure that is the odd one out.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- The SHAPES+S checklist — the seven letters, with a video of their own
- NVR: Similarities — the same game the other way round
- NVR: Series — find the rule across a row of shapes
All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 25+ learning games, timed mock exams and focused practice. Brainblox is an independent app: not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any exam board, school or assessment publisher, and it contains no past papers.