Cubes and Nets
The COMET method in four minutes — one real question, the net folded into its cube step by step.
A flat net is shown: six squares joined together, with a symbol on each one. You pick the cube it folds up into.
Some questions run the other way round: here is the cube — which net makes it? The same five steps work on each net.
These come from practice books written for the exam, not from GL's own booklets. They train the same skill as Cube Views.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question. One thing is different: the video shows the five cubes in another order, so the answer is lettered E in the video and A here. Same picture, different place in the line-up.
The method
Five steps: connect the pairs, only one of each pair, make the cube in your head, eliminate the wrong ones, take the one left — and their first letters spell COMET.
- Step 1 of 5
Connect the pairs
Find the squares that end up back to back, on opposite sides of the cube. In any straight line of three squares, the two at the ends are a pair. Every net has three pairs. - Step 2 of 5
Only one of each pair
A cube can only ever show one square from each pair, because the two end up on opposite sides. Cross off any cube that shows both. - Step 3 of 5
Make the cube in your head
Keep the top square flat — the one on top of the cubes still standing — and fold the rest down round it. Then turn it to the corner the cubes show. What lands on the left, and what on the right? Where does the top of each letter point? - Step 4 of 5
Eliminate the wrong ones
Check each cube against the one in your head. Cross off any that doesn't match: two symbols the wrong way round, or a letter that points somewhere else. - Step 5 of 5
Take the one left
The cube still standing is your answer.
Give each question 30 to 40 seconds.
Rules to watch
- The pairs don't prove the cube. A cube with two symbols the wrong way round still keeps every pair apart. Step 2 can't catch it; only the cube in your head can.
- Which way up matters on some symbols, not others. A circle, a square or a plus looks the same after a quarter turn, so it can't show a turn. Check the letters, arrows and triangles.
- A letter's way up on the net is not its way up on the cube. Folding moves it. Only the cube in your head tells you where its top points.
Watch for these traps
- Squares can meet without touching on the net. In the example, R and G are far apart on the net, but folded up they share an edge. Squares that touch on the net always meet on the cube — but not the other way round. Three squares on a net can never all touch each other, so "they must touch" would throw out every cube, the answer too.
- Not every net is a cross. A zigzag has no straight line of three. Count along it instead: squares three steps apart end up back to back. In our bank, 16 of the 27 exam-level nets are not crosses.
- Some questions go the other way round. You're given the cube and have to find its net. On ours, all five nets are the same shape, so the shape tells you nothing. Use the same steps on each net: connect its pairs, cross off a net that puts a pair on show, then fold the rest up in your head.
Stuck at 30 seconds? Cross off the cube with a pair on show, then any with two symbols the wrong way round, then choose.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the cube that the net makes.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- Shaded Nets — the same folding, with shading and other solids
- Cube Views — the same cube, already built
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.