Folding
A flat shape is shown with a dotted line through it. The smaller part folds over on top of the rest. You pick the picture of the shape after the fold.
Real paper is solid, so a folded flap hides what is under it. These pictures do not. The flap leaves its own edges behind, drawn as lines across the middle of the shape.
That one fact is most of the question type.
The method
Five beats: find the smaller part, mirror it corner by corner, cross out the empty ones, check it turned over, check where the lines sit.
- Find the smaller part. Put a finger on the dotted line and leave it there. Say which side is smaller. That is the part that moves; the other side stays where it is.
- Mirror it corner by corner. Not the whole flap at once. Start with one corner, straight out at right angles to the crease, and the same distance the other side. Then take the rest, corner by corner, saying where each one lands. "That tooth lands on that notch."
- Cross out the empty ones. The flap does not vanish. Its edges show as lines on top of the shape. This beat has a name: the show-through. Cross out every picture with an empty middle.
- Check it turned over. Pick one lopsided part of the flap: a long tooth, a pointed end. Ask which side of the crease it lands on. A fold swaps it over. A slide does not.
- Check where the lines sit. Two pictures can both have lines. Measure one line from the crease. It sits as far past the crease as its own edge sits short of it.
About 20 to 30 seconds each. A straight fold takes 10, so bank that time for the slanting ones.
💡 Worked example
The shape below is folded along the dotted line, and the smaller part folds over on top of the rest. Which one shows the shape after the fold?
How to answer
Rules to watch
- The crease is a mirror, not a slide. Each point lands the same distance the other side, straight out at right angles.
- A slanting crease trades across for along. Sixteen of our twenty fold on a slant. Turn the page until the crease stands upright and it becomes an ordinary fold. That is allowed, and it costs a second.
- The answer always has lines inside it. True on all twenty. But "so the one with lines is the answer" is false: 11 of the 20 offer a second picture with none. Cross out with it, never pick with it.
- Outline can cross out, but it can never choose. On every one of our twenty questions, at least one wrong picture carries exactly the answer's outline. On four of them, two do.
- Decide first whether the flap sticks out. If it reaches past what stayed, the outline changes and you can cross out on outline. If it lands inside, the outline tells you nothing, so go straight to the lines.
Watch for these traps
We looked at all 80 wrong pictures in our twenty exam-level questions.
- A clean empty middle. 20, and one on every single question. "Fold it over and it is hidden" is true of paper and false of these pictures. It is the most common wrong answer, and the cheapest to cross out.
- Slid instead of folded over. 16, on 16 of the 20. On a straight fold, sliding and folding often land in the same place, so sliding gets rewarded for weeks. Only a slanting crease pulls them apart, and 16 of our creases run corner to corner.
- Folded along a different line. 15, on 15 of the 20. Mirrored across a real edge of the shape instead of the dotted crease. A notched shape offers several believable lines, and the dotted one is thin.
- The wrong part folded. 13, on 13 of the 20. The larger part folded onto the smaller. The question says which part moves, in a sentence nobody re-reads. Say which side is smaller, out loud, before you fold anything.
- Right fold, wrong place. 10, on 10 of the 20. The flap is turned over perfectly, then set down a whole square out. It carries the answer's outline and its number of lines, so both fast checks let it through. Only measuring one line from the crease catches it.
- Not folded at all. 6, on 6 of the 20. The shape exactly as it started. After thirty seconds of staring it starts to look possible, and it is worst when the flap lands inside.
Stuck? Work down this list rather than guessing.
- Cross out the empty middles first. It is free, and it is there on every question.
- Ask whether the flap sticks out. If it does, cross out on outline too.
- Mirror one corner only, and see which pictures put anything there.
- Still nothing at 25 seconds? Pick a picture with lines and a believable outline, and move on.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the shape that shows the fold.
✏️ Question 1
The shape below is folded along the dotted line, and the smaller part folds over on top of the rest. Which one shows the shape after the fold?
The answer is option E
The flap reaches past what stayed, so the outline changes and you can cross out on outline alone. Then check the lines: one picture has the right fold set down a square out, and one folded the larger part.
✏️ Question 2
The shape below is folded along the dotted line, and the smaller part folds over on top of the rest. Which one shows the shape after the fold?
The answer is option C
The teeth turn over onto the block, whose outline does not change at all. So the outline settles nothing here, and every tooth showing its own edges is the whole answer. One picture is the shape not folded at all.
✏️ Question 3
The shape below is folded along the dotted line. The smaller part folds over on top of the rest. Which one shows what the shape looks like after the fold?
The answer is option D
A slanting crease and a sloping edge are two different things. Find the dotted line first, then follow only the paper on its smaller side. One picture folds across the sloping edge instead.
✏️ Question 4
The shape below is folded along the dotted line, and the smaller part folds over on top of the rest. Which one shows the shape after the fold?
The answer is option B
Corner to corner, so across and along swap over. Turn the page until the crease stands upright and the teeth are easy to place. One picture slid them instead of folding them over.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- Fold and Punch — the same crease-as-mirror idea, with holes
- Connecting Shapes — join pieces and picture the outline
All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 15 arcade 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.