Hidden Shapes
The CLEAR method in six minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
What one looks like
One shape is given on its own. It is called the target. With it come five busy figures, and exactly one of them has the target hidden among its lines.
Have a look at the simple one beside this. It has six straight sides. Trace them round in order and every one of them lands on a line the figure already draws. That is the whole question — and notice how little the shape looks like itself once it is in there. It is not sitting on top of the picture. It is part of the picture.
Four things are true every time, and each of them catches somebody out. The target is hidden at exactly the same size. Every part of it is drawn — nothing is faint, nothing is left out. It is never flipped, so a mirror image is never the answer. And whether it may be turned depends on one sentence above the picture, which is where the method starts.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question. One thing is different: the video shows the five figures in another order, so the answer is lettered E in the video and A here. Same figure, different place in the line-up.
Swipe the row — there are 1 pictures →
The method
Five beats: check the rule, look at the target, eliminate, align it, right? — and their first letters spell CLEAR.
- CCheck the ruleRead the sentence above the picture before you look at anything else. It says either the same way round — the shape sits exactly as you see it — or it may be turned round, which allows any angle at all. Both say the same size, both say every part drawn, and neither one ever allows a flip.
- LLook at the targetThree quick things. Look at the shape. Count the sides. Then find the signature: the one part you would never come across by chance — a notch, a cut corner, a step. Everything after this hunts the signature, not the whole shape.
- EEliminateOne question only, asked of each of the five figures: is the signature there? Not the whole shape — just that one part. A figure that does not draw it is out, and you have not had to trace anything yet.
- AAlign itTake the figures that kept the signature and lay the whole shape over them, side by side, in order. Two things send a figure out here: one part the wrong shape, and the right shape at the wrong size. Compare the target against what you have found — in the exam you cannot pick the paper up and hold one against the other, so do it with your eyes.
- RRight?One should be left. Check it before you mark it: every side sitting on a line the figure already draws, the same size, and — if the rule said so — the same way round.
The shape will not pop out at you. It looks like four or five lines with other lines crossing them, and expecting it to jump out is why children freeze on this type. Allow 25 to 30 seconds each; an easy one takes 12, so bank that time for the hard ones.
Watch for these traps
- The mirror. One option is your shape flipped over — its reflection, the way it would look in a mirror. It is easy to fall for, because every side is the right length and every angle matches. But a flipped shape is never the answer. Slide it and turn it as much as you like: a mirror image will never sit on top of the shape you were given.
- The wrong size. An option really does hide the shape, every part of it, neatly — but bigger, or smaller. It has to be the exact same size, so that one is out as well. It is often the easiest one to spot, which is exactly why it is there.
- A missing part. An option can carry the signature and still be wrong. Everything sits where it should except one part, and that part is not drawn at all. The commonest version: the shape has a corner cut off at an angle, and the figure squares that corner off instead, so there is no line anywhere along the cut edge. One missing part is enough to rule an option out, which is why you check every part rather than glancing at the shape as a whole.
- A part sits on a line. It is not the whole line. A line is allowed to run past the corner and carry on. Ask "is my part a piece of that line?", not "is that line my part?"
- Curved parts count too. Some targets have a curved edge, and in those questions the figures are built from overlapping circles. The curve is a piece of one of those circles — the shape's edge and the circle's edge are the same ink. Everything else about the method is unchanged.
- Starting the walk in a different place each time. Always set off from the signature and go the same way round. A walk that starts somewhere new on every figure is how a missing part gets missed.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the figure that hides the shape.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- NVR: Similarities — the same "what do these share?" move on whole pictures
- Shape Completion — the other type where a piece has to fit exactly
- Connecting Shapes — tracing an outline through crossing lines
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.