Hidden Shapes
The CLEAR method in five minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
What one looks like
One shape sits at the top. It is called the target. Underneath are five busy figures, and exactly one of them has the target hidden among its lines.
Have a look at the simple one beside this. The target has four straight parts; trace them round in order and every one of them lands on a line the figure already draws. That is the whole question — but notice how little it looks like the target once it is in there.
Four things are always true, and every one 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.
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.
- Step 1 of 5
Check the rule
Read the sentence above the picture before you look at anything. It says either the same way round — the shape sits at the angle shown — or it may be turned round, which allows any angle at all. Both say the same size, both say every part drawn, and neither ever allows a flip. - Step 2 of 5
Look at the target
Count its parts and say them in order: "long flat top, down the right, a slope, a thin arm." Then pick the signature — the run of two or three parts you would never find by accident, like a cut corner with the short drop under it. Those stay joined to each other however far the shape is turned. - Step 3 of 5
Eliminate
Hunt the signature, not the shape. Scan the five figures for that run of lines. Most figures do not have it, and most of the page dies here — before you have traced anything. - Step 4 of 5
Align it
On what is left, put the signature down and walk the rest of the outline from it, part by part, in order, all the way back to the start. When a walk fails, name the part that was not there — that is the line to hunt in the next figure. - Step 5 of 5
Right?
Two last checks, and they are the two the wrong answers are built from. Is every part there, including the short ones? And is it the same size — hold the target's longest part against the one you found.
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 here. Allow 25 to 30 seconds each; an easy one takes 12, so bank that time for the hard ones.
Watch for these traps
- 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?"
- The mirror. On a "may be turned" question there is nearly always a figure holding a perfect reflection. Every part is present and every angle matches — it just runs round the other way. Turning is allowed; flipping never is.
- The one that is right but small. A neat, complete, obvious copy at three-quarters of the size. It is the easiest one to spot, which is exactly why it is there.
- One part missing. The commonest wrong answer of all: everything present except a single short part, usually the shortest one. This is why R asks "every part", and why short parts get counted rather than glanced at.
- Curved parts count too. Some targets have a curved edge, and in those questions the figure is 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 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 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.