Non-Verbal Reasoning (RRB)

Non-verbal reasoning uses pictures/figures. The question asks you to complete a series, find the odd figure, or identify the mirror/water reflection.

Figure series: spot the pattern of change between consecutive figures.

• Rotation: each figure rotates by a fixed angle (45°, 90°, 180°).
• Shading: shaded region moves clockwise/anti-clockwise around the figure.
• Element count: number of dots, lines, or shapes grows by 1 each step.
• Mix of changes: e.g. arrow rotates 90° while count of dots increases by 1.

Mirror image: the figure as seen in a mirror placed on the right (or as specified) of it.

• Left-right reversal: text or shape flips horizontally.
• Top, bottom, and orientation remain — only left/right swap.
• 'b' → 'd', 'p' → 'q', 'AMBULANCE' (mirror) reads with letters reversed in order and individually mirrored.

Water image (reflection in still water): flips the figure top-to-bottom (vertical reflection across a horizontal axis).

• Left-right preserved.
• 'b' → 'p' (downward flip), 'd' → 'q'.
• A triangle pointing up becomes one pointing down.

Paper folding & cutting: a paper is folded one or more times, then cut. After unfolding, what holes appear?

• A single cut while paper is folded once → 2 holes (one on each side of the fold).
• Multiple folds compound: a fold + a perpendicular fold + cut → 4 holes.
• Cut at the fold-edge produces a hole on each layer.

Cube/dice questions:

• Standard die: opposite faces sum to 7 (1↔6, 2↔5, 3↔4).
• If two views of a die are given, find which face is opposite which.

Pattern completion (matrix problems): given a 3×3 grid of figures with one missing, find the pattern that produces the missing figure. The pattern is usually row-wise, column-wise, or diagonal.

Example 1 — Mirror image of word:
Mirror image of "MOSCOW" (mirror on the right):
Method: Reverse letter order, then mirror each letter. 'M' stays 'M', 'O' stays 'O', 'W' becomes mirrored W (still W since W is symmetric vertically). So MOSCOW → WOCSOM (each letter individually mirrored, which for symmetric letters M, O, W is the same; only the order reverses).

Example 2 — Water image of digits:
Water image of "123":
Method: Flip top-to-bottom. '1' looks similar (slight). '2' becomes an unusual shape. '3' looks like a flipped 3. Typically rendered as the digits seen from below.

Example 3 — Figure series:
Figure series shows arrow rotating 45° clockwise each step. After 4 steps, total rotation = 180°. If starting up (N), end direction is down (S).

Example 4 — Dice:
A die shows 1 on top, 2 facing you, 3 on the right. Opposite faces sum to 7: bottom = 6, back = 5, left = 4.

Example 5 — Paper cutting:
A square paper is folded in half top-to-bottom, then a small triangle is cut at the centre of the folded edge. After unfolding:
Result: a diamond-shape hole in the centre of the paper (because the cut is reflected across the fold).

Example 6 — Mirror image of clock:
A clock shows 3:15. Its mirror image at 6 o'clock position shows:
Method: Mirror time = 12:00 + 12:00 − actual = 24:00 − 3:15 = 8:45 (approximately). Or for a vertical mirror: the angle of each hand reflects. 3:15 → mirror clock shows 8:45.

Speed tip: for mirror/water image of letters, memorise which letters are symmetric (A, H, I, M, O, T, U, V, W, X, Y for vertical; B, C, D, E, H, I, O, X for horizontal). For letters that aren't symmetric, draw or visualise carefully.