Spatial reasoning test: 3D rotation and mirror images
Rotate 3D block figures, recognise mirror images and follow dot patterns, with worked explanations.
20 questions
10 min
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About this test
Spatial reasoning here means telling a turned object from its mirror image: ten photographs of 3D block figures, where one view is the same object turned and the others are mirrored, plus flat figures after a stated rotation or a left-to-right reflection and a small dot pattern to rotate. The result groups accuracy by kind of puzzle.
What this test looks at
Rotation 90° · 3
Rotation 270° · 1
mirror · 3
grid rotation · 3
3D block rotation · 10
Time
10 minutes
Questions
20
Result
score by question type, every answer explained
Source
MyTestAtlas; images by Ganis & Kievit (2015), CC BY 4.0
Figures need to be clearly visible; retakes may include familiar questions.
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Practise this type with hints
Practice flat figures, turned and mirrored, with three hints: where to look, the rule, then the worked solution. The test’s 3D block figures do not appear here. Practice questions — they don’t affect your test result.
5 questions · untimed · 3 hints each · free, no sign-up
Learn the rules, try a puzzle and use a hint when you need one.
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Three figures, turned and mirrored, step by step
Three fixed puzzles: a figure turned by a stated angle, a mirror image, and the one copy that is only turned. Before you open the first hint, find the part that sticks out of the figure and note which side it points to.
Example 1: Turn or mirror
Which option shows the figure turned 180°?
A: the blade at the top left, pointing up, tilted 25° left
B: the blade at the top left, pointing left, tilted 25° up
C: the blade at the bottom right, pointing down, tilted 25° right
D: the blade at the top right, pointing right, tilted 25° up
Hint 1: where to look
Before reading the options, fix your eye on the blade in the starting figure.
Hint 2: the rule
Rotate the whole figure as one piece. With the blade at the bottom, the blade points left, and that stays true in the right answer.
Hint 3: worked solution
Turn the figure 180°.
The blade moves from the bottom left to the top right.
It then points right, tilted 25° up.
So the answer is the figure turned 180°.
Now find it among the options.
Answer: why each option fits or fails
Answer: D. The figure turned 180°.
AOption A is a turn of 90° clockwise, not the angle asked for.
BOption B is a mirror image: stood up the same way, its blade points right, not left. A turn never swaps sides.
COption C turns the figure 90°, less than the turn asked.
D✓ AnswerOption D is correct: the figure turned 180°.
Example 2: Turn or mirror
Which option is the mirror image of the figure, flipped left to right?
A: the long arm at the bottom right, pointing down
B: the long arm at the top left, pointing left
C: the long arm at the top left, pointing up
D: the long arm at the bottom right, pointing right
Hint 1: where to look
Fix your eye on the long arm in the starting figure before you read the options.
Hint 2: the rule
Only a flip is asked for. Flip it left to right and do nothing else. At the start, with the crossbar at the top, the long arm points right.
Hint 3: worked solution
Start from this: with the crossbar at the top, the long arm points right.
Flip the figure left to right, and the long arm ends at the top left, pointing left.
That is the figure flipped left to right.
Now find it among the options.
Answer: why each option fits or fails
Answer: B. The figure flipped left to right.
AOption A is a turn, not a flip, so the side stays: stood up the same way, its long arm still points right.
B✓ AnswerThe correct one is option B: the figure flipped left to right.
COption C turns the figure but never flips it. Stood up the same way, its long arm still points right.
DOption D flips the figure the other way, so the long arm ends up at the bottom right.
Example 3: Turn or mirror
Which option is the same figure, only turned?
A: the blade at the top left, pointing up, tilted 25° left
B: the blade at the bottom right, pointing down, tilted 25° right
C: the blade at the top right, pointing up, tilted 25° right
D: the blade at the top right, pointing right, tilted 25° up
E: the blade at the bottom left, pointing left, tilted 25° down
Hint 1: where to look
Pick the blade as your marker. Find it in the starting figure, then in each of the options.
Hint 2: the rule
Some options are mirror images. Stand the figure up: with the blade at the bottom, the blade points right. Only a turned copy matches.
Hint 3: worked solution
At the start, the blade sits at the bottom right, pointing right, tilted 25° down.
In the answer it sits at the top right, pointing up, tilted 25° right.
That makes it the figure turned 90° anticlockwise.
Now find it among the options.
Answer: why each option fits or fails
Answer: C. The figure turned 90° anticlockwise.
AOption A is a mirror image: stood up the same way, its blade points left, not right. A turn never swaps sides.
BOption B is a mirror image: stood up the same way, its blade points left, not right. A turn never swaps sides.
C✓ AnswerThe correct one is option C: the figure turned 90° anticlockwise.
DOption D is flipped top to bottom, so no turn gives it: stood up the same way, its blade points left, not right.
EOption E is flipped left to right, so it is a mirror image: stood up the same way, its blade points left, not right.
How the hints work
Each figure has one part that sticks out, such as a long arm, a flag, a blade or a hook. The first hint tells you to find that part in the figure and in every option, without saying what to do with it. The second states the rule: a turn moves the whole figure round but never flips it, so stood up the same way the part still points to the same side, while a mirror image points it to the other side. The third walks the turn or flip: where the part goes and which way it then points, and stops before naming the option. The answer comes last and says, for every other option, whether it is a mirror image, turned the wrong way or turned the wrong amount.
Does the practice use the 3D block figures from the test?
No. The practice uses flat figures only, turned in the plane of the page or flipped. The photographs of 3D block figures in the test above come from a published research set, Ganis & Kievit (2015), and appear only there.
How can I tell a turned figure from a mirror image?
Stand each copy up the same way, for example with its flag at the top. A turned copy then has its part pointing to the same side as the original; a mirror image has it pointing to the other side, at any angle.
How hard does it get?
It starts with quarter and half turns and plain flips, then turns of 45 and 135 degrees, then any angle in steps of 15 degrees, with a mirror image at nearly the same angle among the options.
Do practice figures appear in the test?
No. The practice draws its own four figures and builds new questions from them each time; no practice question or worked example on this page is a test question.
Use the result
What this test adds
Mirror-image options let you practise tracking an object’s orientation as well as its overall shape.
A small next step
For a missed block figure, follow one end and trace each bend—up, left or away—before comparing the whole shapes.
Questions people ask
What does a spatial reasoning test measure?
Here you tell what a figure looks like after a turn or reflection. Ten questions show a block figure built from cubes and ask which view is the same object turned rather than mirrored; the other ten cover quarter and three-quarter turns, mirror images and rotations of a whole grid of dots. Results are grouped by puzzle type.
Where do the 3D block figures come from?
Ten block-figure photographs come from Ganis and Kievit (2015), under CC BY 4.0. They were cropped and resized into four-option questions; the full attribution is on Sources.
I found this harder than the other reasoning tests. Is something wrong?
Sixteen questions are medium or hard. Review whether you followed the object’s orientation or chose a mirror image; the answer explanations identify the transformation.
Does it matter that I took this on a phone?
The figures scale to the screen, so the task itself is the same, but a small screen makes fine differences between options harder to see. If an option looked ambiguous rather than wrong, that is worth carrying into how you read the result.
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