How gapChallenge works
Each screen shows a 4x4 or 5x5 grid. Some squares hold a shape, most are blank, and one holds a question mark. The rule you work from is simple: no shape is repeated in any row or column. Your job is to find the one shape that must go in the question-mark square, then pick it from the row of shapes below the grid.
You may fill in other empty squares as working, and on harder grids you will need to. Aon is explicit that filling the grid is not the task, though: only the question-mark square is scored, and its practice guide warns that some other squares cannot be worked out at all from what is shown.
There is no set number of grids. As soon as you answer one, the next appears, and the clock keeps running. Before the real test starts you get instructions and a practice task you can repeat as often as you like.
How to approach a grid
Start from the question mark, not from the top-left corner. Look along its row and down its column and list which shapes are already present. On an easy grid that leaves one candidate and you are done in a few seconds.
When more than one shape is still possible, fill a blank square that is forced, one where its own row and column already rule out every shape but one, and then look again at the question mark. Harder grids need two or three of these steps in a chain, which is what Aon means by solving a problem in one or more steps.
- Eliminate by row and column for the question-mark square first.
- Only pencil in squares that are forced. A guess in the working spreads errors.
- Ignore squares that do not touch the question mark’s row or column unless you are stuck.
- Do not stall on one grid. The test rewards correct answers across the whole six minutes.
How it is scored
Aon has not published a scoring rule for gapChallenge itself. Its candidate preparation page says that in performance tests points are usually added for each correct answer and deducted for every incorrect answer, and that incorrect answers generally have a negative effect on the final result. With its advice to work quickly and accurately, that makes a careful answer worth more than a fast guess.
Results usually reach the employer as a comparison with a norm group of other candidates rather than as a raw count, so the number you need depends on the role and the employer.
How our practice version works
Our gapChallenge practice game uses the same rule and the same six-minute window. Grids are generated so the question-mark square can always be solved by row and column elimination, and the number of steps needed rises as you answer correctly. Because Aon publishes no gapChallenge-specific rule, our score is our own: net correct answers against a fixed target, which we explain before you start.