How Ixly Figurenreeksen works
In the ACT manual’s example, eight cells of a 3x3 grid hold figures and the bottom-right cell is empty; you choose which of four options, A to D, belongs there. Ixly’s Abstract Reasoning page describes the same test as a series of figures where you choose the right successor, so expect both layouts.
Ixly names three kinds of item: grids where each feature appears once in every row and column, grids that form one continuous picture you have to complete, and grids where objects are added or subtracted across the rows and columns. Because it makes no demand on language, Ixly calls it the most culture-free of the three ACT subtests.
The test adapts to your answers, gives 45 seconds per question and counts a missing answer as wrong. You cannot go back.
How to solve a Figurenreeksen grid
Ixly’s own worked answer shows the method: one feature at a time, eliminating as you go.
- List the features that vary: outline, fill, inner marks, number of objects, direction.
- For the first feature, check what each row and column already holds, and name what the empty cell needs.
- Cross out the options that do not have it. Then move to the next feature.
- If the grid looks like one picture, follow the lines or shapes across the gap instead.
- If objects build up along a row, check whether the third cell is the first two added together or one taken from the other.
Worked example
Top row: a black circle, a white square, a striped triangle. Middle row: a white triangle, a striped circle, a black square. Bottom row: a striped square, a black triangle and the empty cell.
Shape first: every row and column holds one circle, one square and one triangle, and the bottom row and right-hand column both lack a circle. That rules out every option that is not a circle. Fill next: each row and column also holds one black, one white and one striped figure, and the bottom row lacks white. The answer is a white circle. A striped circle and a black circle pass the shape check but fail on fill.
Tips for the real Figurenreeksen
- Eliminate rather than construct. With 45 seconds, crossing out two options after the first feature is quicker than drawing the answer.
- Use the example and practice items to see which layout you have, grid or series, before the clock starts.
- Always pick something before the time is up. An empty answer is marked wrong.
- Expect harder items to vary three features at once. Ixly’s own example varies outline, mouth and eyes.
- This is the subtest least affected by language, so it is a good one to prepare well if the test is not in your first language.
Practise Figurenreeksen on CogniPrep
Our Figurenreeksen game mixes both layouts, 3x3 grids and left-to-right series, each with four options labelled A to D. It adapts over 10 to 14 questions with 45 seconds each, and you select an answer then press Submit, with no going back. The result is a practice percentile shown as a sten from 1 to 10.