How the Kenexa logical test works
You see a series of shapes that change from frame to frame according to a hidden rule, and you select the pattern that continues or completes the sequence. There is no reading and no arithmetic.
Sources disagree on the length: one reports 24 questions in 20 minutes, another 26 in 25. Either way it is roughly a minute a question on one clock.
This fixed test is not adaptive. A separate adaptive version, CAT Logical Reasoning, exists, and SHL notes that it is not recommended to be used alone in the United States.
How to find the rule
Break each frame down instead of looking at the whole picture:
- Pick one feature and follow it through the frames: count, position, colour or shading, size, rotation.
- Say the change in words, for example “moves one corner clockwise”.
- Then check a second feature. Harder items combine two rules on different cycles.
- Picture the next frame before you look at the options.
- Cross out options that break either rule and choose from what remains.
Worked example
Four frames each show a square with one shaded corner and some circles. Frame 1: top-left shaded, one circle. Frame 2: top-right shaded, two circles. Frame 3: bottom-right shaded, one circle. Frame 4: bottom-left shaded, two circles.
The shading moves one corner clockwise each frame, and the circles alternate between one and two. The next frame has the top-left corner shaded and one circle. An option with top-left shading and two circles follows only the first rule; one with a single circle and top-right shading follows only the second.
Tips for the real Kenexa logical test
- Use a fixed checking order on every question so you do not miss a feature.
- If no rule has appeared after about 30 seconds, eliminate what you can, guess and move on.
- Answer every question. No penalty for wrong answers is reported.
- Keep paper beside you to sketch a rule you have half spotted.
- Practise rotation and alternating patterns: they are the ones people miss when two rules run together.
Practise Kenexa Logical Reasoning on CogniPrep
Ours runs 24 sequences on one 20-minute clock, the shorter of the two reported forms. Each shows four frames and five options for the fifth, drawn from our bank of 48. One question per screen, then Submit Answer; there is no Back and no skip, and anything unreached at zero is marked blank. You get a score out of 100, a percentile against CogniPrep players and feedback on which kinds of rule cost you most.