How the LTP G-test works
You sit the G-test in LTP’s online portal, often as one part of a programme of tests and questionnaires. LTP calls it a test of general non-verbal intelligence. There is no reading in it: every item is figures or numbers.
LTP groups the items in three families. Abstract: matrices, figure series and figure analogies. Numerical: number series and number analogies (cijferanalogieën). Spatial: pattern folding (patroon vouwen), where you match a flat net to a folded cube. The types are not in blocks; they come one after another in mixed order.
Before the clock starts you see a practice item of each type. Then you get 50 items in 20 minutes. Only correct answers count, nothing is deducted for a wrong one, and LTP tells candidates to guess when they do not know.
Your number correct is compared with a norm group at the level the job requires (mbo, hbo or wo), which LTP says need not match your own diploma. LTP keeps several versions of the paper, including separate mbo forms.
How to approach the G-test
At 24 seconds an item, the skill is recognising the item type at a glance and going straight to its check:
- Matrix: look along the rows first, then down the columns. Predict the missing cell before you read the options.
- Number series: write the differences between terms under the series. If they are not constant, look at the differences of the differences, then at ratios.
- Number analogy: find every rule that turns the first number into the second, then apply each to the third number. Only one will give an option.
- Figure analogy: list every change between the first two figures (size, colour, rotation, number) and apply all of them to the third.
- Figure series: track one feature at a time across the row, for example the position of a dot, then the angle of a line.
- Pattern folding: find the pairs of faces that will be opposite each other. Two opposite faces can never be seen together on a cube.
Worked examples
Number analogy: 4 → 16, 7 → ? The options are 21, 35, 49, 56 and 63. Three rules turn 4 into 16: add 12, multiply by 4, or square it. Add 12 gives 19 and multiply by 4 gives 28, and neither is offered. Squaring gives 49, which is. The answer is 49.
Pattern folding: a net has four squares in a row, A, B, C and D, with E above B and F below B. When it folds, A is opposite C, B is opposite D and E is opposite F. Any cube that shows A and C side by side cannot come from this net.
Tips for the real G-test
- Put an answer on every item. A wrong answer costs nothing, and LTP itself encourages guessing.
- Do not stall on one item type. If cube nets are slow for you, make a quick choice and spend the time on the series and analogies.
- Use the practice items before the clock starts to settle what each type looks like on screen.
- Have scrap paper ready for the series and analogies.
- LTP’s own free practice site has the matrix and number series tests, which it recommends when the G-test is in your programme.
- LTP asks candidates to do tests on a laptop or PC, at a quiet moment and in one go.
Practise the G-test on CogniPrep
Our G-test gives you 50 mixed items on one 20-minute clock: 10 matrices with eight options, 10 number series, 5 number analogies, 8 figure analogies, 9 figure series and 8 cube nets with four options. The mix is ours, because LTP publishes only the six types. You can go back, skip and use an overview, nothing is deducted, and at the end you see your number correct and a 1 to 9 practice score against people practising here, not an LTP norm group.