How the Saville diagrammatic test works
Each diagram shows figures, such as a row of four symbols, passing through operators. An operator always does the same thing: swap two symbols, move the last symbol to the front, reverse the order or change the shading. Worked rows show what the operators do, and the questions ask you to use them.
Reported question types include what a given operator does, what comes out when a figure passes through two or more operators, which operator turned one figure into another, and which operator in a chain has failed.
Diagrammatic Analysis is one of the three sections of Swift Analysis Aptitude, reported as 8 questions in 6 minutes, and is also available as a test on its own. Saville says neither can be taken on a mobile phone.
How to solve operator questions
Treat it as bookkeeping rather than insight:
- Work out each operator from the worked rows first, comparing the symbols going in with those coming out one position at a time.
- If there is a second worked row for the same operator, check your reading against it. A wrong reading usually fails it.
- Apply operators strictly in order, each one to the result of the one before.
- Write the running result down after each operator instead of holding it in your head.
- For a “which operator failed” question, run the chain as it should work and see where the actual output stops matching.
Worked example
Operator X swaps the first and last symbols. Operator Y turns every black symbol white and every white symbol black. A row reads: black circle, white square, white triangle, black star. It passes through X, then Y.
After X: black star, white square, white triangle, black circle. After Y: white star, black square, black triangle, white circle. The usual wrong answers come from stopping after X, or applying Y and forgetting the swap, which gives white circle, black square, black triangle, white star.
Tips for the real Saville diagrammatic test
- Take Saville’s free Diagrammatic Analysis practice test on a computer. It shows the real layout and gives feedback on each answer.
- Budget about 45 seconds a question in Swift Analysis, and guess rather than leave one unanswered when time is short.
- Learn each operator from the worked rows every time. Do not assume a symbol means what it meant in a practice test.
- Keep scrap paper next to you. Writing four symbols in a row takes seconds and prevents most slips.
- If this format is new to you, give it more practice than the verbal and numerical sections, which follow formats most candidates have seen before.
Practise Saville Diagrammatic Analysis on CogniPrep
Our Diagrammatic Reasoning game practises the same step-by-step rule following in a simpler layout. You get 11 questions from a pool of 18: one input shape, a numbered list of rules that each change its type, colour, size or fill when a condition is met, and five possible outputs. Each question has a 44-second clock and no Back button. Your score out of 100 is mostly accuracy, with the rest for speed and for questions with more rules. The real test draws its operators as diagrams acting on rows of symbols, so try Saville’s own practice test as well.