How the DAT Next Generation Space Relations test works
DAT Next Generation is a set of five separate ability tests, and the employer chooses which ones you sit. Space Relations is the spatial one. TalentLens describes it as the ability to visualise 2D shapes in 3D.
The exact question format, the solids used and the number of options are not published. The usual form of this kind of task is a flat pattern with fold lines and a set of solid objects, one of which the pattern would make when folded.
There are 15 questions and no time limit, and most people take 10 to 12 minutes. The test is adaptive: a right answer brings a harder question, a wrong one an easier question. You must answer all 15 to receive a score.
How to fold a flat pattern in your head
Do not try to fold the whole pattern at once. Rule options out with two checks, and you rarely need to.
- Pick the face with the most recognisable marking and treat it as the base. Fold the faces around it up, one at a time, with the markings on the outside.
- Find the opposite pairs. Two faces that end up on opposite sides of the solid can never be seen together, so any option that shows both is wrong.
- On a cube pattern, two squares in a straight line with exactly one square between them are always opposite.
- For the options that survive, pick a corner where three faces meet and read the three markings in clockwise order. A mirror image has the same three faces in the opposite order.
- Check which way each marking points. A face can be in the right place and still be turned the wrong way.
Worked example
Picture a cross-shaped pattern of six squares. Four squares run in a column, marked from the top: star, circle, triangle, square. One more square sits to the left of the circle, marked with a heart, and one to the right of the circle, marked with a cross. Which cube can it make?
- Opposite pairs first. In the column, star and triangle have one square between them, so they are opposite. Circle and square are opposite for the same reason. Heart and cross sit either side of the circle, so they are opposite too.
- A cube showing star and triangle together is impossible. So is one showing heart and cross, or circle and square.
- A cube showing circle, star and heart can exist: the star and the heart both touch the circle in the pattern and are not opposite each other, so all three meet at one corner.
- If two options both show circle, star and heart, compare the order round the corner. In the pattern the star is above the circle and the heart is to its left, so with the circle facing you and the star on top, the heart must be on the left-hand face. The option with the heart on the right is a mirror image.
How the test is scored
Everyone answers 15 questions, but not the same 15, so the number you get right says little. The test weighs each answer by the difficulty of its question and produces an ability score, which is reported as a percentile against a norm group the employer chooses. No pass mark is published.
Tips for the real test
- Eliminate, do not construct. Ruling out three options is faster and surer than proving one.
- If you are allowed paper, sketch the pattern and label the opposite pairs before you look at the options.
- Practise with real paper nets once or twice. Cutting out and folding a cube pattern fixes the opposite-face rule for good.
- Use the time. The test is untimed, so run both checks, opposites and corner order, on every question.
- Finish all 15 in one sitting. An unfinished test gives no score.
Practise Space Relations on CogniPrep
Our Space Relations game gives you 15 generated questions: a flat pattern of six marked squares and four cubes, exactly one of which the pattern folds into. It adapts across three difficulty levels from a middle start, has no time limit and does not let you go back. Your result is an ability estimate with a percentile against other CogniPrep users. Every shape here is a cube and there are four options, because TalentLens does not publish which solids or how many options the real test uses.