How the Bridge Abstract test works
This is not a matrix or next-in-series test. The screen is split into panels. EXAMPLES shows demonstrations: a start figure, a key symbol above an arrow, and the end figure that key produces. INFORMATION gives the basic information you need. The question then shows a start figure and an end figure, and you choose the key that made the change.
TestGroup describes it as measuring strategic insight and the ability to understand and transform diagrams or figures. In the manual’s two examples, a key changes the colour of circles, and a key puts a vertical arrow in each figure.
The answer options depend on the level the employer ordered. At mbo level they are written rules, such as “Changes the colour of circles”. At hbo and wo level they are the key symbols themselves. “None of the above” is always there for when the right answer is missing.
There are 25 questions on one 17-minute clock, with skip and return, a clock, a bar showing the share of time used, and three repeatable practice questions before the clock starts.
How to solve a Bridge Abstract question
Decode the keys before you look at the question:
- For each example, compare start and end one property at a time: shape, colour, shading, size, arrows, then left-to-right order.
- Write down what each key does in a few words, for example “q: circles change colour”.
- Compare the question’s start and end figures the same way and list every change.
- Pick the key whose effect matches every change and nothing more. If no key does, choose None of the above.
Worked example
Examples: key q turns white circle, white square, white circle into black circle, white square, black circle. Key z turns triangle, square into square, triangle.
From these, q shades every circle and z reverses the order of the row.
Question: the start figure is square, white circle, triangle and the end figure is triangle, white circle, square. The circle is still white, so q was not used. The order is reversed, which is what z does. The answer is z.
If the end figure had been triangle, black circle, square, both effects would be needed. No single key in this set does both, so the answer would be None of the above.
Tips for the real Bridge Abstract test
- Spend the first seconds on a new set of keys decoding all of them. Later questions on the same set then go much faster.
- Check for changes that are easy to miss, such as size, the direction of an arrow or a swap of two shapes.
- Do not dismiss None of the above. It is the answer whenever no single key matches every change.
- Apart from the written options at mbo level there is little to read, so the language of your sitting matters less here than on Bridge Verbaal. Read the instructions slowly anyway.
- The manual’s preparation advice is to solve logic puzzles and look at rule-based systems, such as those in IT or chemistry.
Practise Bridge Abstract on CogniPrep
Our Bridge Abstract has 25 questions on one 17-minute clock, each with an examples panel of operator keys and a start and end figure. Some questions use written-rule options, as at mbo level, and some use the key symbols, as at hbo and wo level, always with None of the above. You can skip, go back and use the overview. At the end you get a score out of 100 with its sten equivalent and our versions of the four Bridge scores, plus how you did on the first question of each new set of keys against the rest.