Growing step: how the rule works in matrix tests

How the rule works

A figure, or a line, rotates from cell to cell, but not by the same amount each time: 45 degrees in the first step and 90 degrees in the next, so the directions lie at 0, 45 and 135 degrees from the start. The same holds downwards in the columns. The answer says which way, and whether the direction is the same to the right as downwards.

The rule looks like an ordinary step by step rotation until you check the second step. Whoever reads the first step and continues by the same amount ends up 45 degrees off, and that option is always among the answers. So always check the step between cells two and three, not only between one and two.

Solved example

The bottom right cell is the answer, marked. The explanation below the matrix is the same text the app gives.

Rules in the example

The direction rotates clockwise, 45° in the first step and 90° in the next, both to the right and downwards.
Everything else is the same in every cell.

Level 2 in the app. The same example is shown in the app after a wrong answer on this rule. Rules in the example: Growing step.

How to recognise it

Measure the rotation between cells one and two in the first row, then between two and three. Is the second step twice as large?
Do the same downwards in the first column. The direction may differ from the one to the right.
Work out the empty cell from the last row: the last step is 90 degrees, not 45.

More about the format: what a matrix reasoning test is and how logical reasoning tests are used in recruitment.

Practise for real.

In the app the tasks are generated on the phone and the answer explains every rule. Five tasks are free; the rest unlocks with a one-time purchase.

Get it on the App Store

Requires an iPhone with iOS 17 or later.