Patterns in common: how the rule works in matrix tests

How the rule works

Two cells are laid on top of each other, and only what is present in both remains: edge lines, filled sectors or arrows that both cells have. Anything only one of them has disappears. The rule holds along rows and along columns at the same time, so the bottom right cell can be worked out two ways, and they must agree.

The rule is a sibling of patterns combined and patterns cancelling out. The difference shows in the third cell: if it is poorer than both of the first two it is the intersection, if it is richer it is the union, and if the shared part is gone but the rest remains they cancel out.

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 third cell is what the first two have in common: only sectors filled in both are kept. This holds in rows and columns.
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: Patterns in common.

How to recognise it

Compare the third cell in the first row with the two before it. Does it keep only what both had?
Try the same in the first column. The intersection holds both ways.
Work out the empty cell from its row: keep only what is present in both the first and the second cell of the last row.

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.