Non Verbal Reasoning – Code Breaker (Type 4)

The code breaker question type requires you to work out the code of the unknown shape by studying the previous shapes. When looking at the previous shapes you will see that each one has a specific code either next to or underneath it.

This code can be made up of 2 or 3 letters, what is important here is to understand that each letter relates to a specific element, part or thing to do with that shape.

What you are expected to do is the following :

• Identify the different parts and elements of the shape with no code.
• After this, you have to look for the same parts or elements in the previous shapes whether you look for them together or separately. After finding the part or element in a previous shape, have a look at the code which relates to that shape.
• Now compare that shape and code to another existing shape and work out which parts are similar and which parts are different. For those parts which are similar you will see the same letter in the codes of both shapes.
• For those parts that are different you will notice that the shapes do not share the same letter.
• Create rules to guide order and structure.

This is how you build an idea of which part or element relates to which letter, which you then use to build the code for the unknown shape.

The Code Breaker question type can become very confusing, especially when you are breaking down the shapes into the individual parts and trying to figure out which letter in the code relates to which part. Its important to understand the following:

• Each shape has a code
• Use the previous shapes to help you identify the codes and parts / elements
• All the potential codes and potential combinations are in front of you
• This is not trial and error, instead you have to create links between letters and parts / elements

A question like the Code Breaker focuses on stretching your ability to look at information, create rules or links and then re-apply that to new information e.g. a new shape. In order to do this it aims to test the following skills:

• Ability to analyse information and recognise patterns, similarities as well as differences
• To understand existing information and data to inform future decisions
• To create rules, formulas and structure based on existing information
• Looking for exact information, like for like, not getting caught out by things that look the same but are not
• To rework and reverse engineer shapes into its individual elements
• To apply a step by step process at a steady pace
• Attention to detail
• To be able to compare and contrast information
• Looking for consistencies and dismissing things which are not consistent

A lot has this mentioned so far and it is a lot to take in at the moment. What you need to understand here is that the Code Breaker question type focuses solely on your ability to analyse. This analysis aims to test your ability to look at things and recognise their basic and core parts. By doing so, it equips you with the ability to replicate and recreate – but also recognise patterns and themes in things.

What we mean by analyse here is for you to look at visual information, which are shapes, and textual information, which are the letter codes, and form clear links. The most important things to be practising right now are the following:

1. Looking at whole shapes and identifying specific / key elements
2. Comparing and contrasting shapes to recognise similarities and differences
3. Being able to take the similarities and build a new shape from it

The key, and hardest, thing that will get you to your answer is this ability to break information down. You can then begin to see how that overall thing came about / came to be. Now, once you are aware of the individual parts and which relates to what, you can then go about building new information and shapes from it.

What does the Code Breaker Question Look Like?

As you can tell from the example below, the code breaker question type is in the following format:

• General instructions with an example
• Multiple shapes with differing forms and patterns
• Codes which are linked to each shape underneath
• 1 shape without a code
• 5 letter codes on the right to select your answer from for the shape without a code
• 1 mark per question

How do I break the code?

Like with any of the other verbal and non verbal question types it is important for you to build your analysis skills. To do this you have to start practising the following:

• Looking at an object and identifying its individual parts
• Looking at individual parts and grouping them together to form a theme or trend
• Ungrouping elements that are together so you can see the differences and similarities
• Studying elements across a series of objects to understand what links them together
• Being able to take what you see and form your own codes, patterns and variations, then communicate that logically

There are multiple ways to analyse something, but the points above are places to get started in, so that you can can exercise your brain to become familiar with how to analyse things. The more you do it, the easier it will become to you. Always think that analysis is a way of thinking, not always just a process or way of doing things and it all fits into your ability to think critically about things.

Now when it comes to the Code Breaker non-verbal reasoning question type, as with all other questions, there is a process that you can apply to help you efficiently and quickly get you to an answer that you are confident in. But always remember that you need to have the flexibility to adapt which is where the skill of analysis comes in. The step by step process is as follows:

1. Look at the question as whole, take the time to absorb it in
2. Find the unknown shape that you need to work out the code for
3. Look at the unknown shape as a whole, then start to break it down into individual parts
4. At this point you want to pick one part to start with then:
   1. Now look at the other shapes, see which of the other shapes have that individual part
   2. Look at the codes for each of the other shapes
   3. Compare the shapes with same part, what is different and what is the same?
   4. As the part you are looking for is in this shape, you want to see which letter stays the same
   5. After identifying the the consistent part and the consistent letter, you can now come to the conclusion that the letter code for that part is that letter
   6. Always see where in the existing shapes letter codes that specific letter is placed, is it in the front, middle or end – this will give you an idea of how to order the code for the unknown shape
5. Repeat step 4 for the remaining parts one by one
6. You will now have 2 or 3 letters which you think is the code for the unknown shape – make sure to order them in the same way as the other shapes letter codes are ordered
7. Look for that code in the answer options given to you and select that as your answer

This is a thorough process to make sure you look at each individual part one by one, identify where it appears in the shapes and then work out which of the letters in the codes for the shapes it is. What we are doing here is breaking down things step by step, slowly, so that we can increase in our confidence when it comes to the answer.

Working Example

As expected we will also go through a working example using the process above to show how it works:

Find the code for the unknown shape shown below:

Lets get straight into applying our process.

First of all I can see that there are 2 different shapes being used in this question. These are squares and a D shape. The unknown shape which I have to work out the code for is the 6th one along, it is a D with stripes in it and has a question mark underneath it.

Now I have seen the shapes and identified the shape I need to work out the code for I can begin to break that shape down.

So the unknown shape has 2 main parts to it:

1. It is in the shape of a D
2. It has stripes inside it and these stripes are in a specific way:
   1. 4 stripes from the top cover half the shape and start from the right
   2. 1 stripe goes across the whole shape
   3. 4 stripes from the bottom cover half the shape from the left

Now I have identified the 2 parts to the unknown shape it is easier for me to take 1 part first and start looking at the other shapes. The first, and easiest, part i will look to find in the other shapes is the D shape.

Straight away I can see only one other shape which is in the form of a D this is:

What this means is that the D part must be either the letter L or M. To work out which of these letters refers to the D shape I need to see which of the other shapes have full striped lines. Unfortunately, there is no other shape which has that, so I have to stop here.

Right now I have to accept that the D part is either L or M, but to now help me move forward, I am going to look at the second part of the unknown shape (the stripes) to see if that can help me get an idea overall.

So the second part are the stripes in a specific way:

1. 4 stripes from the top cover half the shape and start from the right
2. 1 stripe goes across the whole shape
3. 4 stripes from the bottom cover half the shape from the left

Now what I need to do is find other shapes with the same stripes that already have letter codes. There is one other shape which is:

So now I know, just like the D shape part, that the stripes I am looking for either have the letter code J or Q. Just like before, I am going to look at the second part of this specific shape which is square and see if it shares it with the other shapes. Hopefully this will help me work out which letter the stripes link to.

Now there are 3 other shapes which are squares these are:

Now when I first look at them they are all square, but 2 are slightly different. The one on the left and one on the right both have triangles in them, but I am only looking for the shape that is exactly a square. Now because of this I can discount the 2.

Remember I am looking for a like for like part, not a part that is slightly different, this is where it can get confusing, but always keep in the mind the part needs to be exactly the same. So now I am left with this shape:

When comparing the 2 shapes (remember i am still trying to find out the letter code for the square shape so that I can then find the letter for the stripe that links to my unknown shape). By doing this extra task of finding the letter code for the square shape, I can quickly get the code for the stripe pattern i am after. What I am doing here is removing things further and breaking them down, so that I can be sure of which letter relates to which part.

I can see 2 things:

1. Both shapes are exact squares
2. Both have different patterns

From here I can conclude that the letter that is the same is going to refer to the square because the only thing that is consistent in both shapes is the square.

Now looking at both shapes I can see that the consistent letter in both codes is J.

Ontop of this, the J always is placed first for both shapes in the letter code.

So by default the vertical lines must be letter code S and the part that I am looking for the:

1. 4 stripes halfway right to left
2. 1 line straight across
3. 4 stripes halfway left to right

Must be letter code Q!

So far for my unknown shape i have worked out the following rules:

1. Shape is the first letter in the code
2. Stripes must be the second letter in the code
3. These exact stripes must be letter code Q

All I have to decide is what is the letter for the D shape?

Well now I know that the letter for the shape is always first in the code i can look back to the other D shapes and their codes and see what letter is first:

So following our rules, we can now say that L must be the letter code that refers to the shape. So our answer must be LQ.

ANSWER : LQ

Summary

As this can get confusing, even when working through an example, its good to summarise what we did in this example so:

1. We found the shape we needed to work out the code for
2. We broke it down to 2 parts
3. We tried to find the easiest part first (the D shape) but there was only one other example of that so we hit a dead end
4. We look at the second part which is the stripes and found 2 example shapes of that
5. We compared and contrasted the 2 examples to find out which parts are the same in those 2 examples and what is different
6. From there we were able to work out the shape letter code (J) because the shapes were the same, but also the rule that the letter for the shape must always come first
7. We also worked out the code for the stripes because those were 2 things which were different in both shapes, and the thing we needed to know
8. We went back to the single D shape example we found in step 3 and used the rule that the the shape must come first to get the letter code for the shape
9. We built our code for the unknown shaped based on all this information : LQ

What if can’t find the answer?

This type of question is both difficult and also confusing. The whole idea behind breaking things down is to remove confusion, but what you can do to help yourself is:

• Go over things step by step
• Only look at one part at a time
• If you hit a dead end with a part, move on to the next part of the unknown shape, you can always come back to it
• Always break the unknown shape down into its individual parts
• When coming across shapes which share the same part, do your best to look at whats similar in the shape, whats similar in the code and remove them (if thats not the part you are looking for)
• Make sure to be keeping an eye on code order and structure, understand which part sits in which place of the letter code
• Do not be afraid to quickly work on breaking down other shapes to figure out the code using them
• Always think – which letter links to which part of the shape?
• Focus on becoming more certain by logically taking things apart – ask yourself does it make sense?
• If you are really struggling, look at the answer options, compare the codes there to the codes and shapes you see
• Take your best guess based on logic or something that makes sense for example : I am guessing the answer is option D because letter code L appears in this shape and letter code Q appears here and when i check for the same codes in a different shape they do not appear because the parts look different.