Raven's Progressive Matrices test

Raven's Progressive Matrices is a non-verbal test of abstract reasoning. Each question shows a pattern with a piece missing, and you choose the piece that completes it. John C. Raven developed it in 1936, and Pearson now publishes it.

It is scored by counting correct answers, then converting that raw score to a percentile or standard score using age-based norms. There is no single formula that turns a raw score into an IQ, so any page that says a particular number of correct answers equals a particular IQ is approximating.

Created by

John C. Raven, developed 1936 and first published 1938

Publisher

Pearson (Raven's 2 published 2018)

What it measures

Non-verbal abstract reasoning, which Raven called eductive ability: working out relationships in new material

Question format

A matrix or pattern with one piece missing, and several options to complete it

Versions

Coloured (CPM), Standard (SPM), Advanced (APM) and Raven's 2

Who can give it

Professionals with the appropriate qualification; it is not sold to the public

The name covers several tests built on the same idea. They differ in difficulty and in the group they suit. The Coloured version is for children and for older or impaired adults, the Standard version covers the general population, and the Advanced version separates people at the higher end.

The Advanced version's harder items are designed to distinguish within the top fifth of the population, and Pearson describes the untimed format as suited to that, while timing it turns the test into a measure of how efficiently someone reasons. Raven's 2, published in 2018, is the current edition with updated norms, and it can be given on paper or digitally.

You get one point for each correct answer, and that raw score is compared with norms for your age group. The result is reported as a percentile, and in newer editions as a standard score. Raven's norms have traditionally been reported as percentiles rather than IQs.

That is why charts claiming that 30 out of 36 on the Advanced version equals an IQ of 130 should be treated as rough approximations. Unless they are built from a publisher's norm table for a specific age group and edition, they are guesses, and the norms for different ages and years differ.

If you have a Raven's percentile and want an IQ figure, the percentile to IQ converter turns it into a standard score. The result is only as good as the percentile it starts from.

Matrix items follow a small number of rule types, and learning to spot them is the main skill the test rewards. The practice questions below use the same families of rules that appear in matrix tests generally:

• Progression. A feature grows, shrinks or repeats in a fixed step across each row or down each column.
• Constant in a row or column. Something stays fixed along one direction while another feature changes along the other.
• Distribution of three. Each row and column holds each of three values exactly once, like a Latin square.
• Addition and subtraction. Two cells combine to make the third: shapes are added, or shared elements cancel.
• Several rules at once. Harder items layer two or three of the above, and the skill is tracking each feature separately.

American Mensa's published table of qualifying tests does not list Raven's. The Triple Nine Society accepted a score of 35 on Set II of the Advanced version only for tests taken before April 2014. If you want to join a society, the reliable route is a Wechsler test or another test on the society's own list. The Mensa practice test guide sets out what each society accepts.

Not as a member of the public. Raven's is a published, copyrighted clinical and educational test sold to qualified users, with restricted answer keys and norms. Sites that offer a free Raven's test are offering items in its style, and some online versions are unrelated to the published tests except in format.

Style-alike practice still has value. It shows you what the questions look like, lets you practise spotting rules, and can show you whether you enjoy this type of thinking. It cannot give you a Raven's score.

These matrix questions run from easy to hard. Each has six options. Pick one, see whether you are right, and read the worked solution to learn the rule.