Practising matrices and figure series: Vienna entrance test
Matrices are the figural task type in the cognitive part of the Informatics entrance test. You see a grid of figures, usually 3x3, with one cell missing. Your job: spot the rule behind the pattern and determine the missing figure.
Important and often overlooked: in this test the matrices come with no answer choices. You tick nothing. You describe the missing figure yourself, attribute by attribute. Generic "pick the option" drills in the Raven or MedAT style do not prepare you for that, so we practise it differently here.
Practise matrices with real figures, freeNo ticking a box: you construct the answer
Most matrix tests online, for example Raven-style progressive matrices or MedAT prep sets, hand you six to eight ready-made figures to choose from. You only pick the fitting one. That is a different, easier task: you can eliminate options and partly guess.
The Vienna Informatics entrance test removes that crutch. You get only the grid with the gap and must state the missing figure entirely on your own. That means you have to genuinely understand the rule, not just recognise a plausible option. Anyone who only drilled multiple-choice sets underestimates exactly this step.
The upside, if you practise it right: once you can decompose the pattern attribute by attribute, constructing the answer is mechanical and fast. That is exactly what the free trainer drills, with rendered figures.
The method: break the pattern into attributes
A figure is never a single whole, it is a bundle of independent attributes. Treat each attribute separately and track how it changes across the rows and columns of the grid. Usually one attribute follows one rule per row and one per column.
These five attributes cover almost every task. Go through them in a fixed order so you never miss one:
- Shape: circle, square, triangle, star. Does the base shape change per row or per column?
- Count: how many elements are in the cell? Does the number rise, fall, or stay constant?
- Fill or pattern: empty, solid, hatched, dotted. Often a cycle of three.
- Rotation: does a corner or an arrow point elsewhere? Does the figure turn by 45 or 90 degrees?
- Position: is the element top, bottom, left, right, or centre? Does it move cell by cell?
A worked example, in words
Figures cannot be drawn here, so we describe a 3x3 matrix in words. Picture the grid with rows 1 to 3 top to bottom and columns 1 to 3 left to right. The bottom-right cell (row 3, column 3) is empty and is the one to find.
Apply the method attribute by attribute, reading each rule off a complete row. The trainer shows exactly this kind of task with real, rendered figures.
3x3 matrix. Row 1: one triangle, two triangles, three triangles, all empty. Row 2: one square, two squares, three squares, all hatched. Row 3: one circle, two circles, then the empty cell. Find the missing figure.
- Shape: each row has its own base shape. Row 3 is made of circles, so the missing figure is a circle.
- Count: in every row the count rises column by column: 1, 2, 3. In row 3, after 1 and 2 come 3 elements.
- Fill or pattern: fill is constant per row. Row 1 empty, row 2 hatched. The cycle empty, hatched, solid gives row 3 the fill solid.
- Rotation and position: circles have no orientation and the elements sit side by side in a row. Neither attribute changes the answer.
Answer:Three solid circles side by side.
Matrix test and figure series: the same core
Some call this task type a matrix test, others speak of figure series. At the core they mean the same thing: an ordered sequence of figures holding a rule you must continue. In figure series the rule usually runs along one row, in matrices it also runs down the columns.
The method stays identical: separate the attributes, read the rule per direction, construct the missing figure. Practise it on rendered Vienna-style items under time pressure and, on test day, the decomposition takes only seconds per task.
Frequently asked questions
Do the matrix items give me answers to choose from?
No. In the Vienna Informatics entrance test the matrices give no preset answer options. You describe the missing figure yourself, attribute by attribute. That is why pure multiple-choice drills from the web only prepare you partly.
Are these the same as Raven progressive matrices?
The pattern-recognition idea is related, the format is not. Raven matrices and many MedAT sets let you pick one figure from several. Here you construct the solution yourself, with no options. You can train the pattern thinking on them, but the final step only on option-free tasks.
What is the fastest way to spot the pattern?
Break each figure into fixed attributes: shape, count, fill or pattern, rotation, and position. Track each attribute separately across rows and columns. Almost always one attribute follows a simple rule per direction, such as plus one or a cycle of three.
Is it called matrices, matrix test, or figure series?
All three terms mean the same figural task type. The official description talks about rules in graphical material, that is, matrices. For preparation the name does not matter, the method stays the same.