IQ and gifted tests

Raven's Progressive Matrices

Raven's Progressive Matrices is a test of reasoning with pictures only. Each question shows a pattern with a piece missing, and the child chooses the piece that completes it. There are no words and no numbers, so it is used for children who speak any language.

There is a colored form for younger children, with simpler patterns, and a standard form in black and white for older children and adults. The patterns get harder as the test goes on.

Ages
About 5 to adult (a colored form for younger children)
How it is given
One-to-one by a psychologist, or to a group
How long
Untimed in its classic form; often 15 to 45 minutes

Practice for this kind of question

Matrices-style practice

Our matrices-style practice is built on this test's shape: a colored form with six choices for Kindergarten to Grade 5, and a standard form with harder grids and eight choices for Grades 6 to 8. Every puzzle is our own.

What it measures

  • Seeing a pattern in a picture and continuing it
  • Finding the rule that changes across a row and down a column
  • Combining two pictures into a third

What you can do

  • This kind of question is one a child can usefully get used to: the format is simple, and the first time is the confusing one.
  • Practice slowly. Ask your child to say the rule out loud before choosing, and to check the answer fits both the row and the column.
  • Do not push for speed: the classic test has no clock.

More practice for the same skills

None of these is the Raven's. Each one builds a general skill it draws on, in a short, friendly format your child can try at home.

Practice the skills, not the test

These tests are given in person by a trained examiner, and their questions are kept private: publishers do not sell them to families, and nobody can lawfully offer the real items. Nothing on this site is taken from them.

Drilling a child on copies of the questions would not help either. A result is only meaningful if the questions are new to your child, so a rehearsed score can place them in a program that does not fit, and a psychologist may set it aside.

Other tests

Test names belong to their publishers and to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Scholar Tests is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and nothing on these pages is taken from a test. Ages and times are the publishers' published ranges; editions change, so check the details with the person giving the test.