Reflection
A figure sits beside a dashed mirror line, and you pick what it looks like in the mirror. Here's how to spot the true reflection every time.
Chapter 1
What are reflection questions?
You’re shown a figure in a box, with a dashed line beside it, under it or across it. The dashed line is a mirror. You pick the option that shows exactly what you’d see in it.
The figure. A big shape with small clues to follow: a corner square, a black dot, stripes.
The mirror. The whole figure flips over the dashed line, like a page turning over.
Which is its reflection in the mirror?
An NVR question from Rush, level 1.
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Same distance, other side
Every point lands straight across the mirror, exactly as far from it as it started.
The dot is 2 squares from the mirror, so its reflection is 2 squares past it. The triangle’s tip is 4 squares away on both sides. Trap: a part that lands nearer the mirror, or further away.
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Beside Under Slanted Three mirror lines
Rush draws the mirror beside the figure, under it, or from corner to corner.
Beside comes first, at level 1. Under joins it at level 2, then corner to corner at level 3. Trap: an option flipped over a different line from the one drawn.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 3 steps.
Here’s the arrow question, one step at a time.
The question
Which is its reflection in the mirror?
An NVR question from Rush, level 1.
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Step 1
Read the mirror line.
The mirror stands beside the figure, so left and right swap, and top and bottom stay where they are. The arrow points left, so its reflection points right. Options 3 and 4 still point left: cross them out.
In the mirror, the arrow points right.
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Step 2
Follow one small clue across.
Pick a small part near a corner. The black square is bottom left, far from the mirror, so its reflection is bottom right, just as far away. Option 1 left it bottom left, and option 5 moved it to the top. Cross them out.
Bottom left lands bottom right.
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Step 3
Check every part flipped.
Only option 2 is still in, but check all of it before you pick it. The arrow points right and the square is bottom right. The figure’s stripes run downhill from left to right, and option 2’s run uphill: they flipped too. Option 5, a half turn, kept them downhill.
Figuredownhill 2uphill 5downhill The arrow, the square and the stripes all flipped only in option 2.
Three mistakes on this arrow
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Trusting the arrow alone. Option 5 points right, just like the reflection. But its square has jumped to the top: it’s the figure turned half way round. | With a mirror beside, check nothing moved up or down. |
| Flipping only the big shape. Option 1’s arrow flipped, but its square stayed bottom left. | Flip every small part too. |
| Using the wrong mirror line. Option 3 is flipped top to bottom: its square is top left and its arrow still points left. That’s a mirror lying underneath. | Find the dashed line first, and say what it swaps. |
So it’s option 2. It points right, its square is bottom right, and its stripes run uphill.
Remember: Mirror line. One clue. Every part.
Chapter 3
When it gets harder.
At Rush’s higher levels the mirror lies underneath or runs corner to corner, and figures get more small parts. The same three steps still work.
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The figure Reflection Trap A mirror lying underneath
Top and bottom swap. Left and right stay where they are.
The legs hang down, so in the mirror they point up, and the long leg stays on the left. Trap: the figure flipped left to right instead, with its long leg on the right.
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The figure Reflection Trap A mirror from corner to corner
A slanted mirror swaps sides in pairs. This one swaps top with right, and left with bottom.
The line along the top comes out standing up on the right, and the black circle at its right-hand end goes to the top. Trap: a quarter turn stands the line up too, but puts the black circle at the bottom.
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The figure Reflection Trap A small part turned, not flipped
Each small part flips in the same mirror as the big shape.
In a mirror beside it, the little triangle moves to the top left and still points up. Trap: the triangle in the right place but upside down. It was turned, not flipped.
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The figure Reflection Trap Stripes flip too
In a mirror beside or under the figure, sloping stripes come out sloping the other way.
Under this mirror, stripes running uphill come out running downhill. Trap: the shape flipped, but its stripes sloping just as before.
Chapter 4: In the exam
When the mirror slopes the other way.
Rush’s corner-to-corner mirrors all run from bottom left to top right. In the exam the line can slope the other way too, and there’s a trap Rush doesn’t set: a part that changed colour.
Which is the reflection in the dashed line?
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Step 1
Say what the line swaps.
This line runs from top left to bottom right, so top swaps with left, and right with bottom. The bar along the top must come out standing up on the left. Options 2 and 5 are still lying flat: out.
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Step 2
Follow one clue across.
The black square is at the right end of the bar. Right swaps with bottom, so it lands at the bottom. Option 1 has it at the top: that’s a turn, not a flip.
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Step 3
Check the colours.
A mirror never changes colour. The square is black and the ball is white, but option 4 swapped them. That leaves option 3.
1 2 3 4 5
So it’s option 3. The bar stands up on the left, its black square is at the bottom, and the ball is still white.
Remember: Read the slant. Swap the pairs.
Other ways the exam asks it
- Mirror images as traps. GL papers don’t ask reflection questions on their own, but they hide a mirror image among the options of many other questions, such as analogies, grids and odd one out. The same checks spot it.
- Complete the picture. Some papers show half a picture beside a mirror line and ask which half finishes it. Each part must sit the same distance from the line on the other side.
- On squared paper. Maths papers may ask you to reflect a shape on a grid. Count the squares from each corner to the line, then the same number past it.
Chapter 5
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Read the mirror line.
- Follow one small clue across.
- Check every part flipped.
Remember: Mirror line. One clue. Every part.
For parents.
What parents ask us about reflection.
Questions parents ask
What is a reflection in non-verbal reasoning?
It's the figure as it would look in a mirror standing on the dashed line. Everything flips across the line and lands the same distance away on the other side. The question asks you to pick that mirror image from five options.
What is the difference between a reflection and a rotation?
A reflection flips the figure over, so it comes out back to front. A rotation only spins it round on the page. For a lopsided figure no turn can make the mirror image, which is why the turned options in a reflection question are wrong. For a symmetrical outline such as an arrow, check a corner mark instead.
How do you answer a mirror image question quickly?
Decide what the mirror swaps (left and right, or top and bottom), then track one small off-centre mark across. That one check removes most options. Use a second mark or the stripes to separate the last two.
How do you reflect a shape in a diagonal mirror line?
Swap directions in pairs. With the mirror from top left to bottom right, up becomes left and right becomes down.
Does a real mirror help?
Yes, while practising. Stand a small mirror on the dashed line, upright, and look at the figure in it: that is the answer. It works on a slanted line too. Once the swap looks obvious, put the mirror away.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise reflection in Rush.
- Reflections as 100-second games, easy at first and harder as your child improves
- Every miss kept with the right answer and why
- Free to start, with a new family game every day
On the App Store for iPhone and iPad
Reflections is free, and five more games too, plus a new family game every day. All 41 games are £24.99 a year after a free week1, or £3.99 a month.