NNAT Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield NNAT facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. A row starts with triangle, then square. What should the missing third cell contain? → Pentagon (5 sides)
2. Which shape has exactly 4 sides of equal length AND 4 right angles? → Square
3. A circle with a dot inside becomes an empty circle. What rule applies? → Internal elements are removed; outer shape preserved
4. When a figure is reflected in a vertical mirror, which aspect changes? → Left and right are reversed
5. After viewing a shape for 5 seconds, a child must pick the matching shape from four options. The original had 5 sides. Which polygon should the child choose? → Pentagon
6. A Reasoning by Analogy item shows a reflection across a horizontal axis. Which attribute of the shape is affected? → The top and bottom positions swap
7. A large square is cut into four equal smaller squares. One smaller square is removed. Which answer choice shows the piece needed to restore the large square? → A small square the same size as the others
8. Which strategy is LEAST effective when solving a multi-attribute Reasoning by Analogy problem? → Guessing based on which answer looks most similar
9. A series alternates two attributes simultaneously — size and fill: large-white, small-black, large-white, small-black, ___. What comes next? → Large-white
10. Which letter looks exactly the same when reflected across a vertical axis? → A
11. Two shapes have the same form but one is larger than the other. What are they called? → Similar
12. A white shape becomes shaded. The next shape has stripes. What should the answer look like? → The same shape with stripes and added shading
13. Which type of answer choice is typically the easiest to eliminate when using process of elimination on the NNAT? → Answers that share no visual relationship with the shapes or rules already in the pattern
14. A student sees a rectangle divided into thirds with the colors: red, blue, green from left to right. Which color was in the MIDDLE section? → Blue
15. Three figures each contain two overlapping shapes where the overlapping region is shaded. Which answer fits? → Two overlapping shapes with the overlapping region shaded
16. On the NNAT, a student sees a figure and must pick which answer choice shows the figure rotated — not reflected. How can the student tell the difference? → A rotation never creates a mirror-image (reversed) version; it only turns the shape
17. An L-shaped figure pointing right-and-down in the first box points left-and-down in the second box. What transformation was applied? → Reflection across a vertical axis
18. Three figures are each a pentagon with a dot inside. Which answer choice fits this group? → A pentagon with a dot inside
19. A grid pattern has a dark square in every other row and column. If the grid is rotated 90 degrees, what happens to the pattern? → The pattern looks the same
20. What comes next in the series? 1, 4, 2, 8, 3, 12, __ → 4
21. A flat shape with exactly 3 sides and 3 angles is called a: → Triangle
22. What comes next in the series? 1, 8, 27, 64, __ → 125
23. The transformation rule in an analogy is 'rotate 90° counterclockwise.' A downward-pointing arrow would become what? → A right-pointing arrow
24. Which transformation maps a shape onto its mirror image along a vertical axis? → Reflection
25. Three figures are each divided into equal sections with alternating shading (light, dark, light, dark). Which answer belongs? → A shape divided into equal sections with alternating light-dark shading
26. When an NNAT pattern shows a consistent relationship between size and position, what is the correct strategy? → Track how size and position change together across the matrix to predict the missing piece
27. If a triangle pointing right is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, which direction does it point? → Down
28. A letter F is rotated 180 degrees. What does it look like? → An upside-down and backwards F
29. What number comes next? 2, 5, 9, 14, 20, __ → 27
30. A drawing shows a house with a chimney on the right side. In its reflection across a vertical mirror, where is the chimney? → Left side