--- type: "Article" title: "CAT4 Spatial Reasoning Explained (And How It Differs From the 11+)" description: "What CAT4 spatial reasoning covers: figure analysis (folded and punched paper) and figure recognition (hidden shapes), why the CAT4 is not an 11+ entrance exam, and worked examples with diagrams." resource: https://pip11plus.com/cat4-spatial-reasoning tags: ["non-verbal reasoning", "pip"] timestamp: 2026-10-13T19:42:37Z image: https://pip11plus.com/info-hub-cards/nvr-pip.jpg --- 🧠 Cognitive Abilities Test # CAT4 spatial reasoning, and how it differs from the 11+ The CAT4 is the Cognitive Abilities Test from GL Assessment, used inside schools rather than as an entrance exam. Its spatial work covers figure analysis and figure recognition, which are the same skills as two of the eight 11+ spatial question types. [Get the free NVR paper](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-non-verbal-reasoning-papers) [See the worked examples ↓](#examples) Figure analysis and figure recognition, the CAT4 spatial pair. **TL;DR** - The CAT4 is GL Assessment's **Cognitive Abilities Test**, used inside schools for baseline assessment and setting. It is **not an 11+ entrance exam**. - Its spatial work covers **figure analysis** (folded and punched paper) and **figure recognition** (finding a hidden shape). - These match spatial types **6 and 7** of the eight used in 11+ non-verbal reasoning, so practice helps both. - Neither skill is taught in the national curriculum, which is why a little familiarisation helps. - Timings and arrangements are set by your child's school, so confirm them there. **Quick answer:** the CAT4 is the **Cognitive Abilities Test**, published by GL Assessment and used by schools to understand how a pupil reasons, typically for baseline assessment and setting. It is **not an 11+ entrance exam**. Its spatial work covers figure analysis, which is folded and punched paper, and figure recognition, which is finding a hidden shape. Those are the same skills as spatial types 6 and 7 in 11+ style non-verbal reasoning, so practice helps both, but arrangements for the CAT4 are set by your school and should be confirmed with them. 🧠 Cognitive Abilities Test 🏒 Published by GL Assessment ❗ Not an 11+ entrance exam πŸ“„ Figure analysis πŸ” Figure recognition ## What the CAT4 actually is, and how it differs from the 11+ The CAT4 is the Cognitive Abilities Test, published by GL Assessment. Schools use it to get a picture of how a pupil reasons, and it is normally used for baseline assessment, setting and target setting rather than as an entrance exam. **It is not an 11+ paper.** A child can sit the CAT4 at a school they already attend, and sitting one has nothing to do with a grammar school place. For the four batteries, the scores and how stanines work, see our full guide to [what the CAT4 test is](https://pip11plus.com/what-is-the-cat4-test). Wondering whether an 11+ app helps? Read [can you use Pip 11+ to prepare for CAT4](https://pip11plus.com/can-you-use-pip-11-plus-to-prepare-for-cat4). That matters when you are buying practice material. Plenty of pages online blur the CAT4 into 11+ preparation because the spatial questions look similar, and they do overlap: the visualisation skills are the same ones tested inside 11+ non-verbal reasoning. But the purpose of the two assessments is different, and the arrangements are set by the individual school. **Confirm the details with your child's school.** When your school uses the CAT4, when it sits it, how it is used, and what if anything it expects families to do beforehand are all school-level decisions. We do not publish timings, section counts or score bands here, because those are not things we can verify for your school, and a confidently wrong number is worse than no number. **One sentence version.** The CAT4 is a cognitive abilities test used inside schools; the 11+ is an entrance exam for selective schools. They share spatial reasoning skills, so practice helps both, but preparing for one is not the same as preparing for the other. ## The spatial skills the CAT4 looks at The CAT4's spatial work covers **figure analysis**, which is the fold and punch style of visualisation, and **figure recognition**, which is finding a target shape hidden inside a busier figure. Both are spatial skills, and both appear on our [spatial reasoning guide](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-spatial-reasoning) as question types 6 and 7 of the eight used in 11+ style papers. In practical terms that means a child who can already handle folded paper and hidden shapes is meeting familiar work, and a child who has never seen either is meeting something genuinely new, because neither skill is taught in the national curriculum. That is the honest reason familiarisation helps: not because these tests can be crammed, but because no child should meet a question format for the first time in the room. - **Figure analysis:** a square is folded, holes are punched, and you work out the pattern on the opened sheet. Full method on the [fold and punch paper folding page](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-paper-folding). - **Figure recognition:** a target shape is buried inside a tangle of lines, the same size and the same way round, and you have to spot it. - **Related 3D visualisation:** folding a flat net into a solid and turning solids in your head, covered on the [nets and cubes page](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-nets-and-cubes) and the [cube rotation page](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-cube-rotation). ## Three worked examples of the spatial skills These are Pip questions written in the style of the skills described above, not real CAT4 questions. They exist to show your child the shape of the thinking. ### Example 1 Β· Figure analysis: folded and punched paper Solving rule: holes double with every fold and mirror across the fold line The square is folded in half along the dotted line, left onto right, and two holes are punched through both layers. Which option shows the opened sheet? A B C D E **Show the answer and the elimination, step by step** **Count.** One fold, two layers, two punches, so exactly four holes. **A** has two and **D** has three, so both are out at once. **Mirror across the vertical fold line.** Each hole gains a partner directly across the centre, the same distance from it. **C** has four holes but has reflected them up and down instead of across. **E** puts the extra holes on the same side of the fold, near the right-hand edge, which is not a reflection. **B** shows four holes in two mirrored pairs, level with the originals and equally far from the centre line, so **B is correct**. ### Example 2 Β· Figure recognition: the hidden shape Solving rule: anchor on the target's most unusual corner and hunt for that corner only The triangle on the left is hidden somewhere in the figure below, at the same size and the same way round. Where is it? Find the triangle **Show the answer and the method, step by step** **Do not scan the whole figure.** The target has one feature that is rarer than the rest: a single apex where two long lines slope away from each other at a wide angle. Look only for that apex, and ignore every other junction in the drawing. **Then follow the base.** Once a candidate apex is found, run your eye down both sides and check that a single straight line joins their ends. In this figure the long horizontal line is the base, and the two steep lines crossing near the top form the apex. The triangle sits on the left of the figure, with its point where the two steep lines cross and its base on the long horizontal. It is picked out in blue below. The hidden triangle, picked out in blue ### Example 3 Β· 3D visualisation: folding a net Solving rule: faces one square apart in a straight line end up opposite This net is folded into a cube. Which symbol ends up on the face opposite the triangle? A B C D E **Show the answer and the elimination, step by step** **Look along the column of four.** Reading down the long line of squares gives the arrow, the triangle, the white circle and the cross. Faces exactly one square apart in a straight line finish up back to back on the cube. So the arrow is opposite the white circle, and the triangle is opposite the cross. The two side flaps, the black circle and the star, are the remaining pair. The face opposite the triangle is therefore the cross, which is option **E**. As a check, six faces always divide into exactly three opposite pairs, and all six symbols have been used once. ## How to help without over-preparing Because the CAT4 is designed to measure how a child reasons rather than what they have been taught, heavy coaching is not the point, and schools generally ask families not to drill it. Familiarisation is a different thing from cramming, and it is reasonable: a child who has folded a piece of paper and watched the holes appear is not being coached, they are simply not being surprised. - **Do the physical versions once.** Fold and punch a real sheet. Fold a real paper net into a cube. Ten minutes, both skills, done. - **Talk about method, not speed.** Ask your child how they knew, rather than how fast they were. The reasoning is what transfers. - **Keep the volume low.** A handful of questions of each type is plenty for familiarisation, and it protects the honesty of the result. - **Check the practicalities with the school.** Any question about dates, arrangements, access arrangements or how results are used should go to the school, which is the only reliable source for its own testing. - **Sleep and breakfast beat revision.** On a test that measures reasoning, a tired child scores below their real ability, and no practice paper corrects for that. ## Free practice, no sign-up Everything below is free and instant. No trial, no email wall. ### πŸ“„ Free 24-question NVR paper A full Non-Verbal Reasoning paper at real exam difficulty, including spatial-style puzzles, with a printable answer sheet and a worked answer key for every question. [Download the paper](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-non-verbal-reasoning-papers) ### 🧩 The full spatial guide All eight spatial reasoning question types in one place, with diagrams, the solving rule for each and which exams test them. [Read the spatial reasoning guide](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-spatial-reasoning) ### πŸ–¨ All 11+ printables Free English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers, each with worked answers, plus vocabulary flashcards and interactive tools. [Browse the printables](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-printables) ## CAT4 spatial reasoning FAQ **What is CAT4 spatial reasoning?** It is the part of the Cognitive Abilities Test that looks at how well a pupil visualises and manipulates shapes. It covers figure analysis, which is folded and punched paper visualisation, and figure recognition, which is finding a target shape hidden inside a busier figure. Both are spatial skills that also appear inside 11+ non-verbal reasoning. **Is the CAT4 the same as the 11+?** No. The CAT4 is a cognitive abilities test published by GL Assessment and used by schools for purposes such as baseline assessment, setting and target setting. The 11+ is an entrance exam for selective grammar and independent schools. The two share spatial reasoning skills, but they are different assessments with different purposes, and sitting a CAT4 is not applying for a school place. **What is the CAT4 hidden shape paper folding test?** That phrase usually covers the two CAT4 spatial question styles at once. Figure analysis shows a square that has been folded and punched, and asks what the opened sheet looks like. Figure recognition shows a target shape and a busier figure, and asks where the target is hidden inside it, at the same size and the same way round. **Does the CAT4 include folding a solid from a net?** Folding a flat shape into a solid is a closely related 3D visualisation skill, and it appears widely in spatial reasoning papers, including questions where a net has tabs. For what your child will actually meet in a particular CAT4 sitting, ask the school, since we do not publish question counts or section details we cannot verify. **How long is the CAT4 and how is it scored?** We do not publish CAT4 timings, section counts or score scales here, because those are details we cannot verify for your school and a wrong number would be worse than none. Your child’s school is the right source: it decides when the test is sat, how it is administered and how the results are used. **Should we prepare for CAT4 spatial reasoning?** Familiarisation is reasonable, heavy coaching is not, and schools generally prefer families not to drill it because the test is meant to measure reasoning rather than preparation. Ten minutes of physical practice, folding and punching a real sheet of paper and folding a real paper net into a cube, removes the surprise without distorting the result. **Where can we find free spatial reasoning practice?** Pip publishes a free 24-question Non-Verbal Reasoning practice paper as a printable PDF with a full worked answer key, plus free printable papers for every other 11+ subject and a complete guide to all eight spatial reasoning question types. Everything is free with no sign-up. Keep going: our [spatial reasoning guide](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-spatial-reasoning) covers all eight question types, [fold and punch paper folding](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-paper-folding) goes deeper on figure analysis, [nets and cubes](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-nets-and-cubes) covers 3D folding, and [11+ exam types explained](https://pip11plus.com/11-plus-exam-types-explained) sets out how the different assessments relate.