Spatial Reasoning section
Mental Rotation puzzles with answers
Same shape or mirror image? Turn the figure in your head, follow one landmark, and the mirror images give themselves away.
Short answer
A mental rotation puzzle shows one figure and asks which option is the same figure turned, not flipped. Every wrong option is a mirror image, which no amount of turning can match. Easy puzzles use flat figures turned in the page; harder ones use clusters of cubes turned in space.
These are practice puzzles. The full test has Spatial Reasoning items like these, generated fresh for every attempt.
Try one
Plate 01 · Easy
Which option is the same shape, only rotated?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
Option 2 is the original figure turned a half turn.
How to solve it
- Pick a landmark: the marked cell or the end of the longest arm.
- Turn the figure in your head and watch where that landmark goes, and which side the other cells end up on.
- Turning the figure a half turn gives option 2.
- Each of the other options is a mirror image: flipping it over would match, but no turn does.
This is Mental Rotation puzzle #1 (easy). Every puzzle below works the same way: tap an option to check it, or open the answer for a step-by-step solution.
How these puzzles work
Mental rotation is one half of the Spatial Reasoning section on IQ Octopus. The engine draws a figure, then builds the options from the same figure: one is turned by a quarter or half turn, and the rest are mirror images of it, also turned so they look plausible. Because a mirror image can never be rotated into the original, exactly one option works.
Flat figures are made from square cells with one cell marked, so there is always a landmark to follow. Cube clusters are chains of cubes with bends; you compare the order of the arms and which way each bend goes. The spatial reasoning guide has more on why mirror images are the trap.
A method that works on every one
- Pick one landmark: the marked cell, or the end of the longest arm.
- Turn the figure in your head and watch where the landmark ends up.
- Check which side the other cells land on, relative to the landmark.
- If the landmark is right but the sides are swapped, that option is a mirror image.
- For cube clusters, trace the chain from one end and compare the direction of each bend.
Easy puzzles
Easy rotation puzzles use small flat figures and simple turns. Most common rules in this set: flat figure (17).
Medium puzzles
Medium puzzles use larger flat figures of six cells, some without a marked cell, so there is less to anchor on. Most common rules in this set: flat figure (17).
Hard puzzles
Hard puzzles use clusters of cubes turned in space, where you compare the direction of each bend. Most common rules in this set: cube cluster (16).
Want them timed? The mental rotation practice test gives you 10 puzzles with 30 seconds each and an instant practice score.