Pattern Completion test online: finish the 2 × 2 grid
Each puzzle is a square of 4 tiles with the last one missing. Rows share a texture, columns share a frame, and later puzzles bring in color. Pick the tile that suits both directions.
Start the Pattern Completion testYour result shows after item 15; to keep it, use a free account.
Works best on a computer.
How it works
One screen of instructions, then 15 puzzles from easy to hard. Nothing is timed and there is no practice puzzle.
- 1 · Rows
Same texture across
Both tiles in a row share a texture: horizontal, vertical or diagonal stripes, crosshatch, dots or a solid fill.
- 2 · Columns
Same frame down
Both tiles in a column share a frame: none, thick, double, dashed or rounded. The missing tile takes its row's texture and its column's frame.
- 3 · Items 6 to 15
Color joins in
Items 6 to 10 give each row its own color. In items 11 to 15 color runs along the diagonals, so the missing tile matches the top-left one.
- 4 · Your answer
Pick 1 of 4
4 tiles appear under the grid. Click one and the next puzzle loads at once, with no feedback and no way back.
Every wrong option breaks a rule: it has the wrong texture, the wrong frame or the wrong color, and on the easy puzzles one option gets both texture and frame wrong. A fixed seed builds the puzzles, so the same 15 come up in the same order on every attempt.
The test's welcome screen calls the task a simpler cousin of matrix reasoning, the format made familiar by Raven's Progressive Matrices (Raven, 2000). Instead of a 3 by 3 grid of shapes and 6 options, it uses 4 tiles and 4 options, so each rule rests on a single example.
What it measures
With only 3 tiles to go on, each puzzle checks whether you can split a picture into separate features and apply each one where it belongs.
Seeing the features
- Telling textures apart, such as diagonal stripes from crosshatch.
- Treating the frame as a feature of its own, separate from what fills the tile.
- Tracking color once it starts to change from row to row.
Combining the rules
- Taking the texture from the row and the frame from the column in one choice.
- Spotting the diagonal color rule on the hardest puzzles, where copying a neighbor's color gives the wrong answer.
- Checking all 4 options, since each wrong one differs in a single feature.
Pattern Completion sits beside Matrix Reasoning in the fluid reasoning area. Both ask you to infer a rule from examples, the kind of thinking Horn and Cattell (1967) set apart from knowledge built up over years. Accounts of how people solve matrix problems stress the same 2 jobs: spotting each rule and keeping the rules together while you choose (Carpenter, Just and Shell, 1990).
A test, not a diagnosis.
15 short puzzles describe one attempt. They cannot diagnose or rule out any condition.
What you get
Item 15 ends the test and the result screen follows.
On the result screen
- How many of the 15 you got right, with your average seconds per puzzle.
- A one-line reading in 3 bands and a marker on a bar from strong to difficult.
- Notes on the easy and hard levels and on your pace, comparing the first 8 puzzles with the last 7.
- Accuracy for each level: easy, medium and hard, 5 puzzles each.
- Every puzzle's result and time in a table, plus a CSV file.
When you keep it
- Saved to your results once you have a free account, and there on any device you sign in from.
- Grouped under fluid reasoning, alongside Matrix Reasoning.
- The hub offers another test as you continue.
How this version is scored
The test stores each answer with its level, whether it matched and the time since the grid appeared.
- Correct answer
- The tile with the row's texture, the column's frame and the right color. 1 point per puzzle, with no partial credit.
- Score
- Correct answers, from 0 to 15. The reading uses fixed bands: 11 or more, 7 to 10, and below 7.
- Accuracy by level
- Percentage correct within easy (items 1 to 5), medium (6 to 10) and hard (11 to 15).
- Pace
- Your average time per puzzle. The notes also compare the first 8 puzzles with the last 7 and say whether you slowed down or sped up by more than a fifth, or kept a steady pace.
No norms for this version. No published adult norm table exists for this exact task, so the result is descriptive: your count and where your errors fell, read against fixed bands. The result screen gives no percentile.
Speed is only described. Time per puzzle is shown and saved, but the score counts correct answers only.
Before you start
The tiles are detailed, so a good view helps.
For a cleaner attempt
- Use a computer or tablet if you can: the stripes are fine, and on a phone the 4 options wrap onto 2 rows.
- Look at the frame and the color, not only the texture, before you click.
- Take your time: nothing is timed and a click cannot be undone.
- Stay on the page until the result shows.
Interpret cautiously when
- You are tired, unwell or distracted.
- Dark colors such as blue, green, brown and purple are hard for you to tell apart.
- Your screen is small or low in contrast, which blurs fine stripes and dots.
- You have done the test before: the 15 puzzles repeat exactly.
Questions
What does a pattern completion test measure?
It measures how well you find the rules in a simple visual pattern and combine them to fill a gap. Here that means taking a texture from the row, a frame from the column and, on later puzzles, a color from a third rule. It belongs with nonverbal or fluid reasoning, next to matrix tests.
What is a good score on the Pattern Completion test?
There are no adult norms for this exact task. The result screen treats 11 or more correct out of 15 as strong, 7 to 10 as mixed and fewer than 7 as difficult. The breakdown by level shows where your errors came from, which says more than the total alone.
Can I do the Pattern Completion test on a phone?
Yes. The grid fits a phone screen and the 4 options wrap onto 2 rows. The tests hub shows a short note first, because fine stripes and similar colors are easier to judge on a larger screen.
How is this different from the Matrix Reasoning test?
Pattern Completion uses 2 by 2 grids of textured tiles with 4 options per puzzle. Matrix Reasoning uses 3 by 3 grids of shapes with 6 options and adds a size rule. Both are about finding rules, so taking the two together gives a fuller view of fluid reasoning.