⬛ Grid Challenge

What the Grid Challenge measures

The Grid Challenge is a dual-task exercise. You memorise where a set of dots appeared, you are then interrupted by reasoning questions that have nothing to do with the dots, and only afterwards are you asked to recall the dots in the right order. The interruption is the point: it measures how well you hold information while your attention is occupied elsewhere.

Employers use working-memory formats of this kind in graduate and commercial assessment batteries, usually alongside a reasoning test rather than instead of one. Candidates who have never met the format lose most of their marks to surprise rather than to capacity, so a handful of practice runs makes a noticeable difference to how the real thing feels.

The format on Job Tests Portal

A round has three parts: dots appear one at a time on a scattered field, a reasoning question follows, then you click the dots in the order they first appeared. The standard run is 15 rounds in 6 minutes, and the selectors let you choose 10, 15, 25 or 40 minutes and 10, 20, 30 or 50 rounds.

• Phase 1: three dots to remember, with symmetry questions between memorising and recall.
• Phase 2: four dots, with rotation questions at 90, 180 or 270 degrees.
• Phase 3: five dots, with pattern addition and subtraction questions.
• Both halves score: every correctly recalled dot and every correct reasoning answer counts.
• The run cannot be paused once it starts and ends when the timer expires.

Question types, with worked examples

1. Symmetry questions (Phase 1)

Two 3x3 patterns are shown side by side. In the left pattern the filled cells are top-left, top-right and centre. Is the right pattern the vertical mirror of the left pattern?

Answer: Yes, if the right pattern is filled at top-left, top-right and centre.

Why: A vertical mirror swaps column 1 with column 3 and leaves column 2 alone. Top-left and top-right swap into each other and the centre does not move, so this particular pattern is its own mirror image. Check the columns that move first; the middle column is only ever a tie-breaker.

2. Rotation questions (Phase 2)

The left pattern has its only filled cell in the top-left corner. Is the right pattern the 90-degree clockwise rotation of it?

Answer: Yes, if the right pattern's filled cell is in the top-right corner.

Why: Turning a square 90 degrees clockwise sends the top-left corner to the top-right, top-right to bottom-right, bottom-right to bottom-left, and bottom-left to top-left. Track one corner around that cycle rather than rotating the whole picture.

3. Pattern operations (Phase 3)

Pattern A is filled at the centre and the top-left. Pattern B is filled at the top-left only. Is the bottom pattern equal to A minus B?

Answer: Yes, if the bottom pattern is filled at the centre only.

Why: A minus B keeps the cells that are in A and not in B. Top-left appears in both, so it goes; the centre is only in A, so it stays. For the union question the rule is the opposite: keep every cell that appears in either pattern.

A practice method for the Grid Challenge

1. Encode positions as a shape, not as a list. Three dots forming a triangle, or four forming a Z, is one item to remember instead of four.
2. Add a direction to the shape. Order matters at recall, so store the path: “up-left, across, down.” The shape gives you the positions and the path gives you the sequence.
3. Refresh once before the interruption. Replay the path silently in the moment between the last dot and the reasoning question.
4. Answer the interruption quickly and deliberately. Rushing it loses the reasoning mark; dwelling on it loses the dots. A confident answer in a few seconds protects both.
5. Replay the path immediately at recall. Re-run the whole sequence before your first click rather than clicking as each memory surfaces.
6. Build up the phases. Start with shorter runs so you meet Phase 1 repeatedly, then lengthen the timer once three dots feel easy.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Memorising positions but not order. Recall is sequential, so a perfect set of positions in the wrong order still costs marks.
• Treating the reasoning questions as filler. They score in their own right and are half of what the round measures.
• Trying to keep rehearsing the dots while answering the interruption. Divided attention loses both; answer, then rebuild.
• Starting with the longest run available. The dot count rises with the phases, so long runs put you into five-dot rounds before three-dot rounds are comfortable.
• Clicking hesitantly at recall. Replaying the full path first is more reliable than reconstructing it dot by dot under time pressure.
• Practising in a noisy environment. This is the one format where background interruption changes your result substantially.

Where to go next

• Start the Grid Challenge practice test — all three phases with a timer and length you choose
• How to prepare for an aptitude test — a one-week plan across the reasoning and memory formats
• MindGrid Memory Challenge — shorter pure-memory drills that build the same encoding habit
• Spatial Intelligence Test — rotations and mirrors at greater depth
• Switch Challenge — another dual-task format, this time with abstract rules
• All cognitive and aptitude tests — browse the full catalogue and pick your next session