8.2 Complex Figures & Spatial-Style Abstract Items

Complex figures on the JOA: busy, not mystical

Some abstract items in official familiarisation material look more elaborate than simple circle-and-dot sets. They may resemble stacked bricks, shaded blocks, or 3D-style assemblies with faces, edges, and small protrusions. On the Job Opportunities Assessment these are still abstract reasoning inside the mixed 51-question / 20-minute paper. They measure whether you can hold a visual structure in mind, compare it systematically, and apply a rule — not whether you can produce technical drawings, compute volumes, or recall school solid-geometry theorems.

Think of a complex figure as a bundle of attributes packed into one picture. Your job is to unpack the bundle in a fixed order so that under ~20–35 seconds you do not drown in detail.

Mental model: inventory, then decide

1. Inventory the figure’s major parts (how many blocks, which are on top, which faces show).
2. Tag high-value features (shading pattern, studs/knobs, notches, holes, orientation of the stack).
3. Match the stem type (odd-one-out among several complex figures; which option matches a target; which continues a change rule).
4. Compare using the same inventory order on every option.
5. Commit or flag when the inventory still disagrees with itself after one full pass.

Spatial-style brick / block assemblies (ADF-RECREF132 flavour)

Official-style examples can show brick-like or blocky constructions: rectangular prisms stacked or joined, sometimes with shaded faces and small stud-like protrusions on a top or side surface. In prose, picture something like a toy building brick or a small masonry stack drawn in oblique view — not a CAD blueprint, but richer than a flat 2D icon.

Feature vocabulary (use this language in your head)

Naming features prevents the failure mode where every option “looks 3D” and none of them look decidable.

Worked example A — stud count is the club

Imagine four brick-like figures drawn in the same angled view:

• A: two-block stack, two round studs on the top face
• B: two-block stack, two studs on the top face
• C: two-block stack, one stud on the top face
• D: two-block stack, two studs on the top face

If the stem is odd-one-out, C fails stud count while stack height and viewpoint match. A candidate who only compares “overall bulk” may miss the missing stud entirely.

Worked example B — shading on corresponding faces

Four identical L-shaped three-block assemblies:

• A–C: the vertical front face of the tall part is shaded; the top faces are white
• D: the top face of the tall part is shaded; the front is white

The structure (L of three blocks) is shared. The odd attribute is which face is shaded. D is the outsider if the club is “front face shaded.” Do not call D odd because it “looks darker overall” if total ink is similar — locate the shade on a named face.

Worked example C — layer / stack height

Five figures:

• A, B, D, E: base of two blocks side by side, one block centred on top (height 2)
• C: base of two blocks side by side, two blocks stacked on the left (height 3 on one side)

Here the odd structure is stack profile, not shading. Complex figures often hide the answer in silhouette / occupancy of space before you ever need studs.

Systematic scan order (memorise and reuse)

Use this order on every complex abstract item so your eyes do not wander randomly:

1. Global silhouette — overall outline and number of major blocks.
2. Connectivity — which blocks share a face; L vs straight vs T layouts.
3. Height map — how many layers at each footprint cell.
4. Shading map — which faces or regions are filled, hatched, or empty.
5. Small protrusions — studs, pegs, tabs, bumps (count and location).
6. Negative space — holes, notches, missing corners.
7. Viewpoint check — is one option a different camera angle of the same object (sometimes relevant for match items; less often the “odd” rule itself)?

Stop as soon as a higher step already isolates the answer. Studs are step 5 for a reason: people who start at studs miss that one option is a completely different stack.

Stem types that reuse the same complex art

The same brick-style drawing family can support different questions. Misreading the stem wastes the inventory you just built.

Type 1 — odd-one-out among complex figures

Several busy figures; find which break a shared construction rule. Use section 8.1’s club-and-outsider logic with the complex feature list above.

Type 2 — match to a target

A target assembly is shown; options are near-copies with one altered feature. Inventory the target first, then test each option against that inventory. The first option that differs on a required feature is out; the option that matches all tagged features is in.

Type 3 — sequence of transformations

Figures 1–3 show a block assembly changing (for example, a stud moves from left to right; a face becomes shaded). You choose the next state. This is closer to Chapter 7 sequence skills, but the payload is complex geometry. Name the change rule (“shading steps one face clockwise,” “one stud is added each frame”) before browsing options.

Worked example D — match-to-target near-misses

Target: three-block straight wall, top face of the middle block has one stud, front faces unshaded.

Options:

• A: three-block wall, stud on the left block top — fails stud location
• B: three-block wall, stud on middle top, front of left block shaded — fails shading
• C: three-block wall, stud on middle top, fronts unshaded — match
• D: two-block wall with middle stud — fails block count

Near-miss options are deliberate. A single-feature checklist catches them; “roughly the same wall” does not.

Shading, hatching, and 3D face logic

Shading on complex figures usually marks a face or region, not random decoration.

Practical shading rules of thumb

• Compare corresponding faces (front-to-front, top-to-top), not total darkness.
• If two faces meet at an edge, decide whether shade belongs to the left face, right face, or both.
• Hatching direction (/// vs \\ ) can be a designed attribute; treat it as fill-type only when other features already match.
• A fully white figure among heavily shaded peers may be odd on presence of shading, not on block count.

Worked example E — corresponding-face discipline

Two figures both have a dark region “somewhere on the right.” On A the shade is the right end’s front face; on B it is the right end’s top face. For match or odd-one-out, those are different. Saying both are “dark on the right” is too coarse and leads to false equals.

Studs, protrusions, and micro-features

Small raised circles, cubes, or tabs on a top surface are high-yield discriminators because they are easy for the eye to skip when the overall brick looks the same.

Micro-feature checklist

• Count: 0 vs 1 vs 2 studs
• Location: left / centre / right of a face; which block owns the stud
• Alignment: studs in a row vs diagonal vs single
• Presence of a notch opposite a stud (sometimes both change together in sequences)

Worked example F — dual micro-change in a sequence

Frame 1: one stud on left top. Frame 2: stud moves to centre top. Frame 3: stud moves to right top. Next should keep the one-stud, top-face, left-to-right walk. An option that adds a second stud while moving right is a hybrid distractor — half right, fully wrong.

Common traps on complex abstract items

Worked trap example

Four complex figures share the same L-stack and shading; three have two top studs and one has two top studs plus a side notch. Candidates who stop after “two studs — all match” miss the notch. Micro-features come late in the scan on purpose — finish the scan on at least one full pass when the early steps show no difference.

JOA process habits for complex figures

• Budget: simple stud/shade odd-outs ~20–30s; multi-difference matches ~25–40s. Beyond ~40–45s with no clean feature name → flag.
• Eyes, not art class: you are not redrawing the brick; you are tagging features.
• Same order every time: silhouette → connectivity → height → shading → studs → holes → viewpoint.
• Link to speed chapter: complex items are exactly where average ~23.5 s/question gets destroyed if you free-browse — section 8.3 turns the scan into a timed habit.

Mini drill set (describe, then decide)

1. Four identical 2-block towers; one tower has an extra top stud → outsider on stud presence.
2. Target wall of three; option with correct studs but wrong front-face shade → reject on shading map.
3. Sequence: shade moves from left face → middle face → right face → next keeps the one-step face walk, no extra blocks.
4. Odd-one-out: three L-stacks and one straight triple wall → outsider on connectivity / silhouette before you count studs.

Complex-figure mastery is inventory discipline. The drawing looks heavy; the method stays light: name features, compare in order, match the stem, move on.