How gapChallenge works
Each screen shows a 4x4 or 5x5 grid. Some squares hold a shape, the rest are blank, and one holds a question mark. No shape is repeated in any row or column. You work out which shape must go in the question-mark square and pick it from the shapes below the grid.
You can fill other blank squares as working, but filling the grid is not the task, and some squares cannot be worked out from what is shown. There is no set number of grids, they may get harder as you go, and before the clock starts you get a practice task you can repeat as often as you like.
How to solve a gapChallenge grid
Work outwards from the question mark:
- List the shapes already in the question mark’s row and column.
- If only one shape is left, answer and move on.
- If two or more are left, find a blank square in that row or column where only one shape can go, and fill it.
- Look at the question mark again with that square filled, and repeat until one shape is left.
- Only fill squares that are forced. A guessed square can lead you to a wrong answer.
Worked example
A 4x4 grid uses circles, squares, triangles and crosses. Row 1 has a circle in column 3, row 2 a square in column 4, row 3 a triangle in column 3 and row 4 a triangle in column 2. The question mark is in row 2, column 2.
- Step 1: row 2 already has a square and column 2 has a triangle, so the question mark is a circle or a cross.
- Step 2: the blank square in row 2, column 3 has a circle and a triangle in its column and a square in its row, so it must be a cross.
- Step 3: row 2 now holds a square and a cross, so the question mark is a circle.
Tips for the real gapChallenge
- Do not stall on one grid. The clock keeps running between grids, and the next one is waiting.
- Easy grids need no working at all. Save on-screen marking for the harder ones.
- Grids may get harder as you answer, so speed on the early ones buys time for the later ones.
- Aon says wrong answers usually cost points, so a quick check is worth more than a fast guess.
- Repeat the practice task until the row-and-column check feels automatic, then start the clock.
- Aon’s paper practice sheet suggests a pencil. In the online test you mark shapes into squares on screen instead.
Practise gapChallenge on CogniPrep
Our gapChallenge game runs on the same six-minute clock with no skip. You tap a shape to answer and can pencil shapes into blank squares as working. Grids are generated so the question mark can always be solved by row and column elimination. A right answer moves you up a level, a wrong one moves you down a level and costs a mark, and the steps needed rise from one on early levels to three or more later, with about half the grids 5x5 from level 12. Your score is net correct answers against a target of 30, and the report shows the highest level you reached.