The sitting
| Items | 60, in five sets of 12: A to E (Pearson) |
| Time | untimed; twenty to forty-five minutes, individual or group (Pearson) |
| Layouts | A continuous pattern; B 2x2; C, D, E 3x3 |
| Options | six on A and B, eight on C to E (third party) |
| Ink | black on white |
| Order | fixed, rising in difficulty within each set and from A to E |
How it starts
Set A opens with the easiest items on the form, and that is deliberate: the early items teach the response format and the assumption that one compact rule governs the missing piece. Do not rush them for being easy. By the end of Set B the form has shown you both a continuous field and a 2x2, and from Set C on every item is a 3x3 with eight options.
Pacing an untimed form
Forty-five minutes is Pearson’s outer figure and most people finish well inside it. The sets are where time goes: A and B should take minutes, C is where the 3x3 reading has to become a habit, D and E are where a strong candidate spends the second half. If a form is being run with a clock, which Pearson’s pages do not describe but employers sometimes do, that is the half to protect.
Sources: Pearson Clinical UK, SPM product page (items, time); Kramer and Huizenga 2023 (up to 45 minutes); Yang et al. 2023 (set structure and difficulty); the layouts and the option split are third-party. Read 2026-09-21. This is independent practice material. It is not a Pearson product and uses none of Raven's items. Figures come from Pearson's own pages and the primary literature; where only third parties state a figure, the text says so.