Matrigma Test 2026: Adaptive Matrigma Format and Practice

The Matrigma test is a non-verbal reasoning test from the Swedish publisher Assessio: you complete matrix puzzles by choosing the missing piece. The common version, Adaptive Matrigma, lasts 12 minutes in total with a 1-minute limit per item, adjusts difficulty to your answers and reports a 0–10 C-score. This guide covers Adaptive and Classic Matrigma, how scoring works, and gives original practice puzzles with worked answers. It is based on Assessio's help centre and product pages and on prep sources, not on a first-hand sitting.

Key facts

Adaptive Matrigma vs Classic Matrigma

Adaptive Matrigma gives you one puzzle at a time. Each has its own 1-minute timer, inside an overall 12-minute limit. Assessio says the test adjusts item difficulty to your performance as you go, and that each sub-problem is presented separately so you do not have to plan time across tasks. Because the engine picks the next item from your answers and the clock runs for 12 minutes, the number of items you see is not fixed; iPrep describes it as varying by person. Do not aim for a number; aim to answer every item you see.

Classic Matrigma is the older fixed-form version. Prep sources (iPrep, Practice Aptitude Tests) describe it as 35 puzzles in 40 minutes, worked at your own pace, getting harder as you go. The Assessio help-centre pages cited below describe the adaptive version only, so treat the classic figures as unconfirmed.

A note on names. Searches for "Hogan Matrigma" are common. Matrigma is an Assessio product; Assessio also distributes other publishers' tests, including Hogan's, in some markets (Wikipedia), which is likely where the pairing comes from.

How the Matrigma test is scored

Assessio reports your result as a C-score from 0 to 10 for general mental ability. The difficulty of each item was set using a norm group of people who previously took the test, and your result is compared with a norm group of the working-age population rather than the whole population. In the adaptive version an internal ability estimate is translated to the C-score, so adaptive and classic results are meant to be comparable (Assessio product documentation).

There is no published pass mark. The employer decides how the C-score is used, often alongside personality results and interviews.

One wording difference: Assessio's help centre describes Matrigma as measuring intelligence, while its aptitude product page says it is "not an intelligence test" and stresses fairness across education levels and languages. Both describe the same thing: a non-verbal test of general problem-solving ability.

Question types with original examples

Prep sources name five rule families for Matrigma puzzles: motion, construction, frequency, rotation and progression. The puzzles below cover three of them. Each would have about a minute in the real test.

Practice 1: motion (with wrap-around)

Each cell shows a strip of four boxes; one is black (■), the others white (□).

Row 1: ■□□□ | □■□□ | □□■□ Row 2: □■□□ | □□■□ | □□□■ Row 3: □□■□ | □□□■ | ?

A) □□□■ B) ■□□□ C) □■□□ D) □□■□ E) ■□□■ F) □□□□

Answer: B. The black box moves one place to the right per column, and each row starts one place further right than the row above. After the last position it wraps back to the first. Option A is the trap: it assumes the box stops at the edge.

Practice 2: frequency (one of each)

Each cell holds hexagons with a fill: black, white or striped.

Row 1: 1 black | 2 white | 3 striped Row 2: 2 striped | 3 black | 1 white Row 3: 3 white | 1 striped | ?

A) 2 black B) 2 white C) 1 black D) 3 black E) 2 striped F) 3 white

Answer: A. Every row and every column contains each count (1, 2, 3) once and each fill once. Row 3 is missing the count 2 and the fill black. Column 3 confirms it: 3 striped, 1 white, so 2 black.

Practice 3: rotation across the whole grid

Each cell shows a circle with one clock hand. Read the grid left to right, top to bottom.

Cells 1–3: hand at 12 | hand at 3 | hand at 6, circle filled Cells 4–6: hand at 9 | hand at 12 | hand at 3, circle filled Cells 7–8: hand at 6 | hand at 9 | ?

A) hand at 12, circle filled B) hand at 12, circle empty C) hand at 3, circle filled D) hand at 9, circle filled E) hand at 6, circle filled F) hand at 3, circle empty

Answer: A. The hand turns 90° clockwise from cell to cell, in reading order, so cell 9 points to 12. Every third cell has a filled circle, so cell 9 is filled. This is a common harder pattern: the rule runs through the whole grid, not row by row.

Traps and how to avoid them

• Looking for a row rule when the rule runs in reading order. If rows do not work, read the nine cells as one sequence.
• Edge effects. Moving elements often wrap around or bounce. Check what happens at the boundary.
• Two rules at once. Matrigma items often combine a position rule with a fill or count rule. An option that fits one rule only is a typical distractor.
• Running out of the minute. An unanswered item gives you nothing. At around 45 seconds, eliminate options that break a rule you are sure of and pick from the rest.
• Feeling that items get too hard. That is the adaptive design working. A hard item usually means you answered the previous ones well.

How to prepare

1. Day 1: learn the five rule families with the abstract reasoning guide. Draw two examples of each.
2. Days 2–4: 15 to 20 puzzles per session at 60 seconds each. Name the rule after every item, right or wrong.
3. Day 5: a 12-minute block without pausing, to get used to the rhythm of one-minute items.
4. On the day: quiet room, a laptop or desktop rather than a phone, scrap paper for sketching positions, and the instructions in the language you read fastest.

Assessio states that the ability Matrigma measures is largely stable in adults. Practice does not change that ability, but it removes the cost of meeting an unfamiliar format under a 1-minute clock, which is what most first-time candidates lose time on.

Sources

• Assessio help centre, Matrigma (12-minute total, 1 minute per item, adaptive, C-score 0–10, norm group, 14 languages, g-factor basis)
• Assessio, aptitude product page (12 minutes, Adaptive Matrigma as the most common version, working-age norm group, 29 instruction languages, "not an intelligence test", MAP pairing)
• Practice Aptitude Tests, Matrigma (Classic 35 items in 40 minutes, six options, rule families, Red Bull)
• Assessio help centre, Matrigma product documentation (adaptive estimate translated to the C-score)
• iPrep, how to ace the Matrigma test (Classic 35 items in 40 minutes, adaptive item count varies by person, six options)
• Wikipedia, Assessio (company background, distribution of Hogan tests)

Rédigé par

Adrian, spécialiste

MSc Psychologie, 7 ans de tests passés.

Dernière mise à jour : Oct 1, 2026