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Topic Note: Find the Next Term in the Series
Please note that each topic note contains some questions which some children could find
relatively difficult. However, we have preferred to keep them in the topic note to give the student
and parent an idea about various different type of questions. These relatively difficult questions
have been highlighted in red font.
SEQUENCING
These questions typically consist of a series of numbers, alphabets or symbols or a combination of
either of these, which are typically connected by way of a rule or pattern. The key to solving these
questions is to identify the trend or pattern and accordingly either find out the next term in the pattern
or a missing term in the pattern or identify a wrong term in the pattern.
The following explains the broad categories of patterns which one can find:
IMAGE BASED PATTERNS:
These questions consist of images or symbols – two or more which follow a particular pattern. The
pattern either consists of repeating images or the images are linked by a common rule. The key here is
to identify the repeating pattern or the rule which connects them. These questions could be broadly
classified into three categories:
Repeating pattern – In this case, the images / symbols form a pattern which repeats itself
Rule based pattern – In these questions, the images are linked by way of a common rule.
Some examples of such rules could be
o Movement of the shape or part of the shape in clockwise or anticlockwise direction
o A part getting added and subtracted in the shape
o Abstract Pattern – these are also rule based patterns, but the patterns are not so obvious
as movement in clock-wise / anti clock-wise direction or addition / subtraction in the
shape, but instead follow a slightly abstract rule like increasing number of sides of the
object or colours appears in the order in which they appear in the rainbow, etc.
SOLVED EXAMPLES
1) Identify the next term in the sequence:
?
Solution: Clearly as shown above the pattern is repeating itself. Thus in the above
question, after circle, the next term would be a square again and hence the answer is
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The above example is a very simple form of a symbolic sequencing problem. The type of
problems could vary significantly ranging from slightly longer pattern to more abstract
concepts being implemented. Few of such examples are given below:
2) Identify the next term in the sequence:
Solution: The above question can be broken down to a pattern which repeats itself as follows:
A B C
Clearly as shown above the pattern is repeating itself.
Block C should follow the same layout as Block AA or Block B and so after the square,
B we
should have a circle. So the next term in the sequence is
A B
If a child is facing difficulty in identifying such patterns, one best way is to make him do it
from basics. Get him to choose an alphabet for each shape, say A for and B for . Now
rewrite the pattern in alphabets, it can be written as ABAABABAABAB? Now let’s choose
first two terms in this pattern – AB. Check if they are getting repeated. The next two terms
after AB is AA. So clearly AB is not the repeating pattern. Now let’s take three alphabets –
ABA and check if they are repeating. The three alphabets after ABA are also ABA. But after
that is BAA. So ABA is not the repeating pattern. Continue this way till you find the repeating
pattern.
This is one of the easiest way for a child to find the repeating pattern. This is exactly how
our brain thinks and identifies the pattern, but just that it works so fast that we do not realize
each of these steps.
A more complicated question could be where the symbols are not getting repeated but following a
certain pattern:
3) Find the next term in the sequence:
Solution: In this question, though no pattern is being repeated, like in the questions above, all
the symbols / shapes seem to be following a certain rule: “Every shape in the sequence has
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one more side than the previous shape”. So the next shape in the sequence should be a
heptagon (one which has seven sides)
4) Find the next term in the sequence:
Solution: In this question also, though no pattern is being repeated, all the symbols / shapes
seem to be following a certain rule: “The arrow inside the square is at 45degrees in the
clockwise direction compared to the arrow in the previous square” So the next shape in the
sequence should have an arrow pointing at 45 degrees clockwise from south west direction. So
the next square should have an arrow pointing in west direction
ALPHABETICAL SERIES:
These questions comprise of various letters which are arranged in alphabetical or non-alphabetical
letter and follow a certain rule. Some examples are given below:
1) Alphabets in an alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order where the difference between every
two consecutive terms follows a pattern. Some examples are given below:
a. A, C, E, G, I – first term is A and then the alphabets appear in an alphabetical order but
skip each alternate alphabet
b. S, R, Q, P – first term is S and alphabets are following reverse alphabetical order. The next
term will be O.
2) Alphabets arranged in a particular pattern with some letters missing in the pattern:
a. a b c a b c a b c _ b _: Alphabets are following the pattern a b c which is getting repeated
and hence the missing alphabets are a and c
b. a a b b a a b b _ a b _ : Here a a b b is getting repeated. Hence the missing letters are a and
b so that they complete the sequence a a b b
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS:
(Note for the parent: Some of the questions below may be very difficult, which are provided here for
practice at home, where the student can avail parent guidance. The idea is to help student challenge
their thinking – Generally as explained above, questions marked in red are tougher ones and could
require parent assistance)
Directions for Questions 1 to 23: Find the next term in the series:
1)
2)
3)
4)
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5)
6)
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7)
8)
9)
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10)
11)
12)
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13)
14)
15)
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16)
17)
18)
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19)
20)
21)
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22)
23)
24) Find the next term in the series: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, ?
A. 7 B. 10
C. 12 D. 13
25) Find the next term in the series: P, O, N, M, L,?
A. K B. Q
C. R D. J
26) Find the next term in the series: A, D, G, J, ?
A. K B. L
C. M D. J
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27) Find the missing term in the series: ABC, DEF, GHI, ____, MNO
A. JKL B. VKL
C. WIJ D. TKL
28) Find the missing term in the series: A1B2C3D4E5__G7H8
A. F6 B. F9
C. 6F D. E6
29) If EYE = 3, NOSE = 4, OR = 2, then EARS=?
A. 1 B. 2
C. 3 D. 4
30) If A = 2, B = 3, C = 4, then E = ?
A. 5 B. 6
C. 7 D. 8
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ANSWERS
1) D
2) B
3) C
4) B
5) D
6) A
7) A
8) D
9) B
10) A
11) C
12) C
13) A
14) A
15) D
16) A
17) C
18) B
19) A
20) C
21) B
22) D
23) A
24) B
25) A
26) C
27) A
28) A
29) D
30) B
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