Space Orientation, Mirror & Water Images Quiz: Reasoning Practice

Spoilers! These are the Starter quiz’s answers. Easy, Medium, Hard and Mixed rounds show their own answers when you finish.

1. A clock shows 3:40. What time does its mirror image (mirror held vertically beside it) show?

   • 9:20
   • 8:20
   • 8:40
   • 9:40

   Answer: 8:20. For a vertical mirror, the image time = 11:60 − actual time. 11:60 − 3:40 = 8:20.

2. Which of these capital letters looks exactly the same in its water image (reflected top to bottom)?

   • A
   • M
   • T
   • C

   Answer: C. C is symmetric about a horizontal line, so its water image is unchanged. A, M and T are symmetric only about a vertical line, so they appear upside down.

3. Which word reads exactly the same in a vertical mirror?

   • TOOT
   • NOON
   • BOOB
   • DEED

   Answer: TOOT. A word stays the same in a vertical mirror only if it is a palindrome made of letters that are symmetric left to right. T and O qualify; N, B, D and E do not.

4. A clock's mirror image shows 4:50. What is the actual time?

   • 7:50
   • 8:10
   • 7:10
   • 6:10

   Answer: 7:10. The 11:60 rule works both ways: 11:60 − 4:50 = 7:10.

5. Two views of the same die (faces 1 to 6) each show three faces meeting at a corner. The first view shows 1, 2 and 3; the second shows 1, 4 and 5. Which number is opposite 1?

   • 4
   • 2
   • 3
   • 6

   Answer: 6. 1 is adjacent to 2, 3, 4 and 5. A face has only four neighbours and one opposite face, so 6 is opposite 1.

6. On a standard die, opposite faces add up to 7. If 4 is on top and 2 is at the front, which number is at the bottom?

   • 5
   • 3
   • 1
   • 6

   Answer: 3. The bottom is opposite the top: 7 − 4 = 3. The front face does not change that.

7. A cube painted red on all faces is cut into 27 equal smaller cubes. How many small cubes have exactly two faces painted?

   • 12
   • 8
   • 6
   • 1

   Answer: 12. Two-face cubes lie along the edges, excluding corners: 12 edges × (3 − 2) = 12.

8. A cube painted on all faces is cut into 64 equal smaller cubes. How many small cubes have no face painted?

   • 24
   • 16
   • 8
   • 27

   Answer: 8. Unpainted cubes form the inner core: (4 − 2)³ = 8.

9. A clock lies face up on a table with 12 pointing North. It is turned anticlockwise until 12 points West. In which direction does 3 now point?

   • North
   • South
   • East
   • West

   Answer: North. At the start 3 points East. A quarter turn anticlockwise moves North to West and East to North.

10. Which capital letter CHANGES when seen in a vertical (left–right) mirror?

    • A
    • H
    • S
    • M

    Answer: S. A, H and M are symmetric about a vertical line, so their mirror images are identical. S is not, so its mirror image is reversed.