Badge Flexibility of Closure on the NCJOSI-2
Flexibility of closure is the ability to spot a known shape or pattern that is hidden inside other, distracting material. It's the skill behind picking out a familiar face in a crowd or a specific object in a cluttered room.
This page explains what these questions ask of you, gives you one to try, and walks through a method for finding the hidden figure.
What the questions ask you to do
Flexibility of closure questions hide a simple shape inside a busier drawing. You may be shown the simple shape and asked which of several drawings contains it, or shown one busy drawing and asked which of several simple shapes is hidden inside it.
Read the instructions on your version carefully: the hidden shape's proportions never change, but it may appear at a different size or angle unless the question says otherwise — our practice question below requires the same size and direction, and its wrong answers show you the classic traps: a mirror image, a rotated version, and a version with one line a different length.
Try a practice question
This question is original practice content written by Badge & Hose. Every name, place and rule in it is fictional.
Which drawing contains the simple figure, at the same size and facing the same way?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: The third drawing
The simple figure is a U shape whose left side is twice as tall as its right side. In the third drawing, it sits near the middle of the frame: a left side two squares tall, a bottom two squares wide, and a right side one square tall. The other lines touch it but don't change it.
The first drawing contains a mirror image, with the taller side on the right. The second contains the shape turned on its side. The fourth contains a U whose two sides are both short.
A method for hidden-figure questions
Study the simple figure first
Note its size, the number of lines, and anything that makes it lopsided, like one side being longer. That feature is usually what the wrong answers get wrong.
Pick one distinctive corner or line
Instead of searching for the whole figure at once, look for its most unusual part in each drawing, then check whether the rest of the shape attaches correctly.
Check size and direction
Once you find a match, compare it to the original. Same length of every line? Facing the same way? A mirror image or a turned version doesn't count.
Ignore the extra lines
Lines that cross or touch the hidden shape are there to distract you. What matters is whether every line of the simple figure is present.
Common mistakes
Accepting a mirror image. A flipped version looks almost the same at a glance. Check which side is longer or which way the opening faces.
Accepting a turned version. Unless the question says otherwise, the hidden figure must face the same direction.
Missing a length difference. A version with one line shorter or longer is a common wrong answer. Compare the line lengths directly.
Staring at the whole drawing. Searching piece by piece is faster than waiting for the shape to jump out.
Practice more flexibility of closure questions
In Badge & Hose study mode you can focus on one ability at a time and see an explanation after every answer. Flexibility of Closure practice is part of Full Prep, which covers all ten abilities. The free tier includes reading comprehension, writing, spatial orientation and visualization.