Follow one thing on paper: what you see, where it goes after a turn or a flip, where a face lands when folded. Don't turn the whole shape in your head.
Spatial Reasoning: Compass Directions
Methods in this video
Tap a time to jump to where the video teaches that method.
- 1
Set the compass first: everything follows north
When to use it: The question asks for a direction and something has been turned: north is not up (an upside-down map, a north arrow pointing right or left, a north arrow that really points east), or a person turns (left, right, clockwise, anticlockwise, a quarter turn, a half turn, 90°, 180°) and you must say which way they now face. It also covers reading the directions along a path of straight and diagonal lines.
- Write the eight directions clockwise in a ring: N NE E SE S SW W NW, 45° a step.
- Put N wherever north points and the rest follow; on an upside-down map every direction swaps to its opposite and the order stays.
- A right turn goes clockwise round the ring and a left turn goes anticlockwise: a quarter turn is two steps, a half turn is four.
Practise exam-style questions with these methods
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