MockStar

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.

  1. 1Compass Directions5:50
  2. 2Position and Routes6:59
  3. Now playing: 3Top, Front and Side Views5:45
  4. 4Working Between Views5:11
  5. 5Rotation4:25
  6. 6Reflection3:41
  7. 7Rotational Symmetry4:27
  8. 8Nets and Folding10:43

Spatial Reasoning: Top, Front and Side Views

Methods in this video

Tap a time to jump to where the video teaches that method.

  1. 1

    Don't turn it: walk round it

    When to use it: The question shows a solid or a map from above, and asks what you see from one side, who sees this view, which arrow gives this view, or what shadow a light makes from different directions.

    • Don't turn the object. Stand on the side the question names and see what is nearest to you.
    • For blocks, squash the solid into a grid from above, write the heights in, then put an eye on that side.
    • Keep only the tallest in each column. A short one in front of a tall one adds one line.
    • Left and right are the left and right hands of the person standing there; from the opposite side they swap.
    • A prism or cylinder shows its end from the end, and a rectangle from the side.

Practise exam-style questions with these methods

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