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Documentation · 1936

Raven's Progressive Matrices: Visual matrix-completion test

John Raven's 1936 doctoral thesis at the University of London introduced the visual matrix-completion format that became the most-used non-verbal intelligence test in the world. The Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM, 1938) and Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM, 1947) remain in active commercial use today through Pearson Assessment. This page documents the test's history; the items themselves are copyrighted.

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About the Raven's Progressive Matrices

John C. Raven was a young British psychologist working with Lionel Penrose on hereditary mental defect studies in the early 1930s. The two needed a non-verbal cognitive measure that could be administered through a translator if necessary - the Stanford-Binet was too verbal, and the existing performance tests (Pintner-Paterson, Kohs) required physical materials that were hard to transport to fieldwork sites. Raven set out to build a non-verbal test that used only printed pages.

Raven's solution was a series of 3x3 grids of abstract visual patterns. Each grid had one cell missing; the subject had to identify the underlying rule and select the missing piece from 6-8 options. The format was elegant: completely non-verbal, easy to administer, and capable of measuring abstract reasoning ability without relying on cultural knowledge. Raven published the Standard Progressive Matrices in 1938.

The Progressive Matrices became the most-administered non-verbal intelligence test in the world. They have been used in cross-cultural research, clinical practice, military classification (UK, France, many others), and educational assessment for nearly a century. The 1947 Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) extended the difficulty range to discriminate at the high end. The 1947 Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) adapted the format for children under 10 and for clinical populations.

Despite the test's massive influence, the actual Raven items remain under Pearson copyright. The matrix format itself - 3x3 grids with one missing cell - is not patentable, and many similar tests exist (Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test 1949 also uses matrices). But Raven's specific items are not freely available.

Copyright note: Raven's Progressive Matrices items are copyrighted by Pearson Assessment and cannot be reproduced. This page is historical documentation. For matrix-style puzzles in the public domain, see Thurstone PMA (1938) which uses related but distinct items.

The 3 subtests

#1
Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM, 1938) 60 items in five sets of 12, increasing in difficulty. The most-used non-verbal IQ test in the world.
Copyrighted
#2
Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM, 1947) 36 items adapted for children under 10 and clinical populations.
Copyrighted
#3
Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM, 1947) 36-48 items at very high difficulty for discriminating at the high end of cognitive ability.
Copyrighted

Sample Items (Illustrative)

Items are presented as visual puzzles where test-takers must select the correct piece that completes a pattern or sequence. Scoring is based on the number of correct responses, with increasing difficulty across items.

Sample 1 · Standard Progressive Matrices
Select the piece that completes the pattern: [A grid of 3x3 with the last piece missing. Each row has a pattern of shapes that change in a consistent way from left to right.]
Example response: Option C: A triangle pointing upwards, as it follows the pattern of alternating triangle orientations.
Sample 2 · Coloured Progressive Matrices
Choose the piece that fits the sequence: [A sequence of colored shapes on a strip, with the last shape missing. The colors alternate in a clear sequence.]
Example response: Option B: A red square, as the sequence alternates between blue and red squares.
Sample 3 · Advanced Progressive Matrices
Identify the piece that completes the complex pattern: [A 3x3 grid with intricate geometric designs, where the last piece is missing. The designs follow a logical progression.]
Example response: Option D: A design with intersecting lines forming a star, as it completes the progression of increasing line intersections.

These are illustrative samples, not actual items from the protected test.

Source

All test materials and historical content on this page are transcribed from:

John C. Raven (1936). Raven's Progressive Matrices.

Raven's Progressive Matrices and all derivatives remain under active copyright (Pearson Assessment, formerly Harcourt). We cannot provide the actual items. This page documents the test's history and significance.

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This page is part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content, transcription notes, and curation are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Public-domain primary sources retain their public-domain status. BibTeX · RIS · CSL JSON

Historical test materials are obsolete and are not valid modern IQ assessments. This page is preserved for educational, research, and historiographic purposes.

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