The following EXAMPLES are randomly made up...

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The mirror lies between M

and N

BEAST is to GTINM

Look at the 1st letter of word and code, B and G both on the same side [ left of the
mirror NM ] therefore NOT mirror codes

SLAVE is to PUNFT

S and P on the same side of the alphabet, NOT mirror code

GHOST is to LDIWM

G and L on the same side, NOT Mirror code

PESTS is to KYOCA

P and K opposite sides, quich check are they mirrors, yes MUST check another pair,
look for letters near the end or beginning of alphabet. A from the code is paired with
S , so NOT a mirror code.

WEAN is to DVZM

W and D are mirrors, second check A and Z are mirrors, at last we have a mirror, go
for it!

Only work out the first and last letters as this will normally be enough to find the
answer on a multiple choice answer sheet.

The majority of codes are NOT mirrors, a quick 1/2 second glance will eliminate
accordingly.

Once it has been established that the code is a mirror version, I teach my children
that E is the 5th letter from the left and V is the 5th from the opposite end. They
can then choose where to start looking for a mirror. If its F, they know thats the 6th
so count 5,6 form the other end making U. If its P then thats 2 away from the mirror,
so 2 away from the mirror on the other side would be K

The code for POWER is KLDVI.

Work out the code for FROST

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

M and N are the Mirror.

P is 2 away from the mirror, its image is K

O is 1 away from the mirror, its image is L
W is the 4th letter coming in from the right, its mirror will be 4 coming in from the
left ie. D

etc etc

FROST

F comes in 6 from the left, 6 from the right = U

R comes in 9 from the right, 9 from the left = I
O is 1 away from the mirror, its image = L
S is 8 from the right, 8 from the left = H
T comes in 7 from the right, 7 from the left = G

It depends on how close to the mirror whether your child wants to come in from the
left or right, or wants to see how many letters it is away from the mirror [preference
of the child.]

#11 Plus Verbal Reasoning

Type C - Alphabet Codes / Code Words

With this type of question you are required to work out the code that has been used
and to encode or decode a word.
You will be given a word and the coded version of this word. From this information
you will need to work out the relationships between the letters of the word and the
letters of the code. You will then either be asked to encode another word using the
same method or decode a coded word to find the original.

You are normally given an Alphabet Line to assist with these type of questions,

but ensure that your child can write one from memory.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Look at this example:

The code for PLUM is QMVN. What is the code for DATE?

The strategy that I use to answer this type of question is to write the code directly
below the word leaving enough space in between to add the rule. In this case,

vr

By using the alphabet, you can see that the 1st letter of the word, P, becomes Q if you
count on one letter, +1. The 2nd letter of the word, L, becomes M if you count on one
letter, +1 and so on.

The rule for encoding a word is +1,+1,+1,+1

(you need to check each letter position)

We now know the coding rules - +1,+1,+1,+1 for each letter position.

vr
vr

Write out the word - D A T E with the rules directly below each letter.

It is now simply a case of encoding each letter in turn using the rule . D +1 is E, A +1
is B etc

Write the code letters directly below and you will have the code E B U F.

The code for DATE is EBUF.

What does QFBS mean?

vr

vr
Write out the code - Q F B S

Decoding is the opposite of encoding so to get the word from the code we need to
reverse the rules, so +1 becomes -1. Write the rules directly above the code.

Now decode each letter in turn using the rules - working upwards this time. Q -1 is
P, F -1 is E etc

Write the word letters directly above the code letters and you will have the word P E
A R.

I find it easier to always have the word above the code and to work down to encode
and up to decode. Care must be taken to remember to reverse the direction of the
rules, especially as the rules can be a mixture of - and +. This is why writing it down
in the same format is important.

Ensure that when working out the rules you check each position - the rules can
follow a sequence in the same way that VR Type questions do. Some examples of
coding rules are:

Constant ... +1+1+1+1, +2+2+2+2, +3+3+3+3 etc

Increasing or decreasing ... +1+2+3+4+5, -5-4-3-2-1

Changing sign ... +1-1+1-1, +3-3+3-3 etc

Mixture of increasing/decreasing and changing sign ... +1-2+3-4

__________________________________________________

Another form of VR Type C is the Mirror Image.

In these questions, the alphabet is mirrored.

vr

Any letter is encoded (or decoded) into its corresponding mirror letter.

A becomes Z, B becomes Y, G becomes T and so on.

Another way to look at this is to divide the alphabet in two, between M and N and to
count the same distance from the middle or ends.

ABCDEFGHIJKLM|NOPQRSTUVWXYZ

L is -2 from the centre so it will code into O (+2 from the centre). D is 4 in from the
left so it will code into W (4 in from the right)

It doesn't matter which method you use - I find the 1st method much quicker (you
simply write the alphabet backwards underneath the normal alphabet)

This form of Type C can be hard to identify. If you are struggling to find a code
using the normal method it is probably because it is a mirror image type! I get my
students to remember the first 3 or 4 letter combinations, A-Z, B-Y, C-X and D-W and
look for these combinations.