IMC Cognitive Assessment: both item types, interactive
The 2026 IMC trader funnel opens with an SHL-style cognitive screen built from exactly two item types: tap-to-fill figure sequences (paint the next grid state in solid green or purple dots) and drag-the-line node chains (extend a green line through labelled circles in rule order). This is a screen-for-screen replica of both — including the reported answer-key chains — with a timed 12-item run and an untimed practice mode that explains every rule. Free, no signup.
What the real screen looks like
Every question sits on a plain white card with a small Question label and one instruction line. The tap-to-fill items show three or four small panels of the same figure across the top — a hexagram, a 4×4 pinwheel grid, a triangular star, nested squares, a quartered circle, or a pentagram — with cells filled in solid green or purple polka-dot. Below sits a large empty copy: you tap cells to cycle them empty → green → dotted → empty until the big figure shows the sequence's next state, then hit the dark-blue Next pill. A small blue reset square sits top-left.
The drag-the-line items scatter six to nine circles labelled with short codes — LNF, 3L, ^.a, T*P — and pre-connect the first few with a solid green line. You drag from the last green node toward the code that continues the progression; while dragging you see a dashed green line with an arrowhead, and a blue undo square sits top-right. The rule is always an alphanumeric progression: letters advancing by a fixed stride, digits counting up or down, or a symbol rotating through the positions.
How this replica grades you
- Tap-to-fill items are graded on an exact cell-state match — every cell must have the right fill (empty, green, or dotted), exactly like the real scoring.
- Drag-the-line items are graded on the full chain: every node visited, in exactly the rule's order. Undo steps you back one link at a time.
- Timed mode is the real thing: 12 items, 60 seconds each, feedback only at the end. Practice mode is untimed and reveals the rule after every item.
- Several node chains are seeded 1:1 from reported IMC answer keys; the rest are generated from the same rule families, so the mix reshuffles every run.
How to beat it
- Name the rule family first. Rotation, stepping, alternation — on figure items, check whether the green and dotted layers move together or independently before touching a cell.
- On node chains, diff two adjacent codes. The stride between the first two connected nodes almost always generalises; check it once against the third node, then run the chain without re-deriving.
- Watch for interleaved families. Chains like
3L → K5 → 4M → L6alternate between two progressions — the single most-missed pattern in candidate reports. - Use reset early, not late. On tap-to-fill items a mis-painted cell costs the whole item; if the picture looks off, reset and repaint rather than hunting the one wrong cell.
The cognitive screen is only the gate — the math screens behind it carry the weight. Keep those warm:
Full IMC funnel → · IMC online assessment guide · IMC interview questions · Optiver Number Logic (same pattern muscle)
How we keep this accurate
Rebuilt from 2026 candidate-reported IMC assessments: the two instruction lines, the figure families, the green/purple-dot fills, the blue reset and undo squares, and the reported answer-key chains are reproduced from screenshots of the real screens. Formats rotate between cycles and QuantVault is not affiliated with IMC. Sat it recently and something's off? [email protected].