Visual N-Back
IntellectualShapes in colours go past one at a time. On every one, say whether it is the same shape AND the same colour as the one a few places back — and the lag you are matching against changes from block to block.
Overview
Two things make this harder than a digit stream. The first is that a symbol carries two features and the match needs both, so the trap is the near-miss: a shape you have just seen comes round again in a different colour, feels familiar, and is not a match. Familiarity is exactly the wrong signal — you have to hold shape and colour together and check both, every time. The second is that the lag does not stay still: a block is 2-back, the next is 4-back, and the count in your head has to be rebuilt each time the rule is announced. The failure that costs marks is therefore two kinds at once — answering to familiarity instead of to the pair, and carrying the old block's lag a few items into the new one. The method that holds is to give each symbol a two-part tag as it lands (its shape and its colour), keep exactly N of those tags live, and compare the new one against the oldest you are holding; when the block changes, drop the whole buffer and start the new count clean rather than trying to convert it. Start on the single fixed-lag series until the shape-and-colour check is automatic, then take the blocks where the rule moves.
Assessments
Could show up in DLR-based selections.
- A shape-and-colour n-back with the lag changing block to block. The same two-back updating as the M2-back forms, on symbols that carry two features at once, with the rule announced before each block.
Airline mappings are based on public information and may change.
Example: the shape-and-colour 2-back rule
Symbols arrive one at a time, each a shape drawn in a colour. For each one, compare it with the symbol two places back. It matches only if the shape and the colour are the same — one without the other is a No. There is no third option.
How the match works
The row below lays the stream out flat so you can see the pair being compared. In the run you only ever see one symbol at a time.
Nothing sits 2 back yet, so the answer is No — and it still has to be given.
Game Phases
Shape And Colour
A match is the same shape and the same colour. One without the other is a No — a familiar shape in a new colour is the trap.
Match The Lag
Is this the symbol from N places back? The lag is announced before the block and holds until it ends.
The Rule Moves
Each block announces a new N. Drop the old count clean when it changes — carrying it costs the first few items.
Answer Every One
Yes or No, on all of them. Saying nothing is not a way of saying no — it is an item lost.
More Practice
Memory
10 exercisesENAC M2-back numérique
Digits come up one at a time, a new one every 3 seconds. From the third one on, you say for each digit whether it's the same as the one 2 before it. The exam format is 62 digits, 60 of them with a question.
ENAC M2-back couleurs
Coloured squares come up one at a time. From the third on, say whether each one is the same colour as the one two before it. The exam format is 42 colours, 40 answers, in 2:06.
ENAC Memory N-Back
Letters come up one at a time, and for each one you say whether it’s the same letter as the one three, four or five before it. Capitals and small letters count as the same. The exam format is two tests back to back: a 3-back then a 4-back for ENAC EPL, a 4-back then a 5-back for Air France Cadets. It hasn’t been set since 2020.
Associative Memory
Memorise a set of symbol–number pairs, then after a short delay recall which number went with each symbol.
Acoustic Memory Test
Hear a spoken sequence once, hold it through a filled delay, and type it back — exactly in order.
Parameter Memory Test
Aviation parameters flash up on a dark display, then vanish. Reproduce the data row by row, from memory, before the clock runs out.
Grid Challenge
A dot memory test in the format of gridChallenge, Aon's official name for its working memory module: dots flash one by one on a scattered field, quick yes or no puzzles interrupt between flashes, then you click the dots back in order.
ENAC Memory Calculation
You get a calculation, then a letter, then another calculation and another letter, and so on. At the end of the board, you type the letters back in the order they came. The exam format is 20 boards, from 3 letters up to 9, with 5 seconds a calculation and 1 second a letter.
ENAC Running Comparison
A stream of simple calculations, one at a time. For each one, tick whether its result is identical to or different from the one it's compared with: the result just before, the one two back, or a fixed value X, depending on the block. The exam format is 100 answers in four blocks of 25, about 12 minutes.
ENAC Reversed Series
Digits come up one at a time in the same spot, a second each. When they’ve gone, you type them back in reverse, the last one first. The sequences grow from 4 to 9 digits. The exam format is 12 sequences, about 3:30.