Select the option figure in which the given figure (X) is embedded (rotation is NOT allowed).

Correct — B. Rotation is barred, so every line of figure (X) has to reappear at the same angle and the same length.

Figure (X) is a right-pointing arrowhead whose apex sits on a horizontal line. That horizontal runs a short way left of the apex and a longer way right, ending in a small vertical tick.

From the arrowhead's upper tip a short horizontal runs right and then turns up. From the lower tip a short horizontal runs right and then turns down.

Option (b) holds all of it. The two slanting sides meet at an apex on the inner vertical line, the horizontal through that apex ends in the same right-hand tick, and the two short horizontals run into that vertical, which continues up above and down below.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Option (a) is built from rectangles with a downward-pointing V at the top and a vertical stem below. Nothing in it points right, so (X)'s arrowhead has nowhere to sit.
• (c)
  Option (c) carries the same tick-ended horizontal, but both of its arrowheads point left. Turning (X) round would fix that, and the stem forbids rotation.
• (d)
  Option (d) is a triangle over a diamond, and its horizontal carries a tick at both ends. (X) has a tick at one end only, so the two drawings do not correspond.

An embedded-figure item asks whether the target's lines can be found inside a busier drawing without moving them. The option usually hides (X) by adding lines that continue (X)'s own strokes, so the eye reads a different shape.

Work outwards from the rarest feature. Here that is the tick — a short vertical crossing the end of a horizontal — and only once you have located it is it worth checking the arrowhead and the two turned stubs.

When the stem bars rotation, orientation settles most options on its own, and it is the cheapest test to run first.

Key facts

• Figure (X) is a right-pointing arrowhead on a horizontal line that ends in a short vertical tick.
• Option (b) adds an outer rectangle and a full-height vertical that disguise (X) without altering any of its lines.
• The stem bars rotation, so option (c)'s left-pointing arrowheads cannot count as a match.

Common traps

• Accepting an option because it contains a triangle, without checking which way the triangle points.
• Ignoring the rotation bar and mentally turning (X) to make option (c) fit.
• Matching the outline of (X) instead of each of its separate line segments.

No directly related past PYQ was found.