Select the figure that will replace the question mark (?) in the following figure series.

Correct — B. Each box holds the same seven symbols in seven cells, so the item is entirely about where each one moves.

Rule: two shuffles alternate. The rearrangement that turns box 1 into box 2 returns from box 3 to box 4, so the one that turns box 2 into box 3 is the one that produces box 5.

That shuffle sends top-left to middle-left, middle-left to top-left, top-right to the centre, the centre to bottom-left, bottom-left to top-right, middle-right to bottom-right and bottom-right to middle-right.

Box 4 reads 6 and 8 across the top, 2, D and A across the middle, and the circle and the square along the bottom.

Applying the shuffle puts 2 top-left, the circle top-right, 6 middle-left, 8 in the centre, the square middle-right, D bottom-left and A bottom-right — option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Option (a) has 2, 6 and D in the right cells but drops the circle into the centre. The centre must take whatever stood at box 4's top-right, which is 8.
• (c)
  Option (c) opens with the square in the top-left, where the shuffle sends box 4's middle-left symbol, 2. Its middle row reads A 8 2 where the pattern requires 6, 8, square.
• (d)
  Option (d) leaves D in the centre. D alternates between the bottom-left cell and the centre across the four given boxes, so in box 5 it has to be back at bottom-left.

Every box carries the same seven symbols — a circle, a square, D, A, 6, 8 and 2 — in seven of the nine cells, with the top-centre and bottom-centre cells always empty. Nothing enters and nothing leaves, so the whole item is a question about position.

The safest entry point is a symbol with a short cycle. D alternates between the bottom-left cell and the centre, which one glance across the four boxes shows, and that alone eliminates an option.

Then ask whether the box-to-box rearrangement repeats. Here it does, on a two-step cycle, so the shuffle box 5 needs is the one already displayed from box 2 to box 3.

Key facts

• The seven symbols appear exactly once in every box, so any valid answer repeats all seven.
• D occupies the bottom-left cell in boxes 1 and 3 and the centre in boxes 2 and 4.
• The rearrangement from box 1 to box 2 is the same as the one from box 3 to box 4, which is what makes box 5 predictable.

Common traps

• Looking for a rotation or a reflection of the whole box when the movement is a permutation.
• Judging by the top-left cell alone, which options (a), (b) and (d) all fill with 2.
• Assuming D stays in the centre because that is where box 4 leaves it.

No directly related past PYQ was found.