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Clerical match

Two numbers, codes or names, one above the other: exactly the same, or not? Longer strings and subtler differences — swaps, lookalikes — as you climb.

  • Attention and speed
  • Timed
  • Endless levels

How it plays

Two strings are shown, one above the other — an account number, a booking code, a name. Say whether they are exactly the same. Half the time they are; otherwise one small change sets them apart.

Levels lengthen the strings without end and make the change harder to see: first a character replaced by a clearly different one, then two neighbours swapped (4821 against 4281), then a lookalike — 3 for 8, O for 0, an n for an m — hidden in the middle of the string.

Which materials and which kinds of difference appear are settings. The working shows exactly where the difference was.

Keys

Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.

What it trains

This practises fast, careful comparison of strings — the checking of forms and records. It improves this task; it is not a claim about attention or intelligence in general.

Learn

How to get better at clerical match: the method, the techniques, what each new level asks of you, and the traps the wrong answers are made of.

Your approach to each question

  1. Compare in pieces, never the whole string at once. From 8 characters, numbers and codes are shown in groups of four; names come word by word. Compare the first piece with the first, then the second with the second.
  2. Inside each piece, say both versions in your head: “four-eight-two-one” against “four-two-eight-one”. The sound shows a swap that a glance at the shapes passes over.
  3. Give the middle of the string your slowest look. From level 2 every change is placed in its middle half, where the eye skims.
  4. Answer Different as soon as you find one mismatch. Answer Same only after every piece has been checked.

Techniques and tricks

  • Group in fours

    Hold one group of four at a time, compare it, and move on. Four digits are easy to say and hold; twelve are not.

    e.g. 4821 7390 against 4821 7930: the first groups match, the second differ.

  • Read pairs to catch swaps

    A swap keeps every character and changes only the order, so check the order in pairs.

    e.g. 4821 against 4281: 48 · 21 against 42 · 81 — the first pair already differs.

  • Know this game’s lookalikes

    Numbers swap 3 and 8, 1 and 7, 5 and 6, 6 and 8, 0 and 8, 6 and 9. Codes swap 0 and O, 1 and I, 5 and S, 8 and B, 2 and Z, O and Q, E and F, P and R, C and G, M and N. When you meet one of these, check its telling stroke.

    e.g. 3 is an 8 open on the left; F is an E with no bottom bar; Q is an O with a tail.

  • Spell names in the middle

    In names only a small letter changes — m and n, a and o, e and c, i and l, h and b, u and v, r and n — and your eye reads the name it expects. Spell the middle of each word.

    e.g. Sharma against Sharna, Kumar against Kunar.

  • Keep your place with a fingertip

    Rest a fingertip under the piece you are comparing on the top line, and move it one piece at a time. Your eye can then jump to the bottom line and back without losing where it was.

As the levels climb

  • The strings grow by one character every level or two, without end, starting from “Length at level 0” (5 by default). From 8 characters, numbers and codes split into groups of four.
  • Level 2 brings swaps of two neighbours (4821 against 4281) and moves every change into the middle half. Start reading pairs here.
  • Level 5 brings lookalikes: 3 for 8, O for 0, n for m. From then on any of the three kinds can come, so check order and strokes on every piece.
  • The clock tightens at levels 3, 6, 8 and 10 to 64% of its start, then holds while the strings keep growing. The time grows with each character, so pace by pieces, not by the whole string.

Traps to avoid

  • The swap passed as Same: 4281 for 4821 holds the same four digits, so a glance at what is there says Same. Read the order, pair by pair.
  • The lookalike in the middle: 6 for 9, B for 8, O for 0. These are the changes made to be missed; slow down on any character that has a twin.
  • Checking the ends and calling Same. From level 2 the ends always match — the change, when there is one, is in the middle half.
  • Calling Different on a hunch. Exactly half the pairs match, so Different needs a mismatch you can point to.

How to practise

  • In “Differences to include”, tick only “Two neighbours swapped” or only “One character replaced by a lookalike” to drill the kind you miss most.
  • In “Strings to compare”, practise “Codes (letters and digits)” on its own if it costs you: it has the most lookalike pairs.
  • Raise “Length at level 0” (4 to 12) to practise long strings before the ladder brings them.
  • After a miss, read where the working says the difference was — “In the second group: 7390 against 7930” — and notice whether you skimmed that position.

Levels

Each question has a clock that comes from the work it asks for. There is no last level: at least one dial turns without end. Your level is judged on your last ten answers, every ten: 90% moves you up, below 80% moves you down, which holds most people near four in five right.

All of it is in the settings beside Start — how many answers a judgement looks at and how often it recalibrates, the thresholds, the time, which questions, how many options, and whether you see each verdict at once or review them together at the judgement. You can also jump to any level.

More attention and speed

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