"Select the one figure from the options which will take the next place in the…

Concept: In a figure-series question where every panel shows a fixed marker (here, a pair of short strokes) attached to a circle, the panels are related by one rigid rotation - the marker turns through the same fixed angle, in the same direction, from each panel to the next. To find the missing panel, identify that constant angle and direction, then turn one more step from the last given panel.

Application: Track the direction the pair of strokes points to in each panel.

1. Panel 1: the strokes point upward, at the top of the circle.

2. Panel 2: the strokes have swung about 45 degrees clockwise, toward the upper-right.

3. Panel 3: another 45-degree clockwise turn brings them to the right of the circle.

4. Panel 4: a further 45-degree clockwise turn brings them to the lower-right.

5. Panel 5: one more 45-degree clockwise turn brings them to the bottom of the circle.

6. Continuing the same 45-degree clockwise turn from Panel 5 carries the strokes past the bottom into the bottom-left zone of the circle.

Cross-check: The five given panels show a perfectly uniform 45-degree clockwise step (top to 45 degrees to right to 135 degrees to bottom), so the sixth step must land at 225 degrees - the arc between "directly below" and "directly left" of the circle. This matches the figure whose strokes sit below, diagonally below-left, and to the left of the circle, and rules out the figures whose strokes run straight through the circle, sit symmetrically on both the left and right with one below, or include a stroke pointing back up to the top.