Which stage directly precedes Formal Operations in Piaget's theory?

• A. Sensorimotor
• B. Pre-operational
• C. Concrete Operations
• D. Formal Operations

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is the sequence of Piaget’s cognitive-development stages and what each stage enables. The stage that comes right before formal, abstract thinking is Concrete Operations. At this stage, children start thinking logically about concrete objects and events. They understand concepts like conservation, reversibility, classification, and seriation, and they can solve problems that involve real materials or familiar situations. However, their reasoning is still tied to concrete details and they don’t yet handle abstract or hypothetical ideas well. That leap into abstract, hypothetical, and systematic reasoning marks the Formal Operations stage that follows. So, Concrete Operations is the direct predecessor to Formal Operations.