SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 3 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 2 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Study the given table and answer the question that follows. The following table shows the population of a city at the end of the years mentioned. Year → Population 2012 — 64.5 2013 — 68.4 2014 — 72.6 2015 — 83.8 2016 — 100.6 2017 — 112.8 2018 — 128.4 2019 — 134.6 2020 — 156.8 2021 — 176.4 Which of the following years has the highest rate of increase compared to the previous year?

(a)2016
(b)2015
(c)2018
(d)2019

Answer

Why

Correct — A. "Rate of increase" is the rise measured against the previous year's population, not the size of the rise.

2015: (83.8 − 72.6) ⁄ 72.6 = 11.2 ⁄ 72.6 = 15.43%
2016: (100.6 − 83.8) ⁄ 83.8 = 16.8 ⁄ 83.8 = 20.05%
2018: (128.4 − 112.8) ⁄ 112.8 = 15.6 ⁄ 112.8 = 13.83%
2019: (134.6 − 128.4) ⁄ 128.4 = 6.2 ⁄ 128.4 = 4.83%

The highest of the four is 2016 → option (a)

Why the others are wrong

(b)
2015 — 2015 does jump by 11.2, but on a base of 72.6 that is only 15.43%, below 2016's 20.05%. A rise is only as big as the number it is divided by.
(c)
2018 — 2018 adds 15.6, nearly as much as 2016's 16.8 — but the base has grown to 112.8 by then, so the rate falls to 13.83%.
(d)
2019 — 2019 adds just 6.2 on a base of 128.4, giving 4.83% — the lowest rate anywhere in this table. It is offered to catch anyone scanning the population column rather than the change.

Concept

Rate of increase for a year is (this year − previous year) ⁄ previous year × 100. The base is last year's figure, and it changes every row.

That is why absolute rises mislead. As the population grows, the same increment buys a smaller percentage, so the biggest jump and the fastest growth are usually different years.

In this table 2020 has the largest rise of all — 22.2 — yet its rate is 16.49%, still under 2016's 20.05%.

Only four years are offered, so you need four divisions, not nine. Compute the rates only for the years the options name.

Key facts

Rate of increase = (this year − previous year) ⁄ previous year × 100.
2016 grows 20.05%, the highest single-year rate in this table.
2019 grows 4.83%, the lowest rate in this table.
2020 has the largest absolute rise (22.2) but a rate of only 16.49%.

Study next

Year-on-year growth rate versus absolute increase in tabular data interpretationComparing percentage changes computed on different basesTotal growth across a span of years from a population table

Common traps

Choosing the year with the biggest jump in population rather than the biggest jump relative to its base
Dividing by the current year's population instead of the previous year's
Comparing 2016 and 2020 by eye because 22.2 looks larger than 16.8

SSC gives a ten-row table and then narrows it to four candidate years, so the work is deliberately small and the reading is the test. The same shift applies the same select-the-right-rows discipline to an income table at Quant Q.1.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.