SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 3 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 6 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.

If 45 ÷ 3 + 4 × A – 48 ÷ 24 + 4 = 1, then the value of A is:

(a)2
(b)4
(c)−4
(d)−2

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Clear every ÷ and × first, then work the + and − from left to right.

45 ÷ 3 = 15
48 ÷ 24 = 2
4 × A stays as 4A

The line becomes 15 + 4A − 2 + 4 = 1
Constants: 15 − 2 + 4 = 17

4A + 17 = 1
4A = −16, so A = −4 → option (c)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
2 — Put A = 2 back into the line and it gives 4(2) + 17 = 25, not 1. Any positive A fails, because the constants alone already total 17.
(b)
4 — A = 4 gives 4(4) + 17 = 33. The sign check kills it instantly: 4A has to be −16, so A must be negative.
(d)
−2 — −2 comes from carrying the minus across the last term — reading the constants as 15 − 2 − 4 = 9, so that 4A = −8. The paper's line ends + 4, making the constants 17.

Concept

BODMAS fixes the order: brackets, orders, then division and multiplication, then addition and subtraction.

Division and multiplication rank equally and are done left to right, as do addition and subtraction. That is what lets you collapse 45 ÷ 3, 48 ÷ 24 and 4 × A independently before touching a single + sign.

Once the line reads 4A + 17 = 1, it is ordinary one-step algebra. The only real work was refusing to simplify 4 + 4 or 3 + 4 out of order.

A sign check settles half of this question's options before any arithmetic: 4A must equal −16, so A is negative, and two of the four options are positive.

Key facts

BODMAS settles ÷ and × before + and −, working left to right within each rank.
45 ÷ 3 = 15 and 48 ÷ 24 = 2, so the constants collapse to 15 − 2 + 4 = 17.
The equation reduces to 4A + 17 = 1, giving 4A = −16 and A = −4.
Two of the four options are positive and both fail the sign check.

Study next

BODMAS lines containing an unknown to be solved forSimplification chains where ÷ appears more than once and left-to-right order mattersUsing a sign check to eliminate options before computing

Common traps

Adding 45 ÷ 3 to 4 first and then multiplying the sum by A
Treating the closing '+ 4' as part of the subtracted 48 ÷ 24 term
Solving 4A = 16 and answering +4 after losing the minus sign

SSC hides one letter inside an otherwise routine simplification, so the item is really about order of operations and sign handling rather than algebra.

Here the four options are laid out as two signed pairs, 2 and 4 against −2 and −4, which is what makes the sign check worth doing first.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.