SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 9 of 95

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 10 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.

The interest accrued on a sum of ₹16,000 lent at a simple interest rate of 14% p.a. for the time in those many years, which gives a simple interest of three-fifths of a certain sum at 10% p.a., is:

(a)₹13,440
(b)₹15,360
(c)₹14,280
(d)₹12,970

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The stem hides two sums. Find the time from the 10% clause, then use it on the ₹16,000.

Part 1, the time. A sum earns simple interest equal to three-fifths of itself at 10% p.a.:
P × 10 × T ⁄ 100 = (3⁄5) × P
The principal cancels: T ⁄ 10 = 3 ⁄ 5, so T = 6 years.

Part 2, the interest asked for — ₹16,000 at 14% p.a. for those 6 years:
SI = 16,000 × 14 × 6 ⁄ 100
= 2,240 × 6 = ₹13,440 → option (a)

Why the others are wrong

(b)
₹15,360 — ₹15,360 is 16,000 × 16 × 6 ⁄ 100 — the right 6 years at 16%, a rate the stem never gives. The 14% belongs to the sum being asked about.
(c)
₹14,280 — ₹14,280 needs either 6.375 years at 14% or 14.875% for 6 years. Neither number appears in the stem; it is close enough to the key to catch a slipped multiplication.
(d)
₹12,970 — ₹12,970 is not a multiple of ₹2,240, the yearly interest on ₹16,000 at 14%. Simple interest accrues in equal yearly steps, so the answer must be one of those steps.

Concept

Simple interest is SI = P × R × T ⁄ 100, and the useful move here is that P cancels whenever the interest is stated as a fraction of the principal.

Set SI = f × P and the formula reduces to R × T = 100f. With f = 3⁄5 that is R × T = 60, so a rate of 10% needs 6 years.

Nothing about the certain sum matters — only the rate and the fraction. That is why the ₹16,000 in the first clause of the sentence has no part in the time calculation.

The sentence is deliberately hard to parse: the time wanted for the ₹16,000 is defined by a different sum at a different rate. Split it at the comma before working, and check which rate belongs to which sum.

Key facts

SI = PRT⁄100, so when the interest is a fraction f of the principal, R × T = 100f.
At 10% p.a. simple interest, a sum takes 6 years to earn three-fifths of itself.
₹16,000 at 14% p.a. earns ₹2,240 a year, so 6 years give ₹13,440.

Study next

Simple interest problems where the principal cancels out of the equationSplitting a multi-clause stem into the unknown that can be found firstComparing simple and compound interest over the same rate and period

Common traps

Feeding ₹16,000 into the three-fifths condition, where the sum cancels and is irrelevant
Taking the time from the 14% clause instead of the 10% one

SSC sets the same three-fifths condition on its own as a rate question — simple interest for 6 years equal to three-fifths of the sum, keyed at 10%, at Quant Q.13 of 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, and the eight-year version at Quant Q.10 of 23 Sep 2024, 12:30.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.