SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 2 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 24 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.

The given table shows the production of iron rods by a company for a period of 6 months. Study the table and answer the question that follows. Month → January | March | May | July | September | November Production — 60 | 75 | 45 | 85 | 90 | 108 What is the ratio of the month having the highest production to the month having the least production?

(a)12 : 5
(b)1 : 2
(c)5 : 12
(d)9 : 5

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The stem, the table and the question sit in one image. The row reads January 60, March 75, May 45, July 85, September 90, November 108.

Highest production: November, 108
Least production: May, 45

Ratio = 108 : 45
Divide both by their HCF, 9 → 12 and 5
= 12 : 5 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
1 : 2 — 1 : 2 is smaller than 1, but the ratio runs highest to least, so it must exceed 1. It is May's 45 against September's 90 — not the highest against the least.
(c)
5 : 12 — 5 : 12 is the right pair inverted — least to highest. The question names the highest month first, so 108 belongs in the first position.
(d)
9 : 5 — 9 : 5 is 108 : 60, which takes January's 60 as the smallest figure. May's 45 is lower, so 45 is the least production in the row.

Concept

A single-row table question is two readings and one reduction. Scan the row for the largest and smallest numbers first, since the months are only labels for the figures beneath them.

Then write the ratio in the order the question names — highest first here — and divide out the highest common factor. HCF(108, 45) = 9, so 108 : 45 becomes 12 : 5.

The order matters as much as the arithmetic: the same two numbers read the other way give 5 : 12, which is also on the option list.

The table lists six alternate months, January through November, so the stem's phrase about a period of 6 months means six readings rather than six consecutive months. The arithmetic is unaffected.

Key facts

The table reads January 60, March 75, May 45, July 85, September 90 and November 108.
November's 108 is the highest figure and May's 45 the lowest.
HCF(108, 45) = 9, so 108 : 45 reduces to 12 : 5.
The order of a ratio follows the wording: highest named first, least second.

Study next

Reducing a ratio by the highest common factor of its two termsRatio questions where the two named quantities are given in reverse orderReading maximum and minimum values off a bar graph rather than a table

Common traps

Inverting the ratio to 5 : 12 by writing the smaller figure first.
Taking January's 60 as the minimum and missing May's 45.
Leaving the answer as 108 : 45 without reducing it.

SSC pairs the largest and smallest entries of a data set for a ratio, a difference or a mean. The bar-graph version, asking for the mean of the highest and lowest sales, is on 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, Quant Q.11.

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