SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 16 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 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 given bar graph shows the turnover of five companies (in crores). What is the difference between the average sales turnover of all the companies put together between the years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020?

(a)₹5 crore
(b)₹2 crore
(c)₹3.5 crore
(d)₹6.5 crore

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Read only the 2018-19 and 2019-20 bars; the 2017-18 series is not asked about.

2018-19, in ₹ crore: HDFC 250, GM 350, HERO 275, LG 200, BPL 400
Sum = 1,475, so the average = 1,475 ÷ 5 = 295

2019-20, in ₹ crore: HDFC 300, GM 250, HERO 300, LG 300, BPL 350
Sum = 1,500, so the average = 1,500 ÷ 5 = 300

Difference = 300 − 295 = ₹5 crore → option (a)

Why the others are wrong

(b)
₹2 crore — ₹2 crore would need the two totals to differ by 10 crore across five companies. They differ by 25: 1,500 against 1,475.
(c)
₹3.5 crore — ₹3.5 crore implies a gap of 17.5 crore between the totals. Every bar on this graph reads as a multiple of 25, so their difference is one too.
(d)
₹6.5 crore — ₹6.5 crore implies a gap of 32.5 crore, larger than the measured 25 and again not a multiple of 25. It is the largest option and pure overshoot.

Concept

A grouped bar chart with three series invites you to read the wrong one, so fix the two columns you need before touching arithmetic.

Averaging over the same five companies both times means the divisor is 5 on both sides. The difference of the averages is then just the difference of the sums divided by 5 — here 25 ÷ 5 — so you never have to compute 295 and 300 separately if you are short of time.

Bar heights are read against the gridlines, which run every 50 crore. A bar stopping midway between two gridlines is worth the midpoint.

Every bar sits on a gridline except HERO's 2018-19 bar, which stops halfway between 250 and 300 and so reads 275. Get that one wrong and the whole difference moves. The legend also writes the series as 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 while the question writes 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 — the same two series.

Key facts

The 2018-19 turnovers read 250, 350, 275, 200 and 400 crore, summing to 1,475.
The 2019-20 turnovers read 300, 250, 300, 300 and 350 crore, summing to 1,500.
Over the same five companies, the difference of averages is the difference of sums divided by five: 25 ÷ 5 = 5.

Study next

Averages taken straight off a grouped bar chart without listing every valuePercentage change between two series drawn on one chartReading a bar that stops between gridlines by halving the interval

Common traps

Rounding HERO's 2018-19 bar down to 250 because it sits between gridlines
Bringing the 2017-18 bars into a question that names only the later two years
Reporting the 25-crore difference of sums without dividing by the five companies

SSC reuses a data set and repermutes the choices around it. This same turnover graph and this same question run at Quant Q.22 of the 26 Sep 2024, 12:30 shift, where ₹5 crore is printed in a different slot and is again the keyed choice.

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