SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 3 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 22 of 98

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.

Simplify the following. 16 ÷ 2− 7 × 15 ÷ 3 + 5 × 5 + 4 × 3 − 10

(a)1
(b)-1
(c)0
(d)2

Answer

Why

Correct — C. There are no brackets, so clear every × and ÷ first, left to right, then the + and − left to right.

16 ÷ 2 = 8
7 × 15 ÷ 3 = 105 ÷ 3 = 35
5 × 5 = 25 and 4 × 3 = 12

The line is now 8 − 35 + 25 + 12 − 10.
8 − 35 = −27, then −27 + 25 = −2
−2 + 12 = 10, then 10 − 10 = 0 → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1 — 1 needs the running total after 8 − 35 to be −26. That subtraction is −27, and the terms after it (+25, +12, −10) are not in dispute.
(b)
-1 — −1 needs that same running total to be −28, or 5 × 5 read as 24. Both products are exact: 8 − 35 = −27 and 5 × 5 = 25.
(d)
2 — 2 needs 8 − 35 taken as −25, which means subtracting 33 rather than 35. The value of 7 × 15 ÷ 3 is 35 whichever way you group it.

Concept

BODMAS fixes the order, and the two rules people drop are the ones that decide this line.

× and ÷ rank equally, and so do + and −. Inside a rank you work left to right — not multiplication before division, and not addition before subtraction.

So 7 × 15 ÷ 3 means (7 × 15) ÷ 3 = 35, and here 7 × (15 ÷ 3) happens to give 35 too, so the grouping does not bite.

In 8 − 35 + 25 it does bite: left to right it is (8 − 35) + 25 = −2, never 8 − (35 + 25) = −52.

Every option sits within 2 of the true value, so this question rewards one careful pass rather than a re-check of the rule.

Key facts

Multiplication and division share one rank in BODMAS and are worked left to right.
Addition and subtraction share the next rank and are also worked left to right.
The four products here are 8, 35, 25 and 12, and 8 − 35 + 25 + 12 − 10 = 0.
Attaching each minus sign to the number after it turns the line into 8 + (−35) + 25 + 12 + (−10), which may then be added in any order.

Study next

Simplification with 'of', which is settled before division in the SSC conventionNested brackets worked innermost first, as in 21 − [6 + 7 − {3.22 − (1.1 × 0.2)}]Solving for an unknown buried in a BODMAS chain, where the order applies before the equation is rearranged

Common traps

Grouping the line as 8 − (35 + 25), which reads −52 at that point and finishes at −50
Reading 16 ÷ 2 − 7 as 16 ÷ (2 − 7)
Losing a single unit in 8 − 35, which lands exactly on a printed option

SSC sets these either as a plain chain, as here, or wrapped in brackets and 'of' so the order has to be argued twice.

Also asked 09 Sep 2024, 12:30, Quant Q.24 (21 − 4.9 ÷ 7 + 3.9 × 0.4 + 0.9) and 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.6 (45 ÷ 3 + 4 × A − 48 ÷ 24 + 4 = 1, solve for A).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.