SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 1 of 99

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 following table shows the expenditures (in thousands of rupees) of a company in different categories from 2015 to 2019. What is the average amount (in ₹) paid by the company on fuel and transport per year from 2015 to 2019?

(a)1,15,200
(b)1,17,200
(c)1,16,500
(d)1,18,200

Answer

Why

Correct — b. The question asks about one column only — Fuel and Transport — and the table caption puts every figure in thousands of rupees.

Add that column, 2015 to 2019:
98 + 112 = 210
210 + 101 = 311
311 + 133 = 444

444 + 142 = 586 (thousand)

Average = 586 ÷ 5 = 117.2 thousand
Restore the unit: 117.2 × 1,000 = ₹1,17,200 → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1,15,200 — 1,15,200 needs the column to total 576. Re-add it: 98 + 112 + 101 + 133 + 142 = 586, ten thousand more than that.
(c)
1,16,500 — 1,16,500 means an average of 116.5, so a column total of 582.5. The five entries are whole numbers and they add to 586, giving 117.2.
(d)
1,18,200 — 1,18,200 needs a total of 591. The Fuel and Transport figures are 98, 112, 101, 133 and 142 — 586 in all, not 591.

Concept

A table-DI average is two decisions and one division.

First, which column. The stem names Fuel and Transport, so Salary, Bonus, Interest on loans and Taxes are there only to be ignored.

Second, which unit. The caption reads 'in thousands of rupees' while the options are in rupees, so every entry carries a hidden ×1,000 and the answer is 117.2 × 1,000.

Only then does the arithmetic matter: total the five entries, divide by 5.

Five years are listed, 2015 to 2019 inclusive, so the divisor is 5. Counting the gaps between the years instead gives 4 and an average of 146.5 thousand, which is not on the option list.

Key facts

The Fuel and Transport entries are 98, 112, 101, 133 and 142, in thousands of rupees.
They total 586 thousand, so the five-year average is 117.2 thousand.
The caption's unit converts that to ₹1,17,200.

Study next

Reading a units caption ('in thousands', 'in ₹ lakh') before touching the arithmeticColumn totals and averages from a years-by-categories tableExpressing one column's total as a percentage of the whole table

Common traps

Averaging the Salary column, which is the first number the eye lands on
Dividing by 4 because the five years span four gaps
Answering 117.2 when the options are printed in rupees

SSC gives one table and asks a single operation on one column. The operation is an average here, a percentage of a total on 18 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.15, and a ratio of two three-day totals on 25 Sep 2024, 09:00, Quant Q.7.

Related PYQs

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