SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 12 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.

Annual income of five schools (in lakhs) In case of how many schools, the income by semester fee, is less than three times of donation?

(a)4
(b)2
(c)3
(d)5

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Test each school with the Semester Fee row against 3 × the Donation row.

X: donation 14, so the bar is 42. Semester fee 43. 43 > 42, fails.
Y: donation 17, so the bar is 51. Semester fee 56. 56 > 51, fails.
Z: donation 14, so the bar is 42. Semester fee 39. 39 < 42, qualifies.

U: donation 50, so the bar is 150. Semester fee 89. 89 < 150, qualifies.
V: donation 19, so the bar is 57. Semester fee 59. 59 > 57, fails.

Z and U qualify, so the count is 2 → option (b)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
4 — 4 needs two more schools to join Z and U, but each of the others clears its bar: X's 43 against 42, Y's 56 against 51 and V's 59 against 57.
(c)
3 — 3 is the count for the reversed inequality — semester fee greater than 3 × donation is true for X, Y and V. The stem asks for less than.
(d)
5 — 5 would mean every school qualifies. Only Z and U do, and X misses by a single lakh (43 against a bar of 42), which is the closest call in the table.

Concept

The table gives annual income in lakhs for five schools, X to V, split across four sources with a Total row.

A comparison question like this one is row-wise arithmetic, not estimation: take the Semester Fee entry, take the Donation entry, multiply the donation by 3 and compare.

Five comparisons, one multiplication each. The Total row is useful only as a check that you have read the column correctly — X's 13 + 43 + 14 + 25 comes to the 95 printed.

Two of the five comparisons are decided by a margin of one or two lakhs (X: 43 against 42, V: 59 against 57), so an eyeballed answer flips the count.

Key facts

Semester Fee row, in lakhs: X 43, Y 56, Z 39, U 89, V 59.
Donation row, in lakhs: X 14, Y 17, Z 14, U 50, V 19.
Only Z (39 against a bar of 42) and U (89 against 150) have semester fee below 3 × donation.
Each Total equals its four sources added — X: 13 + 43 + 14 + 25 = 95.

Study next

Row-wise multiplicative comparisons across a data tablePercentage-share questions on the same income table formatAverages and ratios computed down a table's columns

Common traps

Comparing the semester fee with the donation itself instead of with 3 × the donation.
Counting X because 43 and 42 look equal at a glance.
Reading down the Total row instead of the Semester Fee row.

Counting questions on a table ask 'in how many cases', and the answer is a small number the options bracket tightly — so every row must actually be tested.

Table interpretation also appears at Quant Q.22 of the 26 Sep 2024, 9:00 am sitting, which gives a percentage distribution of students across four schools.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.