SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 2 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 20 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 5 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 number of students enrolled in Institutes A and B during 5 years (2018 to 2022). What is the ratio of the total students enrolled in Institute B in 2019, 2020 and 2022 to that of the total students enrolled in Institute A in 2018, 2020 and 2021?

(a)11 : 28
(b)28 : 37
(c)37 : 28
(d)28 : 11

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Read only the six bars the sentence names, and read them in the order it names them.

Institute B, 2019 + 2020 + 2022 = 350 + 375 + 200 = 925
Institute A, 2018 + 2020 + 2021 = 150 + 300 + 250 = 700

Form the ratio and reduce:
925 : 700
divide both by 25 → 37 : 28 → option (c)

B is asked for first, so 37 is the first term.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
11 : 28 — The first term is wrong. 11 : 28 keeps A's correct 700 as its 28 parts, but pairs it with 275 — which is Institute A's single 2019 bar, not Institute B's three-year total of 925.
(b)
28 : 37 — The right two totals in the wrong order. The question asks for B's total 'to that of' A's total, so B leads; 28 : 37 answers the reversed question.
(d)
28 : 11 — Both errors at once: the same 275 mistaken for B's total, and then the terms written with A first. It is option (a) reversed.

Concept

A double bar graph carries two series side by side, so every reading needs two coordinates: which year and which institute.

This item deliberately gives the two series different year lists — B for 2019, 2020 and 2022, A for 2018, 2020 and 2021, with only 2020 shared — so a candidate who tracks the years but not the legend still lands on a plausible-looking ratio.

Sum each triple first, reduce once by a common factor, and write the terms in the order the sentence names them rather than the order the legend prints them.

Both 37 : 28 and its reversal 28 : 37 are printed as options, and so are 11 : 28 and 28 : 11.

Every wrong option here is a reading error dressed as an arithmetic one.

Key facts

Institute A's bars read 150, 275, 300, 250 and 225 for 2018 to 2022.
Institute B's bars read 210, 350, 375, 300 and 200 for 2018 to 2022.
B's 2019 + 2020 + 2022 = 925 and A's 2018 + 2020 + 2021 = 700, and 925 : 700 = 37 : 28.
37 is prime, so 37 : 28 is already in lowest terms and the raw totals must be 37k and 28k.

Study next

Percentage-change items on the same graph, such as A's 2019-to-2020 riseAverage-per-year items: the mean enrolment of one institute across the five yearsTabular DI, where the same trap uses rows and columns instead of two bar series

Common traps

Summing the same three years for both institutes, because the two year lists look alike at a glance.
Writing the ratio in legend order, with A first, when the question names B first.
Reducing 925 and 700 separately by eye instead of dividing both by 25.

Tier-I hangs three or four questions on one graph, and the ratio item is where the two halves are given deliberately different year lists — expect the reversed ratio to be sitting in the options.

Quant Q.10 of this shift (09 Sep 2024, 12:30) runs the same reading test on a wages table instead of a bar graph.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.