SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 21 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

A square field of side 28 m has a circular pond in the center. If the area of the pond is 616 m², what is the area of the remaining field?

(a)148 m²
(b)168 m²
(c)678 m²
(d)682 m²

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The remaining field is the square's area minus the pond's area.

Area of the square: 28 × 28 = 784 m²
Area of the pond (given): 616 m²
Subtract: 784 − 616 = 168 m² → option (b)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
148 m² — 148 m² would mean the pond covers 784 − 148 = 636 m². The stem fixes the pond at 616 m².
(c)
678 m² — 678 m² would leave only 784 − 678 = 106 m² for the pond, not the 616 m² given.
(d)
682 m² — 682 m² would leave 784 − 682 = 102 m² for the pond. A 616 m² pond takes up most of a 784 m² field.

Concept

An area remaining after a cut-out is the whole area minus the part removed. The square is 28 × 28, and the pond's area is handed to you, so no π is needed.

The figures agree with each other: with π = 22⁄7, 616 m² is a circle of radius 14 m. Its diameter, 28 m, equals the side, so the pond touches all four sides and fits.

Key facts

Area of a square = side²: 28² = 784 m².
Area of a circle = πr²: with π = 22⁄7, r = 14 m gives 616 m².
A centred circle whose diameter equals the side touches all four sides, leaving four equal corners of 42 m² each here.

Study next

Area of a circular path or ring, π(R² − r²)Area of a path of uniform width along the inside or outside of a rectangular fieldArea left when the largest circle is cut from a square of side a: a² − πa²⁄4

Common traps

Recomputing the pond from the side, for example π × 28² with 28 taken as the radius, when the question already gives 616 m².

10 Sep 2024, 09:00, Quant Q.23 uses the same whole-minus-circular-parts idea: three 60° sectors cut from an equilateral triangle of side 28 cm, keyed 31.08 cm².

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Triangle, Quadrilaterals, Regular Polygons, Circle — all 65 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.