SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 6 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.

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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.

Two individuals, A and B, rent a pasture together. A has 18 horses that they graze for 4 months. B grazes 24 cows for 6 months and 36 sheep for 4 months. The following relationships are given: - 3 horses are equivalent to 6 cows, - 4 cows are equivalent to 8 sheep. What amount of rent should A pay ?

(a)2⁄5
(b)3⁄5
(c)4⁄5
(d)1⁄5

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Put every animal in one unit, sheep.

3 horses = 6 cows, so 1 horse = 2 cows
4 cows = 8 sheep, so 1 cow = 2 sheep
Chain them: 1 horse = 2 × 2 = 4 sheep

A: 18 × 4 = 72 horse-months = 72 × 4 = 288 sheep-months
B, cows: 24 × 6 = 144 cow-months = 144 × 2 = 288 sheep-months
B, sheep: 36 × 4 = 144 sheep-months
Add B's: 288 + 144 = 432

A : B = 288 : 432 = 2 : 3
A pays 2 ⁄ (2 + 3) = 2⁄5 of the rent → option (a)

Why the others are wrong

(b)
3⁄5 — 3⁄5 is B's share, not A's. The grazing splits 288 : 432 = 2 : 3, and B's cows and sheep take the larger 3 parts of 5.
(c)
4⁄5 — 4⁄5 would mean A grazed four times as much as B. In sheep-months A has 288 and B 432, so A grazed less and pays under half.
(d)
1⁄5 — 1⁄5 would mean B grazed four times as much as A. B's 432 sheep-months are only 1.5 times A's 288.

Concept

Rent on a shared pasture works like capital × time in a partnership: each tenant pays in proportion to animals × months grazed. The animals must first be in one unit, because here one horse grazes as much as four sheep.

Chain the equivalences, horse to cow and cow to sheep, and convert to the smallest animal so the numbers stay whole. Then split the rent in the ratio of the totals.

The stem asks 'What amount of rent should A pay' but never gives a total rent, and every option is a fraction. Read it as A's fraction of the whole rent.

Key facts

Pasture rent is shared in the ratio of animals × months, with all animals in one unit.
Here 1 horse = 2 cows = 4 sheep, from 3 horses = 6 cows and 4 cows = 8 sheep.
A : B = 288 : 432 = 2 : 3, so A pays 2⁄5 and B pays 3⁄5.

Study next

Partnership shares from capital × monthsChained unit equivalences such as 3 horses = 5 cows and 6 cows = 10 sheep

Common traps

Leaving A's horses unconverted: 72 against B's 432 sheep-months gives A only 1⁄7.
Converting the wrong way: 1 horse = 2 cows means a horse counts double, so horse-months are multiplied, not divided.
Choosing 3⁄5, which is B's share.

The same horse–cow–sheep conversion is asked at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, Quant Q.6, where A's portion is 8⁄17, and a cow–sheep version at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, Quant Q.7 gives 44⁄89.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.