SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 22 of 95

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 13 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 sum becomes 2.5 times in 10 years under simple interest. Find the rate.

(a)10%
(b)12.5%
(c)15%
(d)20%

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Turn 'becomes 2.5 times' into the interest earned, then solve for the rate.

Rule: simple interest = P × R × T ÷ 100.

Amount = 2.5P, so interest = 2.5P − P = 1.5P
1.5P = P × R × 10 ÷ 100
R = 1.5 × 100 ÷ 10 = 15

The rate is 15% per annum: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
10% — 10% for 10 years adds 100% of the sum, so the sum only doubles. The stem needs it to reach 2.5 times.
(b)
12.5% — 12.5% for 10 years adds 125%, making the amount 2.25 times the sum. The stem needs 150% interest, not 125%.
(d)
20% — 20% for 10 years adds 200%, so the sum becomes 3 times itself. That overshoots the 2.5 the stem gives.

Concept

'Becomes n times' describes the amount, not the interest. Subtract the principal first: an amount of 2.5P holds 1.5P of interest.

Simple interest adds the same P × R ÷ 100 every year. So 1.5P over 10 years is 0.15P a year, which is 15% of P.

The stem says 'Find the rate' without 'per annum'. 15% is the yearly rate, and the key takes that reading.

Key facts

Simple interest = P × R × T ÷ 100.
Amount = principal + interest, so 'becomes 2.5 times' means interest of 1.5 times the principal.
Shortcut: R = (n − 1) × 100 ÷ T when a sum becomes n times in T years.

Study next

Time for a sum to become n times at a given simple-interest rateCompound interest, where each year's interest itself earns interestThe gap between simple and compound interest on the same sum

Common traps

Using 2.5 as the interest multiple: 2.5 × 100 ÷ 10 = 25%, a rate no option offers.
Forgetting that 10% for 10 years only doubles a sum.

The same frame is set in Quant at 19 Sep 2025, 16:00, Quant Q.7: 2.5 times in 5 years means 30% a year, so becoming 5 times takes 13 1⁄3 years.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.