SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 20 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 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.

"If the given symbols mean: '+' means 'divided by' '-' means 'multiplied by' 'x' means 'minus' '÷' means 'plus' Then, find the value of the following expressions: 40 x 5 ÷ 8 + 16 - 2=?

(a)56
(b)27
(c)48
(d)36

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Rule: replace every sign first, then apply BODMAS.

40 x 5 ÷ 8 + 16 - 2
→ 40 − 5 + 8 ÷ 16 × 2

Division: 8 ÷ 16 = 0.5
Multiplication: 0.5 × 2 = 1
Left to right: 40 − 5 + 1 = 36 → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
56 — 56 is too large. After substitution the terms are 40, −5 and 8 ÷ 16 × 2 = 1, and 40 − 5 + 1 comes to only 36.
(b)
27 — 27 is 35 − 8, which subtracts the 8. But '÷' means plus, and the 8 is first divided by 16 and doubled: 35 + 1 = 36.
(c)
48 — 48 would need the 8 ÷ 16 × 2 term to add 13. By BODMAS, 8 ÷ 16 = 0.5 and 0.5 × 2 = 1, so the total is 35 + 1 = 36.

Concept

A symbol-substitution item changes what each sign means. Rewrite the whole expression in true signs before doing any arithmetic.

Then apply BODMAS: division and multiplication from left to right, then addition and subtraction.

Here the rewrite is 40 − 5 + 8 ÷ 16 × 2. The division leaves a fraction, 8 ÷ 16 = 0.5, and the multiplication turns it back into a whole number, 1.

Key facts

Here '+' means ÷, '-' means ×, 'x' means − and '÷' means +.
BODMAS takes division and multiplication, left to right, before addition and subtraction.
8 ÷ 16 × 2 = 0.5 × 2 = 1.

Study next

Sign-interchange equations, such as + with − and × with ÷Finding which two signs to swap to make an equation trueBODMAS with a fraction in the middle of a chain

Common traps

Working left to right after substituting: 40 − 5 + 8 = 43, then 43 ÷ 16 × 2 = 5.375
Substituting some signs and reading the rest at face value

The same four-symbol key is used at 15 Sep 2025, 12:30, Reasoning Q.23: 48 × 8 ÷ 12 + 4 − 7 becomes 48 − 8 + 12 ÷ 4 × 7, keyed 61.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Numerical Operations — all 148 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.