SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 17 September 2025, Shift 2 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 1 of 99

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.

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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.

Simplify: (2.4 + 3.125) × 0.25 − (0.75 ÷ 0.3)

(a)−1.11875
(b)1.11875
(c)2.8756
(d)−2.8756

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Work the brackets first, then multiply, then subtract.

First bracket: 2.4 + 3.125 = 5.525
Multiply by 0.25, the same as dividing by 4: 5.525 ÷ 4 = 1.38125
Second bracket: 0.75 ÷ 0.3 = 7.5 ÷ 3 = 2.5

Subtract: 1.38125 − 2.5 = −1.11875 → option (a)

Why the others are wrong

(b)
1.11875 — 1.11875 has the right size but the wrong sign. It is 2.5 − 1.38125, the subtraction done backwards. The expression takes 2.5 away from 1.38125, so the result is negative.
(c)
2.8756 — 2.8756 cannot come from the two parts, 1.38125 and 2.5: their difference is 1.11875 and their sum 3.88125. The result must also be negative, since the larger part is subtracted.
(d)
−2.8756 — −2.8756 has the right sign, because 2.5 outweighs 1.38125, but the wrong size. The gap between the two parts is 2.5 − 1.38125 = 1.11875.

Concept

BODMAS fixes the order: brackets first, then division and multiplication, then addition and subtraction.

Two decimal habits save time. Multiplying by 0.25 is dividing by 4. Dividing by a decimal is easier after scaling both numbers by 10: 0.75 ÷ 0.3 = 7.5 ÷ 3.

Keep the sign to the end. The second bracket, 2.5, is larger than the first product, 1.38125, so the result is negative.

A sign check halves the choices before any long arithmetic: 2.5 is taken from a number smaller than 2.5, so the answer is one of the two negative options. The size then separates them.

Key facts

Multiplying by 0.25 is the same as dividing by 4.
Dividing by 0.3 is the same as multiplying by 10⁄3, so the result is larger than the number divided.
Brackets come first in BODMAS, then division and multiplication, then addition and subtraction.
3.125 = 3 1⁄8 and 0.25 = 1⁄4.

Study next

Decimal-to-fraction equivalents such as 0.125 = 1⁄8, 0.375 = 3⁄8 and 0.625 = 5⁄8Simplifications that mix mixed fractions with decimalsBODMAS chains without brackets, where ÷ and × come before + and −

Common traps

Writing 0.75 ÷ 0.3 as 0.25 by dividing by 3 instead of 0.3. Dividing by a number below 1 makes the result larger: 0.75 ÷ 0.3 = 2.5.
Subtracting the smaller number from the larger out of habit, which drops the minus sign and gives 1.11875.

15 Sep 2025, 16:00, Quant Q.1 mixes decimals and fractions the same way: (3.2 − 1 3⁄5) + (2 1⁄4 ÷ 0.5) = 1.6 + 4.5 = 6.1.

9 Sep 2024, 12:30, Quant Q.24 has no brackets, so BODMAS alone decides it: 21 − 0.7 + 1.56 + 0.9 = 22.76.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Basic algebraic identities of School Algebra & Elementary surds — all 182 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.