SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 24 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.

If a man’s present age is twice what it was 10 years ago, what is his current age?

(a)20
(b)30
(c)40
(d)25

Answer

Why

Correct — A.
Rule: call the present age x, so the age 10 years ago is x − 10.

Set up: x = 2(x − 10)
Expand: x = 2x − 20
Subtract x from both sides: 20 = x
Present age = 20

Check: 10 years ago he was 10, and 20 = 2 × 10 → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
30 — 30 means he was 20 ten years ago. Double 20 is 40, not 30, so the condition fails.
(c)
40 — 40 means he was 30 ten years ago. Double 30 is 60, so 40 fails the condition.
(d)
25 — 25 means he was 15 ten years ago. Double 15 is 30, not 25.

Concept

Age problems become one equation once you name the unknown. Let the present age be x. Ten years ago it was x − 10.

'Present age is twice the age 10 years ago' becomes x = 2(x − 10), and solving gives x = 20.

A shortcut: the gap between the two ages is always 10. If the present age is double the past age, that gap equals the past age, so he was 10 and is now 20.

Key facts

A person's age now and n years ago always differ by n.
If present age = k × (age n years ago), then present age = k × n ⁄ (k − 1).
With k = 2 and n = 10: 2 × 10 ⁄ 1 = 20.

Study next

Two-person age problems with a past and a future conditionPresent ages in a ratio that changes after n yearsPresent age as three times the age n years ago

Common traps

Writing the equation the wrong way round, 2x = x − 10, which gives a negative age
Using x + 10 for the past age, which also gives a negative answer

24 Sep 2024, 12:30, Quant Q.2 uses the same x − 10 step for two people: Ghanshyam is three times Akash's age now and was four times it 10 years ago, keyed a difference of 60.

23 Sep 2024, 09:00, Quant Q.1 adds a future condition for Sunita and Tanya, keyed 7 : 3.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.