SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 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 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.

Having initially established the marked price of a particular commodity at a 20% premium over its cost price, a retail vendor subsequently extended an unspecified discount. If, following this concession, the transaction ultimately yielded a profit of 8% on the cost price, what was the exact percentage of the discount given?

(a)80%
(b)50%
(c)60%
(d)10%

Answer

Why

Correct — D.
Take the cost price as ₹100.
Marked price, 20% above cost: 100 × 1.2 = ₹120
Selling price, 8% profit on cost: 100 × 1.08 = ₹108

Discount in rupees: 120 − 108 = ₹12
Discount %, on the marked price: 12 ÷ 120 × 100 = 10%

So the discount given was 10% → option (d)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
80% — An 80% discount leaves ₹24 on a ₹120 marked price, far below the ₹100 cost. That is a 76% loss, not an 8% profit.
(b)
50% — Half of ₹120 is ₹60, so selling at ₹60 against a ₹100 cost is a 40% loss. Any discount above 16⅔% already sells below cost.
(c)
60% — A 60% discount leaves ₹48, under half the ₹100 cost, a 52% loss. With only a 20% markup, no discount this large can end in profit.

Concept

Three prices are linked: cost price (CP), marked price (MP) and selling price (SP). Profit is measured on CP; discount is measured on MP.

Taking CP = 100 turns every percentage into rupees. The discount is the gap MP − SP, divided by MP, not by CP.

As a formula: discount % = (markup − profit) ÷ (100 + markup) × 100 = (20 − 8) ÷ 120 × 100 = 10%.

Key facts

Discount % is calculated on the marked price
Profit % is calculated on the cost price
Discount % = (markup % − profit %) ÷ (100 + markup %) × 100

Study next

Finding the markup needed to earn a target profit after a given discountMarked price with successive discounts and a profit or loss given in rupeesComparing two discount schemes on the same marked price

Common traps

Dividing the ₹12 gap by the cost price ₹100 and getting 12% instead of dividing by the marked price ₹120

16 Sep 2025, 09:00, Quant Q.12 is the same item with a 30% markup and a 17% profit, again keyed 10% with 50% and 60% among the distractors.

12 Sep 2025, 16:00, Quant Q.16 runs it forwards: a 25% markup and a 10% discount give a 12.50% profit.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Discount — all 78 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.