SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 20 September 2025, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 2 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.

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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.

A furniture establishment initially disposes of a particular dining table for ₹Z, thereby realising a 25% profit margin. Subsequently, as a promotional strategy for a festive period, the marked price of this identical table is elevated to ₹1.6Z. Following this adjustment, a special concession of 20% is applied to the newly established marked price. The inquiry then seeks to ascertain the resulting percentage profit generated by the store during this specific celebratory sales period. What is the percentage profit earned by the store during the festive sale?

(a)26%
(b)56%
(c)62%
(d)60%

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The first sale fixes the cost price, which does not change.

Cost price = Z ÷ 1.25 = 0.8Z

Festive marked price = 1.6Z
After 20% off = 1.6Z × 0.8 = 1.28Z

Profit = 1.28Z − 0.8Z = 0.48Z
Profit % = 0.48Z ÷ 0.8Z × 100 = 60% → option (d)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
26% — A 26% profit on a cost of 0.8Z means selling at 1.008Z, barely above the first price Z. The festive price is 1.28Z.
(b)
56% — A 56% profit on 0.8Z needs a selling price of 1.248Z. Taking 20% off 1.6Z leaves 1.28Z, so the profit is higher.
(c)
62% — A 62% profit on 0.8Z needs a selling price of 1.296Z, more than the 1.28Z left after 20% off 1.6Z.

Concept

Profit per cent is measured on cost price, and the cost is the same in both sales because it is the same table.

So the question is two conversions: recover the cost from the first sale (selling price = 1.25 × cost), then find the new selling price (marked price × 0.8).

Here the discount factor 0.8 equals the cost fraction 0.8Z ÷ Z, so they cancel: the festive price is exactly 1.6 times cost.

The stem is long, but only three numbers decide it: 25%, 1.6Z and 20%.

Key facts

Selling at r% profit means selling price = cost × (1 + r⁄100).
A d% discount on marked price M leaves a selling price of M × (1 − d⁄100).
Profit % = (selling price − cost) ÷ cost × 100.

Study next

Successive markup and discount as a single multiplying factorFinding cost price back from a selling price and a profit or loss per centProfit per cent versus margin on selling price

Common traps

Treating the first price Z as the cost: 1.28Z against Z is a 28% rise over the old selling price, not the profit on cost.
Dividing the profit by the selling price: 0.48Z ÷ 1.28Z = 37.5% is a margin on sales, not profit per cent.
Reading 25% profit as 25% of Z: the cost is Z ÷ 1.25 = 0.8Z, not 0.75Z.

The same build (a price written as a letter, a markup to a multiple of it, then a discount) is set at 15 Sep 2025, 12:30, Quant Q.9, where a shirt sold for ₹A at a 5% loss is marked up to ₹1.2A and sold at 10% off, a 2.6% profit.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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

A furniture establishment initially disposes of a particular dining table for ₹Z, thereby realising a 25% profit margin. Subsequently, as a promotional strategy for a festive period, the marked price of this identical table is elevated to ₹1.6Z. Following this adjustment, a special concession of 20% is applied to the newly established marked price. The inquiry then seeks to ascertain the resulting percentage profit generated by the store during this specific celebratory sales period. What is the percentage profit earned by the store during the festive sale?

(a)26%
(b)56%
(c)62%
(d)60%