SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 1 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.

An electronics store orders 150 portable speakers at a cost of ₹400 each. The owner plans to price them so that selling only 120 speakers would guarantee a 40% profit on the total investment. However, a local event leads to the sale of 135 speakers. If the remaining speakers have no resale value, calculate the store’s actual profit percentage on the total investment.

(a)52.2%
(b)53.5%
(c)62.8%
(d)57.5%

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The profit is measured on the total investment, so all 150 speakers count as cost.

Total cost = 150 × ₹400 = ₹60,000
Target revenue from 120 = 140% of ₹60,000 = ₹84,000
Price per speaker = ₹84,000 ÷ 120 = ₹700

Actual revenue = 135 × ₹700 = ₹94,500
Profit = ₹94,500 − ₹60,000 = ₹34,500
Profit % = 34,500 ÷ 60,000 × 100 = 57.5% → option (d)

Why the others are wrong

(a)
52.2% — 52.2% of ₹60,000 is ₹31,320, which needs revenue of ₹91,320, about ₹676 a speaker. The price was fixed at ₹700, so 135 sales bring ₹94,500.
(b)
53.5% — 53.5% needs revenue of ₹92,100, about ₹682 a speaker. At ₹700 each, 135 sales bring ₹94,500, which is 57.5% above the ₹60,000 cost.
(c)
62.8% — 62.8% needs revenue of ₹97,680, more than 135 × ₹700 = ₹94,500 can supply. The profit is ₹34,500 on ₹60,000, which is 57.5%.

Concept

The selling price is fixed before the sales happen. The owner wants 120 sales to return cost plus 40%, and that sets the price at ₹700.

Once the price is fixed, the profit depends only on how many units sell. Each extra sale adds ₹700 of revenue, while the ₹60,000 cost stays the same, sold or not.

Ratio shortcut: revenue scales with units sold, so actual revenue = 1.4 × 135⁄120 = 1.575 × cost, a 57.5% profit.

The stem says the leftover speakers have no resale value, so the 15 unsold units add nothing to revenue, but their ₹6,000 cost stays in the base.

Key facts

Profit % on investment = (revenue − total cost) ÷ total cost × 100.
Unsold stock with no resale value adds to the cost but not to the revenue.
At a fixed price, revenue is proportional to units sold: 135⁄120 = 1.125.

Study next

Profit when part of the stock is damaged or unsoldSelling price needed for a target profit on the whole outlayOverall profit when lots are sold at different rates

Common traps

Scaling the 40% instead of the 140%: 40% × 135⁄120 = 45% forgets that the revenue, not the profit, grows with sales.
Pricing for 40% on the 120 speakers' own cost (₹48,000) instead of the full ₹60,000: the price falls to ₹560 and the profit to 26%.
Taking the cost of only the 135 speakers sold (₹54,000) as the base: that gives 75%, but the question asks for profit on the total investment.

The same rule, that spoiled stock keeps its cost while earning nothing, drives 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, Quant Q.19: 1⁄5 of the sugar is damaged and the rest must be repriced to ₹52.5 a kg for a 5% profit on the whole.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Profit and Loss — all 87 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.