SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 23 September 2025, Shift 3 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 10 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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A student scored 80% in one subject and 60% in another. Both subjects have equal maximum marks. What is the overall percentage?

(a)70%
(b)72%
(c)68%
(d)75%

Answer

Why

Correct — A. With equal maximum marks, each subject carries the same weight, so the overall percentage is the plain average of the two.

Let each subject be out of 100.
Marks scored = 80 + 60 = 140
Maximum = 100 + 100 = 200
Overall % = 140 ÷ 200 × 100 = 70% → option (a)

Why the others are wrong

(b)
72% — 72% needs the 80% subject to carry more marks, in a 3 : 2 ratio: (3 × 80 + 2 × 60) ÷ 5 = 72. The stem says the maxima are equal.
(c)
68% — 68% needs the 60% subject to carry more marks, 3 : 2 against the other: (2 × 80 + 3 × 60) ÷ 5 = 68. With equal maxima neither subject pulls harder.
(d)
75% — 75% needs a 3 : 1 weighting towards the 80% subject: (3 × 80 + 1 × 60) ÷ 4 = 75. Equal maxima give 1 : 1, which lands midway at 70%.

Concept

An overall percentage is total marks scored ÷ total maximum marks, not the average of the percentages.

When every subject has the same maximum, the two agree: the weights are 1 : 1, so (80 + 60) ÷ 2 = 70.

If one subject were out of more marks, its percentage would pull the result towards itself. That is a weighted average, and the weights are the maximum marks.

The stem never states the maximum marks. You do not need them: any equal value, 50, 100 or 200, gives the same 70%.

Key facts

Overall % = (sum of marks scored) ÷ (sum of maximum marks) × 100.
With equal maximum marks, the overall % is the simple average of the subject percentages.
With unequal maximum marks, weight each percentage by its subject's maximum.

Study next

Weighted average of percentages when maximum marks differMarks needed in the last paper to reach a target overall percentageCombined average of two groups of different sizes

Common traps

Averaging percentages when the maxima differ: 80% of 50 and 60% of 150 is 130 out of 200, which is 65%, not 70%.
Adding the percentages to 140% and forgetting to divide by the total maximum.

The contrast case, unequal weights, is 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, Quant Q.17: 20 matches at an average of 15 and 25 at 24 give (300 + 600) ÷ 45 = 20, while the plain midpoint 19.5 sits among its options as the trap.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Percentage — all 82 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.