SSC CGL Quantitative Aptitude: questions, weightage & strategy
Quant decides SSC CGL. The syllabus is Class-10 arithmetic, so the gap between candidates is never knowledge — it's speed. The section is won by calculation shortcuts and by knowing which question to skip.
Scan with your phone to install| Exam | SSC CGL |
|---|---|
| Section | Quantitative Aptitude |
| Weightage | 25 questions · 50 marks in Tier-I |
| Paper pattern | Tier-I: 100 questions / 200 marks / 60 minutes · −0.50 per wrong answer |
What actually scores in SSC CGL Quantitative Aptitude
Percentage, profit-loss, ratio, average, time-work and time-speed-distance supply the bulk of questions. Geometry, mensuration and trigonometry follow — and are where most candidates lose time.
Tables to 30, squares to 40 and cubes to 20, plus fraction-percentage equivalents (1/8 = 12.5%). This alone removes several seconds from most questions, compounding across 25.
First pass: answer everything solvable in under 45 seconds. Second pass: return to the heavy geometry and DI sets with whatever time remains. Attempting sequentially is the most common way to run out of clock.
High-yield topics
- ✓Percentage, profit & loss, discount
- ✓Ratio & proportion, partnership, averages
- ✓Time-speed-distance and time & work
- ✓Simple and compound interest
- ✓Geometry, mensuration and basic trigonometry
- ✓Data Interpretation (bar, pie, tabular)
5 Quantitative Aptitude questions to try now
These are original practice questions written in the SSC CGL style — not official previous-year papers. For the real papers as published, download the official PDFs.
If the price of an item is increased by 25% and then decreased by 20%, the net change in price is:
Choose an answer to see the explanation.
A can finish a work in 12 days and B in 18 days. Working together, they finish it in:
Choose an answer to see the explanation.
A sum of ₹8,000 amounts to ₹9,200 in 3 years at simple interest. The rate of interest per annum is:
Choose an answer to see the explanation.
The average of 11 numbers is 50. If the average of the first six is 49 and of the last six is 52, the sixth number is:
Choose an answer to see the explanation.
The area of a circle is 154 cm². Its circumference is: (take π = 22/7)
Choose an answer to see the explanation.
Other SSC CGL sections
SSC CGL Quantitative Aptitude — FAQ
The concepts are Class-10 level, so difficulty comes from the clock: 25 questions in roughly 18–20 minutes. Speed techniques matter far more than advanced mathematics.
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