PercentageCAT Previous-Year Questions

37 previous-year questions on Percentage from CAT, with full solutions. Practise free — check answers as you go; sign in to save your progress.

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37 questions

Percentage · CAT PYQs

CAT 2024 Slot 1 · QA
Q1.

 In September, the incomes of Kamal, Amal and Vimal are in the ratio 8 ∶ 6 ∶ 5. They rent a house together, and Kamal pays 15%, Amal pays 12% and Vimal pays 18% of their respective incomes to cover the total house rent in that month. In October, the house rent remains unchanged while their incomes increase by 10%, 12% and 15%, respectively. In October, the percentage of their total income that will be paid as house rent, is nearest to

CAT 2024 Slot 2 · QA
Q2.

A fruit seller has a stock of mangoes, bananas and apples with at least one fruit of each type. At the beginning of a day, the number of mangoes make up 40% of his stock. That day, he sells half of the mangoes, 96 bananas and 40% of the apples. At the end of the day, he ends up selling 50% of the fruits. The smallest possible total number of fruits in the stock at the beginning of the day is

CAT 2023 Slot 3 · QA
Q3.

A fruit seller has a stock of mangoes, bananas and apples with at least one fruit of each type. At the beginning of a day, the number of mangoes make up 40% of his stock. That day, he sells half of the mangoes, 96 bananas and 40% of the apples. At the end of the day, he ends up selling 50% of the fruits. The smallest possible total number of fruits in the stock at the beginning of the day is

CAT 2022 Slot 2 · QA
Q4.

In an election, there were four candidates and 80% of the registered voters casted their votes. One of the candidates received 30% of the casted votes while the other three candidates received the remaining casted votes in the proportion 1 : 2 : 3. If the winner of the election received 2512 votes more than the candidate with the second highest votes, then the number of registered voters was:

CAT 2021 Slot 3 · QA
Q5.

In a tournament, a team has played 40 matches so far and won 30% of them. If they win 60% of the remaining matches, their overall win percentage will be 50%. Suppose they win 90% of the remaining matches, then the total number of matches won by the team in the tournament will be

CAT 2020 Slot 1 · QA
Q6.

In a group of people, 28% of the members are young while the rest are old. If 65% of the members are literates, and 25% of the literates are young, then the percentage of old people among the illiterates is nearest to

CAT 2020 Slot 2 · QA
Q7.

In May, John bought the same amount of rice and the same amount of wheat as he had bought in April, but spent ₹ 150 more due to price increase of rice and wheat by 20% and 12%, respectively. If John had spent ₹ 450 on rice in April, then how much did he spend on wheat in May?

CAT 2020 Slot 3 · QA
Q8.

In the final examination, Bishnu scored 52% and Asha scored 64%. The marks obtained by Bishnu is 23 less, and that by Asha is 34 more than the marks obtained by Ramesh. The marks obtained by Geeta, who scored 84%, is

CAT 2019 Slot 1 · QA
Q9.

Meena scores 40% in an examination and after review, even though her score is increased by 50%, she fails by 35 marks. If her post-review score is increased by 20%, she will have 7 marks more than the passing score. The percentage score needed for passing the examination is

CAT 2019 Slot 1 · QA
Q10.

In a class, 60% of the students are girls and the rest are boys. There are 30 more girls than boys. If 68% of the students, including 30 boys, pass an examination, the percentage of the girls who do not pass is

CAT 2019 Slot 2 · QA
Q11.

In 2010, a library contained a total of 11500 books in two categories - fiction and non-fiction. In 2015, the library contained a total of 12760 books in these two categories. During this period, there was 10% increase in the fiction category while there was 12% increase in the non-fiction category. How many fiction books were in the library in 2015?

CAT 2018 Slot 1 · QA
Q12.

In an examination, the maximum possible score is N while the pass mark is 45% of N. A candidate obtains 36 marks, but falls short of the pass mark by 68%. Which one of the following is then correct?

CAT 2017 Slot 1 · QA
Q13.

Arun's present age in years is 40% of Barun's. In another few years, Arun's age will be half of Barun's. By what percentage will Barun's age increase during this period?

CAT 2017 Slot 1 · QA
Q14.

Ravi invests 50% of his monthly savings in fixed deposits. Thirty percent of the rest of his savings is invested in stocks and the rest goes into Ravi's savings bank account. If the total amount deposited by him in the bank (for savings account and fixed deposits) is Rs 59,500, then Ravi's total monthly savings (in Rs) is:

CAT 2017 Slot 1 · QA
Q15.

The number of girls appearing for an admission test is twice the number of boys. If 30% of the girls and 45% of the boys get admission, the percentage of candidates who do not get admission is:

CAT 2017 Slot 2 · QA
Q16.

Out of the shirts produced in a factory, 15% are defective, while 20% of the rest are sold in the domestic market. If the remaining 8840 shirts are left for export, then the number of shirts produced in the factory is

CAT 2017 Slot 2 · QA
Q17.

In a village, the production of food grains increased by 40% and the per capita production of food grains increased by 27% during a certain period. The percentage by which the population of the village increased during the same period is nearest to

CAT 2004 · QA
Passage / Data

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

In an examination, there are 100 questions divided into three groups A, B and C such that each group contains at least one question. Each question in group A carries 1 mark, each question in group B carries 2 marks and each question in group C carries 3 marks. It is known that the questions in group A together carry at least 60% of the total marks.

Q18.

If group B contains 23 questions, then how many questions are there in group C?

CAT 2004 · QA
Passage / Data

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

In an examination, there are 100 questions divided into three groups A, B and C such that each group contains at least one question. Each question in group A carries 1 mark, each question in group B carries 2 marks and each question in group C carries 3 marks. It is known that the questions in group A together carry at least 60% of the total marks.

Q19.

If group C contains 8 questions and group B carries at least 20% of the total marks, which of the following best describes the number of questions in group B?

CAT 2004 · QA
Passage / Data

Answer the following question based on the information given below.

In an examination, there are 100 questions divided into three groups A, B and C such that each group contains at least one question. Each question in group A carries 1 mark, each question in group B carries 2 marks and each question in group C carries 3 marks. It is known that the questions in group A together carry at least 60% of the total marks.

Q20.

Each question is followed by two statements, A and B. Answer each question using the following instructions

Choose 1 if the question can be answered by using one of the statements alone but not by using the other statement alone.
Choose 2 if the question can be answered by using either of the statements alone.
Choose 3 if the question can be answered by using both statements together but not by either statement alone.
Choose 4 if the question cannot be answered on the basis of the two statements.

Zakib spends 30% of his income on his children’s education, 20% on recreation and 10% on healthcare. The corresponding percentages for Supriyo are 40%, 25%, and 13%. Who spends more on children’s education?

A. Zakib spends more on recreation than Supriyo.
B. Supriyo spends more on healthcare than Zakib.

CAT 2001 · QA
Q21.

A student took five papers in an examination, where the full marks were the same for each paper. His marks in these papers were in the proportion of 6 : 7 : 8 : 9 : 10. In all papers together, the candidate obtained 60% of the total marks. Then the number of papers in which he got more than 50% marks is

CAT 2001 · QA
Q22.

A college has raised 75% of the amount it needs for a new building by receiving an average donation of Rs. 600 from the people already solicited. The people already solicited represent 60% of the people the college will ask for donations. If the college is to raise exactly the amount needed for the new building, what should be the average donation from the remaining people to be solicited?

 

CAT 2000 · QA
Q23.

The table below shows the age-wise distribution of the population of Reposia. The number of people aged below 35 years is 400 million.

​​​​​​​

If the ratio of females to males in the ‘below 15 years’ age group is 0.96, then what is the number of females (in millions) in that age group?

CAT 1999 · QA
Q24.

Forty per cent of the employees of a certain company are men, and 75% of the men earn more than Rs. 25,000 per year. If 45% of the company’s employees earn more than Rs. 25,000 per year, what fraction of the women employed by the company earn less than or equal to Rs. 25,000 per year?

CAT 1998 · QA
Passage / Data

Answer the next 2 questions based on the following information.

A company purchases components A and B from Germany and USA respectively. A and B form 30% and 50% of the total production cost. Current gain is 20%. Due to change in the international scenario, cost of the German mark increased by 30% and that of USA dollar increased by 22%. Due to market conditions, the selling price cannot be increased beyond 10%.

Q25.

Direction: Each question is followed by two statements, I and II. Answer the questions based on the statements and mark the answer as
1. if the question can be answered with the help of any one statement alone but not by the other statement.
2. if the question can be answered with the help of either of the statements taken individually.
3. if the question can be answered with the help of both statements together.
4. if the question cannot be answered even with the help of both statements together.

Radha and Rani appeared in an examination. What was the total number of questions?
I. Radha and Rani together solved 20% of the paper.
II. Radha alone solved 35 of the paper solved by Rani.

CAT 1997 · QA
Passage / Data

Answer the next 3 questions based on the following information.

There are 60 students in a class. These students are divided into three groups A, B and C of 15, 20 and 25 students each. The groups A and C are combined to form group D.

Q26.

A student gets an aggregate of 60% marks in five subjects in the ratio 10 : 9 : 8 : 7 : 6. If the passing marks are 50% of the maximum marks and each subject has the same maximum marks, in how many subjects did he pass the examination?

CAT 1997 · QA
Passage / Data

Direction: Answer the questions based on the following information.

A survey of 200 people in a community who watched at least one of the three channels — BBC, CNN and DD — showed that 80% of the people watched DD, 22% watched BBC and 15% watched CNN.

Q27.

A man earns x% on the first Rs. 2,000 and y% on the rest of his income. If he earns Rs. 700 from income of Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 900 from if his income is Rs. 5,000, find x%.

CAT 1996 · QA
Passage / Data

Direction: Answer the questions based on the following information.

A salesman enters the quantity sold and the price into the computer. Both the numbers are two-digit numbers. But, by mistake, both the numbers were entered with their digits interchanged. The total sales value remained the same, i.e. Rs. 1,148, but the inventory reduced by 54.

Q28.

I bought 5 pens, 7 pencils and 4 erasers. Rajan bought 6 pens, 8 erasers and 14 pencils for an amount which was half more what I had paid. What per cent of the total amount paid by me was paid for the pens?

CAT 1995 · QA
Passage / Data

Direction: Answer the questions based on the following information.
Four sisters — Suvarna, Tara, Uma and Vibha are playing a game such that the loser doubles the money of each of the other players from her share. They played four games and each sister lost one game in alphabetical order. At the end of fourth game, each sister had Rs.32.

Q29.

A person who has a certain amount with him goes to market. He can buy 50 oranges or 40 mangoes. He retains 10% of the amount for taxi fares and buys 20 mangoes and of the balance he purchases oranges. Number of oranges he can purchase is

CAT 1995 · QA
Passage / Data

Direction: Answer the questions based on the following information.
Four sisters — Suvarna, Tara, Uma and Vibha are playing a game such that the loser doubles the money of each of the other players from her share. They played four games and each sister lost one game in alphabetical order. At the end of fourth game, each sister had Rs.32.

Q30.

25 of the voters promise to vote for P and the rest promised to vote for Q. Of these, on the last day 15% of the voters went back of their promise to vote for P and 25% of voters went back of their promise to vote for Q, and P lost by 2 votes. Then the total number of voters is

CAT 1993 · QA
Passage / Data

The following functions have been defined for three numbers A, B and C:

@ (A, B) = average of A and B
*(A, B) = product of A and B
/(A, B) = A divided by B

Answer these questions with the above data.

Q31.

A report consists of 20 sheets each of 55 lines and each such line consist of 65 characters. This report is retyped into sheets each of 65 lines such that each line consists of 70 characters. The percentage reduction in number of sheets is closest to

CAT 1991 · QA
Passage / Data

Use the following information:

Prakash has to decide whether or not to test a batch of 1000 widgets before sending them to the buyer. In case he decides to test, he has two options: (a) Use test I ; (b) Use test II. Test I cost Rs. 2 per widget. However, the test is not perfect. It sends 20% of the bad ones to the buyer as good. Test II costs Rs. 3 per widget. It brings out all the bad ones. A defective widget identified before sending can be corrected at a cost of Rs. 25 per widget. All defective widgets are identified at the buyer’s end and penalty of Rs. 50 per defective widget has to be paid by Prakash.

Q32.

Prakash should not test if the number of bad widgets in the lot is:

CAT 1991 · QA
Passage / Data

Use the following information:

Prakash has to decide whether or not to test a batch of 1000 widgets before sending them to the buyer. In case he decides to test, he has two options: (a) Use test I ; (b) Use test II. Test I cost Rs. 2 per widget. However, the test is not perfect. It sends 20% of the bad ones to the buyer as good. Test II costs Rs. 3 per widget. It brings out all the bad ones. A defective widget identified before sending can be corrected at a cost of Rs. 25 per widget. All defective widgets are identified at the buyer’s end and penalty of Rs. 50 per defective widget has to be paid by Prakash.

Q33.

If there are 120 defective widgets in the lot, Prakash:

CAT 1991 · QA
Passage / Data

Use the following information:

Prakash has to decide whether or not to test a batch of 1000 widgets before sending them to the buyer. In case he decides to test, he has two options: (a) Use test I ; (b) Use test II. Test I cost Rs. 2 per widget. However, the test is not perfect. It sends 20% of the bad ones to the buyer as good. Test II costs Rs. 3 per widget. It brings out all the bad ones. A defective widget identified before sending can be corrected at a cost of Rs. 25 per widget. All defective widgets are identified at the buyer’s end and penalty of Rs. 50 per defective widget has to be paid by Prakash.

Q34.

 If the number of defective widgets in the lot is between 200 and 400, Prakash:

CAT 1991 · QA
Passage / Data

Use the following information:

Prakash has to decide whether or not to test a batch of 1000 widgets before sending them to the buyer. In case he decides to test, he has two options: (a) Use test I ; (b) Use test II. Test I cost Rs. 2 per widget. However, the test is not perfect. It sends 20% of the bad ones to the buyer as good. Test II costs Rs. 3 per widget. It brings out all the bad ones. A defective widget identified before sending can be corrected at a cost of Rs. 25 per widget. All defective widgets are identified at the buyer’s end and penalty of Rs. 50 per defective widget has to be paid by Prakash.

Q35.

If Prakash is told that the lot has 160 defective widgets, he should:

CAT 1991 · QA
Passage / Data

Use the following information:

Prakash has to decide whether or not to test a batch of 1000 widgets before sending them to the buyer. In case he decides to test, he has two options: (a) Use test I ; (b) Use test II. Test I cost Rs. 2 per widget. However, the test is not perfect. It sends 20% of the bad ones to the buyer as good. Test II costs Rs. 3 per widget. It brings out all the bad ones. A defective widget identified before sending can be corrected at a cost of Rs. 25 per widget. All defective widgets are identified at the buyer’s end and penalty of Rs. 50 per defective widget has to be paid by Prakash.

Q36.

If there are 200 defective widgets in the lot, Prakash:

CAT 1991 · QA
Passage / Data

Answer the following questions based on the information given below:

There were a hundred schools in a town. Of these, the number of schools having a play – ground was 30, and these schools had neither a library nor a laboratory. The number of schools having a laboratory alone was twice the number of those having a library only. The number of schools having a laboratory as  well as a library was one fourth the number of those having a laboratory alone. The number of schools  having either a laboratory or a library or both was 35.

Q37.

An outgoing batch of students wants to gift PA system worth Rs. 4200 to their school. If the teachers offer to pay 50% more than the students, and an external benefactor gives three times teachers’ contribution, how much should the teachers donate?