Percentage — CAT Previous-Year Questions

 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

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

The salaries of three friends Sita, Gita and Mita are initially in the ratio 5 : 6 : 7, respectively. In the first year, they get salary hikes of 20%, 25% and 20%, respectively. In the second year, Sita and Mita get salary hikes of 40% and 25%, respectively, and the salary of Gita becomes equal to the mean salary of the three friends. The salary hike of Gita in the second year is

The population of a town in 2020 was 100000. The population decreased by y% from the year 2020 to 2021, and increased by x% from the year 2021 to 2022, where x and y are two natural numbers. If population in 2022 was greater than the population in 2020 and the difference between x and y is 10, then the lowest possible population of the town in 2021 was

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

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:

Identical chocolate pieces are sold in boxes of two sizes, small and large. The large box is sold for twice the price of the small box. If the selling price per gram of chocolate in the large box is 12% less than that in the small box, then the percentage by which the weight of chocolate in the large box exceeds that in the small box is nearest to

Raj invested ₹ 10000 in a fund. At the end of first year, he incurred a loss but his balance was more than ₹ 5000. This balance, when invested for another year, grew and the percentage of growth in the second year was five times the percentage of loss in the first year. If the gain of Raj from the initial investment over the two year period is 35%, then the percentage of loss in the first year is 

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

The total of male and female populations in a city increased by 25% from 1970 to 1980. During the same period, the male population increased by 40% while the female population increased by 20%. From 1980 to 1990, the female population increased by 25%. In 1990, if the female population is twice the male population, then the percentage increase in the total of male and female populations in the city from 1970 to 1990 is

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

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?

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

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

The income of Amala is 20% more than that of Bimala and 20% less than that of Kamala. If Kamala's income goes down by 4% and Bimala's goes up by 10%, then the percentage by which Kamala's income would exceed Bimala's is nearest to

On selling a pen at 5% loss and a book at 15% gain, Karim gains Rs. 7. If he sells the pen at 5% gain and the book at 10% gain, he gains Rs. 13. What is the cost price of the book in Rupees?

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

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?

In an examination, the score of A was 10% less than that of B, the score of B was 25% more than that of C, and the score of C was 20% less than that of D. If A scored 72, then the score of D was

The salaries of Ramesh, Ganesh and Rajesh were in the ratio 6 : 5 : 7 in 2010, and in the ratio 3 : 4 : 3 in 2015. If Ramesh's salary increased by 25% during 2010-2015, then the percentage increase in Rajesh's salary during this period is closest to

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?

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?

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:

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:

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

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

The maximum guaranteed return to Shabnam is:

What strategy will maximize the guaranteed return to Shabnam?

Each question is followed by two statements, I and II. Answer each question using the following instructions:

Mark (1) if the question can be answered by using statement I alone but not by using statement II alone.
Mark (2) if the question can be answered by using statement II alone but not by using statement I alone.
Mark (3) if the question can be answered by using either of the statements alone.
Mark (4) if the question can be answered by using both the statements together but not by either of the statements alone.
Mark (5) if the question cannot be answered by using any of the statements.

Thirty percent of the employees of a call centre are males. Ten per cent of the female employees have an engineering background. What is the percentage of male employees with engineering background?

I. Twenty five per cent of the employees have engineering background.
II. Number of male employees having an engineering background is 20% more than the number of female employees having an engineering background.

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

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?

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.

At the end of year 1998, Shepard bought nine dozen goats. Henceforth, every year he added p% of the goats at the beginning of the year and sold q% of the goats at the end of the year where p > 0 and q > 0. If Shepard had nine dozen goats at the end of year 2002, after making the sales for that year, which of the following is true?

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

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?

The owner of an art shop conducts his business in the following manner: Every once in a while he raises his prices by X%, then a while later he reduces all the new prices by X%. After one such up-down cycle, the price of a painting decreased by Rs. 441. After a second up-down cycle the painting was sold for Rs. 1,944.81. What was the original price of the painting?

Choose 1; if the question can be answered by using one of the statements alone, but cannot be answered using the other statement alone.
Choose 2; if the question can be answered by using either statement alone.
Choose 3; if the question can be answered by using both statements together, but cannot be answered using either statement alone.
Choose 4; if the question cannot be answered even by using both statements together.

Is Country X's GDP higher than country Y's GDP?

1. GDPs of the countries X and Y have grown over the past five years at compounded annual rate of 5% and 6% respectively.
2. Five years ago, GDP of country X was higher than that of country Y.

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

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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?

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?

One bacterium splits into eight bacteria of the next generation. But due to environmental condition only 50% survives and remaining 50% dies after producing next generation. If the seventh generation number is 4,096 million, what is the number in first generation?

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 $\frac{3}{5}$ of the paper solved by Rani.

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?

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%.

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?

The price of a Maruti car rises by 30% while the sales of the car come down by 20%. What is the percentage change in the total revenue?

Ram purchased a flat at Rs.1 lakh and Prem purchased a plot of land worth Rs.1.1 lakh. The respective annual rates at which the prices of the flat and the plot increased were 10% and 5%. After two years they exchanged their belongings and one paid the other the difference. Then

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

$\frac{2}{5}$ 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

The rate of inflation was 1000%. Then what will be the cost of an article, which costs 6 units of currency now, 2 years from now?

The number of votes not cast for the Praja Party increased by 25% in the National General Election over those not cast for it in the previous Assembly Polls, and the Praja Party lost by a majority twice as large as that by which it had won the Assembly Polls. If a total 2,60,000 people voted each time. How many voted for the Praja Party in the Assembly Elections.

The rate of increase of the price of sugar is observed to be two percent more than the inflation rate expressed in percentage. The price of sugar, on January 1, 1994, is Rs. 20 per kg. The inflation rate for the years 1994 and 1995 are expected to be 8% each. The expected price of sugar on January 1, 1996 would be

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?