CDS Percentage Change — Study Material, 15 PYQs & Practice MCQs | ZestExam
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CDS Percentage Change
Study Material — 15 PYQs (2018–2023) · Concept Notes · Shortcuts
CDS Percentage Change is a frequently tested subtopic — 15 previous year questions from 2018–2023 papers are included below with concept notes, key rules and shortcut tricks.
The price of a book increased from ₹200 to ₹250. What is the percentage increase in price?
Exam Q 32023Previous Year Pattern
The population of a town increased from 50,000 to 60,000. What is the percentage increase in population?
Exam Q 42023Previous Year Pattern
A mobile phone's price decreased from ₹15,000 to ₹12,000. What is the percentage decrease in price?
Exam Q 52023Previous Year Pattern
The population of a town was 50,000 in 2020. If it increased by 20% in 2021, what was the population in 2021?
Exam Q 62023Previous Year Pattern
A student's marks increased from 60 to 75. What is the percentage increase in marks?
Exam Q 72023Previous Year Pattern
A student scored 72 marks out of 120 in an exam. What is the percentage of marks obtained?
Exam Q 82020Previous Year Pattern
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first year. In the second year, the price decreases by 20% from the increased price. What is the net percentage change in the price over the two years?
Exam Q 92023Previous Year Pattern
A shopkeeper reduced the price of a shirt from ₹800 to ₹600. What is the percentage decrease?
Exam Q 102018Previous Year Pattern
The price of a shirt increased from ₹400 to ₹500. What is the percentage increase in the price?
Exam Q 112023Previous Year Pattern
A shopkeeper buys goods at ₹800 per unit. He marks up the price by 40% and then offers a discount of 15% on the marked price. What is the profit percentage?
Exam Q 122023Previous Year Pattern
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first year and then decreases by 20% in the second year. What is the net percentage change in price over the two years?
Exam Q 132018Previous Year Pattern
The price of a laptop was increased by 20% and then decreased by 15%. What is the net percentage change in the price of the laptop?
Exam Q 142020Previous Year Pattern
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first year. In the second year, the new price decreases by 20%. If the final price is ₹600, what was the original price?
Exam Q 152020Previous Year Pattern
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first year. In the second year, it decreases by 20% of the new price. In the third year, it increases by 10% of the price at the end of the second year. If the final price is ₹1,980, what was the original price?
Concept Notes
Percentage Change— Rules & Concept
💡
Core Concept
Read this first — the foundation of the topic
Percentage change is the difference between the original value and the new value, expressed as a percentage of the original value. This concept appears in almost every SSC CGL paper and forms the backbone of profit-loss, simple interest, and data interpretation questions.
Core Concept: When any quantity increases or decreases, we calculate the percentage change to measure the rate of change. For example, if your salary increases from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000, the percentage increase is 25%.
Key
🔢
Formula Block
Memorise — at least one formula appears in every paper
• Percentage Increase = [(New Value - Original Value) / Original Value] × 100
• Percentage Decrease = [(Original Value - New Value) / Original Value] × 100
• New Value after x% increase = Original Value × (100 + x)/100
• New Value after x% decrease = Original Value × (100 - x)/100
• Successive percentage changes: If a value changes by a% then b%, final change = [a + b + (ab/100)]%
📊
Exam Patterns
What examiners ask — read before attempting PYQs
💡Remember
percentage change is always calculated on the ORIGINAL value, not the new value. If price changes from Rs 100 to Rs 120, the base is Rs 100, not Rs 120. Many students calculate (20/120) × 100 instead of (20/100) × 100, leading to wrong answers
📋Exam Strategy
Practice reverse calculations where you find original values from final values and percentage changes. SSC frequently tests this concept in tricky word problems involving multiple successive changes.
Key Points to Remember
Percentage change = [(New Value - Original Value) / Original Value] × 100
Always use original value as denominator, never the new value
Successive changes formula: a + b + (ab/100) for changes of a% and b%
The salary of an employee was ₹30,000 per month. It was increased by 15%. What is the new salary?
Practice 2easy
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first month and then decreases by 20% in the second month. What is the net percentage change in the price over the two months?
Practice 3easy
A student scored 72 marks out of 120 in an exam. What is the percentage of marks obtained?
Practice 4easy
A shopkeeper reduced the price of a shirt from ₹800 to ₹600. What is the percentage decrease?
Practice 5easy
The population of a village decreased from 5000 to 4500. What is the percentage decrease in population?
Practice 6easy
A student's marks increased from 60 to 75. What is the percentage increase in marks?
Practice 7easy
If the population of a town was 50,000 and it increased by 20%, what is the new population?
Practice 8easy
The price of a book increased from ₹200 to ₹250. What is the percentage increase in price?
Practice 9easy
A shopkeeper reduced the price of a shirt from ₹800 to ₹600. What is the percentage decrease in price?
Practice 10easy
The price of petrol decreased from ₹100 per litre to ₹80 per litre. What is the percentage decrease?
Practice 11medium
A shopkeeper marks up goods by 60% above cost price. He then offers a discount of 25% on the marked price. What is his profit percentage?
Practice 12medium
The population of a town increases by 10% in the first year. In the second year, it decreases by 5%. In the third year, it increases by 8%. What is the net percentage change in population after three years?
Practice 13medium
A shopkeeper buys goods at ₹500 per unit. He marks up the price by 40% but then offers a discount of 10% on the marked price. What is his profit percentage?
Practice 14medium
A student's marks increased from 45 to 54. Later, the marks were recalculated and decreased from 54 to 48. What is the net percentage change in marks from the original value of 45?
Practice 15medium
The value of a car depreciates by 15% in the first year and 10% in the second year. If the initial value was ₹5,00,000, what is the value after two years?
Practice 16medium
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first year and then decreases by 20% in the second year. What is the net percentage change in price over the two years?
Practice 17medium
The value of a car depreciates by 20% in the first year and 15% in the second year. If the initial value was ₹5,00,000, what is the value after two years?
Practice 18medium
A shopkeeper marks up goods by 40% above cost price. He then offers a discount of 25% on the marked price. What is his profit percentage?
Practice 19medium
The price of a commodity increases by 25% in the first year. In the second year, it decreases by 20% of the new price. If the original price was ₹800, what is the percentage change in price over the two years?
Practice 20medium
A number is increased by 50% and then decreased by 50%. What is the net percentage change?
14 more practice questions in the Study Panel
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