Study Material — 14 PYQs (2018–2020) · Concept Notes · Shortcuts
SSC MTS False Weight / Fraudulent Dealer is a frequently tested subtopic — 14 previous year questions from 2018–2020 papers are included below with concept notes, key rules and shortcut tricks.
14 questions from actual SSC MTS papers · all shown free · click option to reveal solution
Exam Q 12020Previous Year Pattern
A dishonest shopkeeper claims to sell goods at cost price but uses a false weight of 800 g instead of 1000 g. What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 22020Previous Year Pattern
A dishonest dealer uses 750 g weights instead of 1000 g while buying and uses 1000 g weights instead of 1250 g while selling. He claims to sell at cost price. What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 32020Previous Year Pattern
A dealer uses 950 g weights instead of 1000 g while buying goods. He sells at cost price using correct weights. What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 42020Previous Year Pattern
A fraudulent dealer uses 900 g weights instead of 1 kg while buying goods at cost price. When selling, he uses correct weights but claims to sell at cost price. What is his overall profit percentage?
Exam Q 52020Previous Year Pattern
A shopkeeper uses 900 g weights instead of 1 kg while selling. To earn a profit of 25%, at what price per kg should he sell if the cost price is ₹80 per kg?
Exam Q 62020Previous Year Pattern
A vendor uses 750 g instead of 1 kg while selling and 1.2 kg instead of 1 kg while buying. If his cost price is ₹40 per kg and he sells at ₹60 per kg, what is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 72020Previous Year Pattern
A dishonest shopkeeper claims to sell goods at cost price but uses a false weight of 900 g instead of 1 kg. What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 82020Previous Year Pattern
A fraudulent dealer claims to sell at cost price but uses 950 g weights instead of 1 kg. A customer buys goods worth ₹1000 at marked price. How much less does the customer actually receive in terms of quantity?
Exam Q 92018Previous Year Pattern
A fraudulent dealer buys goods at ₹10 per kg and sells at ₹15 per kg. However, he uses a faulty balance that shows 1 kg when the actual weight is 1.25 kg. What is his overall profit percentage?
Exam Q 102018Previous Year Pattern
A shopkeeper uses a weighing machine that reads 1.1 kg when the actual weight is 1 kg. He buys goods at ₹80 per kg and sells at ₹100 per kg (both prices based on actual weight). What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 112018Previous Year Pattern
A vendor uses a faulty balance that reads 1 kg when the actual weight is 800 g. He buys goods at ₹60 per kg and sells at ₹75 per kg. What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 122018Previous Year Pattern
A dishonest grocer claims to sell sugar at ₹50 per kg but uses weights such that 1200 g is marked as 1 kg. Additionally, he mixes 20% sand with the sugar. If his cost price is ₹40 per kg of pure sugar, what is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 132018Previous Year Pattern
A dishonest shopkeeper claims to sell goods at cost price but uses a faulty weighing machine. When he should give 1000 g, he actually gives only 800 g. What is his profit percentage?
Exam Q 142018Previous Year Pattern
A merchant uses a weighing machine that reads 900 g when the actual weight is 1 kg. He buys goods at ₹100 per kg and sells at ₹120 per kg (both at actual weight). What is his profit percentage?
Concept Notes
False Weight / Fraudulent Dealer— Rules & Concept
Core ConceptRead this first — the foundation of the topic
Core Concept
A dealer uses false weights to gain extra profit. He might use a lighter weight while buying (getting more quantity for same price) or a heavier weight while selling (charging more for less quantity). Sometimes he does both
Key Rules
When a dealer uses weight 'w' grams instead of 1000 grams, his gain percentage = [(1000-w)/w] × 100. If he uses heavier weight while selling, gain = [(w-1000)/1000] × 100. For combined fraud (both buying and selling), multiply both gain factors.
Formula BlockMemorise — at least one formula appears in every paper
• Gain% when using lighter weight for buying = [(True weight - False weight)/False weight] × 100
• Gain% when using heavier weight for selling = [(False weight - True weight)/True weight] × 100
• Overall gain% = [(CP with false weight)/(Actual CP)] × [(SP with false weight)/(Actual SP)] - 1
Exam PatternsWhat examiners ask — read before attempting PYQs
SSC asks three main types - (1) Find gain% when false weight is given, (2) Find false weight when gain% is given, (3) Combined buying-selling fraud problems. Questions often involve 900g, 800g weights instead of 1kg, or 1200g, 1100g for selling.
ShortcutsUse these to save 30–60 seconds per question
For buying with lighter weight - if dealer uses 800g instead of 1000g, he gains 200g extra on every 800g. So gain% = 200/800 = 25%. Quick formula: Extra weight/False weight × 100.
Worked ExampleSolve this step-by-step before moving on
1
Step 1
Calculate gain% in buying.
Using 900g instead of 1000g means getting 1000g quantity for price of 900g.
Gain% in buying = (1000-900)/900 × 100 = 100/900 × 100 = 11.11%
This means CP becomes 100/111.11 = 90% of actual.
2
Step 2
Calculate gain% in selling.
Using 1100g instead of 1000g means customer pays for 1100g but gets 1000g.
Gain% in selling = (1100-1000)/1000 × 100 = 10%
This means SP becomes 110% of actual.