Pariksha SaathiQuantitative Aptitude
Percentage: Practice Questions with Answers
21 practice questions on Percentage, with answers; most also have an explanation or a worked solution. Try each one before you open its answer.
Read the lesson on this topic →
-
Q.1
The price of rice rises by 25%. By what percentage should consumption fall to keep spending unchanged?
Show answer
Answer: 20%
Solution:
- Spending = price × quantity. Let the old price and quantity each be 100.
- New price = 125. To keep the product 10,000, new quantity = 10,000/125 = 80.
- Quantity falls from 100 to 80, a 20% reduction.
-
Q.2
A pass rate rises from 60% to 72%. Find the increase in percentage points and the relative percentage increase.
Show answer
Answer: 12 percentage points; 20% relative increase
Solution:
- Percentage-point change = 72 − 60 = 12.
- Relative change uses the old rate: 12/60 × 100 = 20%.
- Both describe the same change using different units.
-
Q.3
A number is first increased by 20%, then the result is decreased by 20%. What is the net percentage change?
Show answer
Answer: Net decrease of 4% (not 0%, even though +20 and −20 look like they should cancel)
Solution:
- Using the successive-change formula: net change = a + b + (ab/100)
- = 20 + (−20) + (20 × −20)/100
- = 0 − 4 = −4%
- Check directly: start with 100 → increase 20% → 120 → decrease 20% → 120 × 0.8 = 96, which is 4% less than 100.
-
Q.4
What is 35% of 240?
-
Q.5
A is 25% greater than B. By what percentage is B less than A?
Show answer
Answer: 20%
Solution:
- Let B = 100, so A = 125.
- The difference is 25, but the requested comparison uses A as the base.
- 25/125 × 100 = 20%.
-
Q.6
One class has 40 students with a 75% pass rate; another has 60 students with a 50% pass rate. Find the combined pass rate.
Show answer
Answer: 60%
Solution:
- Passed in first class = 40 × 0.75 = 30.
- Passed in second class = 60 × 0.50 = 30.
- Combined = 60 passes out of 100 students = 60%. The unweighted average 62.5% is wrong because the class sizes differ.
-
Q.7
A salary becomes ₹28,800 after a 20% increase. What was the original salary?
Show answer
Answer: ₹24,000
Solution:
- Final = original × 1.20.
- Original = 28,800 ÷ 1.20 = 24,000.
- Check: 20% of 24,000 is 4,800; adding it gives 28,800. Subtracting 20% of 28,800 would use the wrong base.
-
Q.8
In an election between two candidates, the winner received 60% of the votes and won by 4,800 votes. Find the total number of votes polled.
Show answer
Answer: 24,000 votes
Solution:
- Winner: 60%, Loser: 40% → difference = 20% of total votes
- 20% of total = 4,800
- 1% of total = 240
- 100% of total = 24,000
-
Q.9
The price of an item increased from ₹800 to ₹920. What is the percentage increase?
Show answer
Answer: 15%
Solution:
- Increase = 920 − 800 = 120
- Percentage increase = (120 / 800) × 100
- = 15%
-
Q.10
A price after a 15% discount is ₹1,020. Find the original price.
Show answer
Answer: ₹1,200. The final price is 85% of the original: 1,020/0.85 = 1,200.
-
Q.11
A number increased from 250 to 300. Find the percentage increase.
Show answer
Answer: 20%. The increase is 50 and the original base is 250: 50/250 × 100.
-
Q.12
What is 45% of 160?
-
Q.13
A value rises by 10% and then 20%. Find the net increase.
Show answer
Answer: 32%. Multiply 1.10 × 1.20 = 1.32; adding 10 and 20 ignores the changed base.
-
Q.14
A value falls by 20%. What increase restores it?
Show answer
Answer: 25%. Start with 100 → 80. The required gain is 20 on a base of 80: 20/80 × 100.
-
Q.15
30% of 200 candidates and 50% of 100 candidates pass. What percentage passes overall?
Show answer
Answer: 36⅔%. Passes = 60 + 50 = 110; total candidates = 300; 110/300 × 100.
-
Q.16
A rate changes from 8% to 10%. State both measures of increase.
Show answer
Answer: 2 percentage points; 25% relative increase because 2/8 × 100 = 25.
-
Q.17
If 20% of a number is 50, find the number.
-
Q.18
A quantity changes from 750 to 660. What is the percentage decrease, measured against the original value?
- A 150/11%
- B 88%
- C 12%
- D 1.2%
Show answer
Correct answer: (C) 12%
The absolute decrease is 90. Percentage change is measured against the original value 750, so it equals (90/750) × 100 = 12%. Check: 12% of 750 is 90; subtracting that amount gives 660. Dividing by the new value would answer a different comparison.
-
Q.19
A quantity changes from 480 to 600. What is the percentage increase, measured against the original value?
- A 20%
- B 75%
- C 25%
- D 125%
Show answer
Correct answer: (C) 25%
The absolute increase is 120. Percentage change is measured against the original value 480, so it equals (120/480) × 100 = 25%. Check: 25% of 480 is 120; adding that amount gives 600. Dividing by the new value would answer a different comparison.
-
Q.20
A quantity changes from 1250 to 1500. What is the percentage increase, measured against the original value?
- A 50/3%
- B 20%
- C 80%
- D 120%
Show answer
Correct answer: (B) 20%
The absolute increase is 250. Percentage change is measured against the original value 1250, so it equals (250/1250) × 100 = 20%. Check: 20% of 1250 is 250; adding that amount gives 1500. Dividing by the new value would answer a different comparison.
-
Q.21
A quantity changes from 960 to 840. What is the percentage decrease, measured against the original value?
- A 100/7%
- B 87.5%
- C 1.25%
- D 12.5%
Show answer
Correct answer: (D) 12.5%
The absolute decrease is 120. Percentage change is measured against the original value 960, so it equals (120/960) × 100 = 12.5%. Check: 12.5% of 960 is 120; subtracting that amount gives 840. Dividing by the new value would answer a different comparison.
How these questions were made
Written by Mahesh Srivastava, Founder of Pariksha Saathi. Published: 2026-10-01.
Authored by an AI assistant (ChatGPT) - not reviewed by a subject-matter expert.