SSC CGL Quantitative Aptitude Syllabus

Quantitative Aptitude carries 140 marks across the two tiers and takes more preparation hours than any other subject in SSC CGL. It is also the section where sectional timing hurt candidates most, because it was the one people used to borrow time for.

Where quantitative aptitude sits in the exam

Stage	Questions	Marks	Time
Tier 1, Quantitative Aptitude	25	50	15 minutes
Tier 2 Paper 1, Mathematical Abilities module	30	90	Shared hour with Reasoning

Tier 1 deducts 0.50 per wrong answer. Tier 2 deducts a full mark. Twenty-five questions in fifteen minutes leaves no room for a long calculation, which is the change most Tier 1 strategies were built around.

SSC CGL Quantitative Aptitude syllabus, topic wise

Number system

Computation of whole numbers, decimals and fractions, relationships between numbers, LCM and HCF, divisibility, remainders and surds and indices.

Arithmetic

Percentage, ratio and proportion, square roots, averages, simple and compound interest, profit and loss, discount, partnership business, mixture and alligation, time and distance, boats and streams, trains, pipes and cisterns, plus time and work.

Arithmetic is the largest block in Tier 1 and stays substantial in Tier 2.

Algebra

Basic algebraic identities of school algebra, elementary surds, linear equations and their graphs, quadratic equations and polynomials.

Geometry

Triangles and their various centres, congruence and similarity of triangles, circles and their chords, tangents, angles subtended by chords of a circle, common tangents to two or more circles, quadrilaterals and polygons.

Mensuration

Triangles, quadrilaterals, regular polygons and circles in two dimensions. Right prisms, right circular cones, right circular cylinders, spheres, hemispheres, rectangular parallelepipeds and regular right pyramids with triangular or square bases in three dimensions.

Solid mensuration is largely a Tier 2 concern and one of the clearest points where the two tiers separate.

Trigonometry

Trigonometric ratios, complementary angles, standard identities, plus heights and distances.

Data interpretation and statistics

Tables and graphs, histograms, frequency polygons, bar diagrams and pie charts. Tier 2 adds measures of central tendency including mean, median, mode and standard deviation, and the calculation of simple probabilities.

Where the marks actually are

Arithmetic, geometry, mensuration and trigonometry between them account for most of the paper in both tiers. Algebra is steady but smaller. Data interpretation is reliable and worth a fixed block of marks in every shift.

The practical consequence is that a candidate who is weak in geometry and trigonometry cannot pass by being strong in arithmetic. Those three topics are the ones described as advanced maths, and they are what separates scores in Tier 2.

How to prepare quantitative aptitude for SSC CGL

Learn the standard formulae properly before starting speed work. Half the time lost in this section goes on rederiving something that should be automatic.

Then build speed deliberately. Squares to thirty, cubes to twenty, fraction to percentage conversions and basic multiplication shortcuts are worth more in a fifteen minute section than any advanced technique.

Practise Tier 1 at the sectional clock and Tier 2 at the shared clock with reasoning. These are two different exams in the same subject and rehearsing one does not prepare you for the other.

Keep an error log by topic. Most candidates lose marks in the same three or four places repeatedly, and finding out which ones they are is faster than solving another thousand questions.