General Aptitude, Reasoning and Awareness
General aptitude, reasoning and awareness check quantitative speed, logical structure and broad familiarity with India’s telecom and governance environment. The arithmetic is school-level; the marks are lost through misreading the base, the direction or the quantifier.
Core rules and concepts
- Percentages: successive changes multiply, (1+a)(1+b); percentage points are absolute differences, not relative changes.
- Ratios and averages: use weighted averages when group sizes differ; average speed for equal distances is harmonic, not arithmetic.
- Time-speed-distance: distance = speed × time; convert km/h to m/s by ×5/18. Work problems use rate = 1/time.
- Counting: permutations when order matters, combinations when it does not; nCr = nC(n−r).
- Reasoning: number series use differences/products; coding shifts letters; syllogisms follow only the stated quantifiers; seating problems anchor fixed positions first.
- Awareness: BSNL is an Indian public-sector telecom operator; DoT frames telecom policy; TRAI regulates tariffs/interconnection; spectrum is a scarce licensed resource. Use stable facts, not volatile rankings.
Worked example
Cost price 100. A 25% mark-up gives marked price 125. A 10% discount is taken on the marked price, so selling price = 125 × 0.90 = 112.5. Profit = 12.5 on cost, or 12.5%. The multiplier is 1.25 × 0.90 = 1.125; adding 25% and subtracting 10% would wrongly give 15%.
Traps that cost marks
Add successive percentage changes; apply discount to cost price; average averages without weights; convert “all A are B” into “all B are A”; treat “some” as “all”; rely on outdated current-affairs figures.