Aptitude: Quantitative Ability for IPMAT Indore
What the Aptitude section tests
The Aptitude (Quantitative Ability) section of IPMAT Indore rewards fast, accurate arithmetic reasoning rather than long computation. It draws on percentages, ratio and proportion, averages, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time–speed–distance, time and work, mixtures, number properties, and basic mensuration. Questions are short; the real difficulty is picking the efficient method and avoiding a careless slip under time pressure.
Core rules to keep ready
- Percent change = (new − old) / old × 100; successive changes multiply as (1 + a)(1 + b) − 1.
- Profit percent is taken on cost price unless stated otherwise; discount percent is taken on marked price.
- In ratio problems, introduce a common multiplier k instead of guessing values.
- For time and work, convert to rates: a worker finishing in a days has rate 1/a per day.
Worked example
A trader marks an item 40% above cost and then allows a 25% discount. What is the profit percent?
Take cost = 100. Marked price = 140. Discount = 25% of 140 = 35, so selling price = 105. Profit = 5 on a cost of 100, that is 5%. The shortcut is the multiplier product: 1.40 × 0.75 = 1.05.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing percentage points with relative change: a rise from 20% to 25% is a 25% relative increase, not 5%. Adding successive percentages instead of multiplying them. Computing profit on selling price out of habit. In short-answer items there is no negative marking, so never leave a numeric blank; in MCQ items, use the last digit or approximate magnitude to eliminate options before doing full arithmetic.