Quick Concept Summary
A caselet is a paragraph that hides a data table inside it. Instead of presenting numbers in a chart, the data is written in sentences. Your job is to extract and organise the data first, then answer the questions.
Strategy in 3 steps: 1. Read the full paragraph once. 2. Pull out every number and label it in a mini table. 3. Solve questions from your table — never re-read the paragraph for each question.
Worked Examples
Example 1 — School Enrolment
Paragraph: A school has 450 students. 40% of them are girls. Among the boys, 1/3 are from Class 10. The remaining boys are equally divided between Class 9 and Class 8.
Step 1 — Build the table:
| Category | Count |
|---|---|
| Total students | 450 |
| Girls (40%) | 180 |
| Boys (60%) | 270 |
| Boys in Class 10 (1/3 of 270) | 90 |
| Boys remaining (270 − 90) | 180 |
| Boys in Class 9 | 90 |
| Boys in Class 8 | 90 |
Questions: 1. How many boys are in Class 9?
2. What percentage of total students are boys in Class 10?
- 90/450 × 100 = 20%
Example 2 — Factory Production
Paragraph: A factory produced 6,000 units in a week. Monday and Tuesday together produced 2,000 units. Wednesday produced twice as many as Tuesday. Thursday and Friday together produced 1,500 units. Saturday's production was 200 units less than Wednesday's.
Step 1 — Build the table:
| Day | Units |
|---|---|
| Mon + Tue | 2,000 |
| Wed = 2 × Tue | — |
| Thu + Fri | 1,500 |
| Sat = Wed − 200 | — |
| Total | 6,000 |
From total: Mon + Tue + Wed + Thu + Fri + Sat = 6,000 → 2,000 + Wed + 1,500 + (Wed − 200) = 6,000 → 3,300 + 2 × Wed = 6,000 → Wed = 1,350; Sat = 1,150
| Day | Units |
|---|---|
| Mon + Tue | 2,000 |
| Wed | 1,350 |
| Thu + Fri | 1,500 |
| Sat | 1,150 |
| Total | 6,000 |
Questions: 1. What was Saturday's production?
2. Wednesday produced what percentage of total?
- 1,350/6,000 × 100 = 22.5%
Example 3 — Budget Allocation
Paragraph: A family earns ₹60,000 per month. They spend 30% on rent, 20% on food, 15% on education, and save the rest.
| Category | % | Amount (₹) |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | 30% | 18,000 |
| Food | 20% | 12,000 |
| Education | 15% | 9,000 |
| Savings | 35% | 21,000 |
| Total | 100% | 60,000 |
Questions: 1. How much is saved per month? ₹21,000 2. Rent exceeds food by how much? ₹18,000 − ₹12,000 = ₹6,000
Practice Questions
Set 1: A college has 800 students. 55% are boys. Among girls, 60% study Science and the rest study Arts. Among boys, 40% study Commerce.
1. How many girls study Science? 2. How many boys study Commerce? 3. How many students study Arts (girls only)? 4. What percentage of total students are boys in Commerce?
Set 2: In a survey of 1,200 people, 45% preferred tea, 35% preferred coffee, and the remaining preferred juice. Among tea drinkers, 2/3 were women.
1. How many people preferred juice? 2. How many women preferred tea? 3. Coffee drinkers were how many more than juice drinkers? 4. What fraction of total respondents were tea-drinking women?
Set 3: A company had revenue of ₹5,00,000 in Q1. Q2 revenue was 20% more than Q1. Q3 was 10% less than Q2. Q4 was equal to Q1.
1. What was Q2 revenue? 2. What was Q3 revenue? 3. What was the total annual revenue? 4. Which quarter had the highest revenue?
Common Mistakes
- Solving from the paragraph directly without building a table first — wastes time and causes errors
- Confusing whether a percentage applies to the total or to a subgroup
- Not checking if all values add up to the stated total
- Mixing up "X% more than" (relative) with plain percentage-of-total questions
Revision Checklist
- [ ] Always extract data into a table before answering
- [ ] Verify: parts sum to total
- [ ] Distinguish: "% of total" vs "% of subgroup"
- [ ] For multi-step problems, derive unknown values using the total as a constraint