Total marks from a fail margin — Aptitude Question
Total marks from a fail margin: A student must score 33% to pass. He gets 125 marks and fails by 40 marks. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Percentages
- Section: Quantitative Aptitude
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time target: 50 seconds
Question
A student must score 33% to pass. He gets 125 marks and fails by 40 marks. What are the maximum marks?
Options
- 400
- 450
- 500
- 600
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: C. 500
Worked solution
- Passing marks = 125 + 40 = 165.
- 33% of total = 165, so total = 165 ÷ 0.33 = 500.
- Check: 33% of 500 = 165. ✓
Answer: 500.
The idea
Turn the story into one equation: the pass mark is both a percentage of the maximum and a number you can compute. Then divide.
Shortcut. Pass mark = 125 + 40 = 165, and 33% ≈ 1/3, so the total ≈ 3 × 165 = 495; only 500 is near, and 0.33 × 500 = 165 exactly.
Common trap. 400 — treating the 125 he scored as the 33% (125 ÷ 0.33 ≈ 379) and taking the nearest option, forgetting the 40-mark shortfall.