A shopkeeper buys an article for Rs. 1,200 and sells it in such a way that he earns a profit of 20%. He then offers a discount of 10% on marked price. What is the marked price of article ?
This MPSC previous-year question is drawn from MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (English). It belongs to the Aptitude section and is reproduced here in English exactly as it appeared in the official Maharashtra Public Service Commission paper, along with the four options, the official Set A answer key and a compact explanation of why the correct option is correct.
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The right pick is option B. A 20% profit on the Rs. 1,200 cost means a selling price of Rs. 1,440. Since that comes after a 10% discount on the marked price, MP × 0.9 = 1,440, so MP = 1,440 ÷ 0.9 = Rs. 1,600.
Why this question matters
Repeat-frequency analysis of the last decade of MPSC papers shows that aptitude accounts for a stable 10–15 percent of every prelim. Aspirants who master this segment early free up preparation time for the more volatile subjects (Current Affairs, Environment) that require weekly refresh. That is why our editorial team places aptitude PYQs prominently in the topic-wise practice flow.
How to attempt this in the exam
Cover the options with your hand and try to answer the question in your own words first. Then reveal the options and pick the one closest to your mental answer. This inversion habit is especially valuable for aptitude items where three of the four options are designed to be superficially plausible.
Subject-specific tip
Tip: revise this question with the rest of the section on our subject-wise practice mode and pair the review with the relevant study guide to lock the concept into long-term memory.
MPSC prelims — the four-subject balance
The MPSC combined preliminary paper allots roughly equal weightage to Polity, Geography, History, Science, Economics, Current Affairs, Environment, Marathi grammar / English grammar and Aptitude. No single subject dominates, which means the optimal preparation strategy is to hit a floor of 60-percent accuracy across every subject before pushing any one to 90 percent. Aspirants who ignore Aptitude or Marathi grammar because they 'know the subject' consistently lose two to three marks on those sections and slip below the cut-off.
For every question you encounter on MPSC PYQ QUIZ, the recommended review loop is: attempt without looking at the answer; check the correct option; read the explanation; then read the 'Why this question matters' and 'How to attempt' sections below. That three-minute loop turns each PYQ into a mini-lesson and is why the majority of our top-percentile users solve every PYQ at least twice.
The strongest signal that you are ready for MPSC prelims is not the number of PYQs solved but the accuracy on unseen mock questions. Practise unseen items from our topic-wise section between full-length mocks to stress-test whether the concepts have really moved into long-term memory.
Source and editorial process
Source: MPSC Group B Combined Pre 2026 (English). This question, its four options and the marked correct answer are transcribed verbatim from the official Maharashtra Public Service Commission Set A paper. Our editorial team cross-checks each question against the original PDF released on mpsc.gov.in and against the corresponding official answer key.
We never paraphrase the wording. Where MPSC has issued a revised key after an objection round, the answer highlighted above reflects the revised key and the revision is logged in our internal change-log. If you spot a discrepancy, please email us at dontknowacademy@gmail.com — we acknowledge every report within 24 hours and push a fix within 48 hours.
Related study material
Deepen your preparation on this topic with our long-form MPSC study guides. Every guide is written specifically for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission preliminary syllabus and takes twelve to sixteen minutes to read in full.
- MPSC Exam PatternGroup B, Group C, PSI, Gazetted CS & TS prelims — marks, syllabus, negative marking, cut-offs.
- MPSC Preparation Strategy6-month plan, book list, daily routine, PYQ usage, mock-test strategy.
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About MPSC PYQ QUIZ
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