Practice Set — Tables and Shares

Two full sets at CAT length, four questions each, to be attempted the way the section is attempted: read both, decide which to do first, then commit. Set 1 is two years of revenue and headcount across five branches — arithmetic-heavy but honest. Set 2 gives shares rather than amounts, with the totals printed separately, which is the construction most likely to produce a confident wrong answer: a share can rise while the amount falls, and a share can fall while the amount doubles. Time yourself: eight minutes for a set of four is the pace that leaves room for three sets in forty minutes. Every figure in these tables was checked by script, so if your arithmetic disagrees with the explanation, the explanation is the place to look for the reason rather than the error.

How to Use This Chapter

  1. Read both sets before answering anything, and write down which you would attempt first. That ranking is the skill the section actually tests.
  2. Set a timer for eight minutes per set. Stop when it rings even if one question is unfinished — that is the real constraint, and practising without it trains the wrong thing.
  3. Before dividing anything, check the options. If they are far apart, an estimate settles the question and long division is wasted time.
  4. After finishing, compare your ranking with which set actually went faster. Ten repetitions of that comparison is what makes triage reliable.

Key takeaways

  • Revenue per employee is a ratio of two columns: neither column alone answers a question about productivity.
  • A percentage change is always divided by the earlier value, so the largest absolute rise and the largest percentage rise are usually different rows.
  • When a table gives shares and totals separately, every question about an amount needs both. Reading the share alone is the trap the construction exists for.
  • A falling share can hide a rising amount: 30% of 400 is more than 50% of 200.
  • Check the options before calculating. Options six points apart need an estimate, not a division to four decimal places.
  • Eight minutes for a four-question set is the pace that fits three sets into a forty-minute section. Practise against the clock or you are practising something else.

Practice questions (11)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

  1. Set 1. The table gives the revenue (₹ crore) and the number of employees at five branches of a firm in 2022 and 2023.

    Revenue (₹ crore) and employees, by branch
    BranchRevenue 2022Revenue 2023Employees 2022Employees 2023
    Pune120150400500
    Jaipur8092250230
    Kochi150150500450
    Patna6084200280
    Indore9099300290
    Total50057516501750

    Which branch recorded the highest percentage growth in revenue from 2022 to 2023?

    1. Pune
    2. Patna
    3. Jaipur
    4. Indore
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Patna

    Growth rates: Pune 30/120 = 25%, Jaipur 12/80 = 15%, Kochi 0%, Patna 24/60 = 40%, Indore 9/90 = 10%. Patna grew fastest in percentage terms even though Pune added the most revenue in absolute terms (₹30 crore against Patna's ₹24 crore) — which is exactly why "highest growth" questions must be read for whether they mean percentage or amount. Both rows are offered as options for that reason.

  2. Set 1. The table gives the revenue (₹ crore) and the number of employees at five branches of a firm in 2022 and 2023.

    Revenue (₹ crore) and employees, by branch
    BranchRevenue 2022Revenue 2023Employees 2022Employees 2023
    Pune120150400500
    Jaipur8092250230
    Kochi150150500450
    Patna6084200280
    Indore9099300290
    Total50057516501750

    In 2023, which branch had the highest revenue per employee (in ₹ lakh per employee)?

    1. Pune
    2. Kochi
    3. Jaipur
    4. Indore
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Jaipur

    Revenue per employee in 2023, in ₹ crore per employee, then read as ₹ lakh: Pune 150/500 = 0.30 (₹30 lakh), Jaipur 92/230 = 0.40 (₹40 lakh), Kochi 150/450 = 0.333 (₹33.3 lakh), Patna 84/280 = 0.30 (₹30 lakh), Indore 99/290 = 0.341 (₹34.1 lakh). Jaipur is highest, and it is the branch that lost employees while growing revenue — productivity is a ratio, so the largest branch is rarely the most productive one. Kochi and Indore are close enough that this is one to compute rather than estimate.

  3. Set 1. The table gives the revenue (₹ crore) and the number of employees at five branches of a firm in 2022 and 2023.

    Revenue (₹ crore) and employees, by branch
    BranchRevenue 2022Revenue 2023Employees 2022Employees 2023
    Pune120150400500
    Jaipur8092250230
    Kochi150150500450
    Patna6084200280
    Indore9099300290
    Total50057516501750

    Pune's share of the firm's total revenue changed from 2022 to 2023 by approximately:

    1. A rise of about 2 percentage points
    2. A rise of about 25 percentage points
    3. A fall of about 2 percentage points
    4. No change
    Show answer

    Answer: A — A rise of about 2 percentage points

    Pune's share was 120/500 = 24% in 2022 and 150/575 = 26.1% in 2023 — a rise of about 2.1 percentage points. Option B is Pune's revenue growth (25%), which is a different quantity: revenue grew a quarter while the share moved two points, because the whole firm grew too. A share question always needs the total, and here the total itself rose from 500 to 575.

  4. Set 1. The table gives the revenue (₹ crore) and the number of employees at five branches of a firm in 2022 and 2023.

    Revenue (₹ crore) and employees, by branch
    BranchRevenue 2022Revenue 2023Employees 2022Employees 2023
    Pune120150400500
    Jaipur8092250230
    Kochi150150500450
    Patna6084200280
    Indore9099300290
    Total50057516501750

    How many branches increased their revenue while reducing their headcount?

    1. One
    2. Two
    3. Three
    4. None
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Two

    Check each row against both conditions. Pune: revenue up, employees up — no. Jaipur: 80 → 92 up, 250 → 230 down — yes. Kochi: revenue unchanged at 150, so revenue did not increase — no, and this is the row that catches people, because its headcount fell sharply. Patna: both up — no. Indore: 90 → 99 up, 300 → 290 down — yes. Two branches, Jaipur and Indore. A two-condition question is answered row by row; scanning one column and then the other is how Kochi gets counted.

  5. Set 2. A publisher sells through four channels. The table gives each channel's percentage share of total sales in three years, and the total sales value for each year.

    Channel share (%) and total sales (₹ crore)
    Channel202120222023
    Bookshops50%40%30%
    Online20%32%45%
    Institutions20%20%18%
    Exports10%8%7%
    Total sales (₹ crore)200250400

    By how much did the value of bookshop sales change from 2021 to 2023?

    1. It fell by ₹20 crore
    2. It rose by ₹20 crore
    3. It fell by 20 percentage points
    4. It was unchanged
    Show answer

    Answer: B — It rose by ₹20 crore

    2021: 50% of 200 = ₹100 crore. 2023: 30% of 400 = ₹120 crore. So bookshop sales rose by ₹20 crore even though the channel's share fell from a half to under a third — because total sales doubled. Option C restates the share change (50% → 30%) as if it answered a question about value, which is the single most productive trap in share-and-total tables.

  6. Set 2. A publisher sells through four channels. The table gives each channel's percentage share of total sales in three years, and the total sales value for each year.

    Channel share (%) and total sales (₹ crore)
    Channel202120222023
    Bookshops50%40%30%
    Online20%32%45%
    Institutions20%20%18%
    Exports10%8%7%
    Total sales (₹ crore)200250400

    The value of online sales in 2023 was how many times its value in 2021?

    1. 2.25 times
    2. 4.5 times
    3. 2 times
    4. 3 times
    Show answer

    Answer: B — 4.5 times

    2021: 20% of 200 = ₹40 crore. 2023: 45% of 400 = ₹180 crore. 180 ÷ 40 = 4.5 times. Option A, 2.25, is the ratio of the shares alone (45 ÷ 20) and ignores that the total doubled; option C is the growth of the total alone and ignores the share. The answer needs both, and multiplying the two factors is a useful check: the share went up 2.25× and the total 2×, and 2.25 × 2 = 4.5.

  7. Set 2. A publisher sells through four channels. The table gives each channel's percentage share of total sales in three years, and the total sales value for each year.

    Channel share (%) and total sales (₹ crore)
    Channel202120222023
    Bookshops50%40%30%
    Online20%32%45%
    Institutions20%20%18%
    Exports10%8%7%
    Total sales (₹ crore)200250400

    Which channel's sales value fell in every year shown?

    1. Bookshops
    2. Exports
    3. Institutions
    4. None of them
    Show answer

    Answer: D — None of them

    Compute each channel's value, not its share. Bookshops: 100, 100, 120 — flat then up. Online: 40, 80, 180 — up. Institutions: 40, 50, 72 — up every year. Exports: 20, 20, 28 — flat then up. Not one channel's value ever fell, even though three of the four channels lost share, because the total doubled from 200 to 400 over the period. This is the question the set is built for: every share in the table except online went down, and the honest answer to "whose sales fell" is nobody.

  8. Set 2. A publisher sells through four channels. The table gives each channel's percentage share of total sales in three years, and the total sales value for each year.

    Channel share (%) and total sales (₹ crore)
    Channel202120222023
    Bookshops50%40%30%
    Online20%32%45%
    Institutions20%20%18%
    Exports10%8%7%
    Total sales (₹ crore)200250400

    In 2022, the institutional channel's sales value was:

    1. ₹40 crore
    2. ₹50 crore
    3. ₹20 crore
    4. ₹72 crore
    Show answer

    Answer: B — ₹50 crore

    20% of ₹250 crore = ₹50 crore. Option A is the 2021 figure (20% of 200) — the share is identical in both years, which is precisely why the total has to be read from the right column. Option D is 2023 (18% of 400 = 72). An unchanged share across years never means an unchanged amount.

  9. Set 1. The table gives the revenue (₹ crore) and the number of employees at five branches of a firm in 2022 and 2023.

    Revenue (₹ crore) and employees, by branch
    BranchRevenue 2022Revenue 2023Employees 2022Employees 2023
    Pune120150400500
    Jaipur8092250230
    Kochi150150500450
    Patna6084200280
    Indore9099300290
    Total50057516501750

    By what percentage did the firm’s total revenue grow from 2022 to 2023? (Type the number only.)

    Numerical answer — type the value.

    Show answer

    Answer: 15

    Use the printed totals rather than adding the column again: 500 to 575, a rise of 75, and 75/500 = 15%. The mistake to avoid is averaging the five branch growth rates (25, 15, 0, 40, 10 → 18%), which weights a ₹60 crore branch the same as a ₹150 crore one. A total’s growth rate is never the average of its parts’ growth rates unless the parts are equal in size.

  10. Set 1. The table gives the revenue (₹ crore) and the number of employees at five branches of a firm in 2022 and 2023.

    Revenue (₹ crore) and employees, by branch
    BranchRevenue 2022Revenue 2023Employees 2022Employees 2023
    Pune120150400500
    Jaipur8092250230
    Kochi150150500450
    Patna6084200280
    Indore9099300290
    Total50057516501750

    How many branches increased their revenue from 2022 to 2023 while employing fewer people in 2023 than in 2022?

    Numerical answer — type the value.

    Show answer

    Answer: 2

    Two conditions, checked row by row. Revenue up: Pune, Jaipur, Patna, Indore (Kochi is flat, so it fails the first test). Headcount down: Jaipur 250 to 230, Kochi 500 to 450, Indore 300 to 290. Both at once: Jaipur and Indore — 2 branches. Kochi cut headcount but held revenue flat, and Patna grew fastest of all but added 80 people to do it. The point of the question is that a two-condition count has to be read as a conjunction: three rows satisfy the second condition on its own.

  11. Set 2. A publisher sells through four channels. The table gives each channel's percentage share of total sales in three years, and the total sales value for each year.

    Channel share (%) and total sales (₹ crore)
    Channel202120222023
    Bookshops50%40%30%
    Online20%32%45%
    Institutions20%20%18%
    Exports10%8%7%
    Total sales (₹ crore)200250400

    For how many of the four channels was the sales value in 2023 greater than the sales value in 2021?

    Numerical answer — type the value.

    Show answer

    Answer: 4

    Compute both years’ amounts for each channel. 2021 (of ₹200 crore): bookshops 100, online 40, institutions 40, exports 20. 2023 (of ₹400 crore): bookshops 120, online 180, institutions 72, exports 28. Every one is higher, so the answer is 4 — all of them. Three of the four channels lost share over the period, and it is entirely possible to answer 1 by reading the share column and stopping. The total doubled, so a channel had to lose more than half its share to sell less, and only a channel falling from above 20% to below 10% would have. None did.