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Numerical Reasoning Percentage Increase and Decrease

Increasingly aptitude tests not only form part of selection exercise in large multinational companies but also such tests are used to assess suitability of applicants that

aspire to enter medium or small enterprises. Usually these tests are administered to assess quantitative intellect of individuals by means of arithmetic or algebraic

reasoning. For example questions in such exercises may refer to basic concepts of percentages, proportions, ratios or fractions. If you are about to sit numerical test

and you have decided to embrace the idea to improve your skills in one of these areas then the below advice will be of great help.

Percentage IncreaseOne of the core concepts of numerical reasoning test is to know how to work out proportional increase and decrease. To solve such problems i.e. raise value by certain

percent for example value A by 20% you may use following formula: A x (1 + 0.20). Lets demonstrate this on real example. Consider the question below.

How did you get on? Did you answer the above question right? Note that in order to solve the problem you need to know the rate at which the Gross Domestic Product

raised between the given years, that is, (10 8) / 8 x 100 = 25%. If you have any difficulty to work this out then refer to our earlier tutorial about percentage changes. Once

you know the rate you can calculate proportional increase as per the formula mentioned above, that is, 10 x (1 + 0.25). Hence you may conclude that based on the trend

between given period the GDP in 2015 will be USD 12.5 billion.

Percentage decreaseNow, lets review how to calculate the basic percent decrease. Say you want to reduce value A by 45% so you may apply formula B x (1 0.45). To apply this in practical

world, try to solve the following question.

If the GDP of country B would drop by 10% by 2015 what would its GDP be?

Simply use the above method for your calculation, that is, 6 x (1 0.10). So in five years time the Gross Domestic Product of country B would fall to USD 5.4 billion.

Quick TipTo make the above calculation more efficient and speed it up subtract (1 0.45) = 0.55 and then input into your calculator only 80 x 0.55 which will give you 44. In this

way you may save valuable time during your numeracy tests. Alternatively, for percentage increase you may add 1 together with given percent amount in the above case 1

+ 0.20 = 1.2 and input into your calculator only 140 x 1.2 = 168; in this way your calculations will be quicker and will save you valuable seconds which will give you the

extra edge over the competition.

Remember, speed is of essence in numerical reasoning psychometric tests and hence you need to practice techniques that will provide you with the shortest and

most efficient ways to tackle percentage increase or decrease questions. If you follow the steps above youll start seeing incremental improvements in your

techniques. Keep putting in consistent effort in getting it right and the results will compound.

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