UPSSSC PET · Bite-size lessons
Simple Tables (5 questions)
About 7 min · Table Interpretation & Analysis · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 541 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Simple table interpretation is a staple of the UPSSSC PET Data Interpretation (DI) section. The goal is to extract values accurately and perform basic arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, percentage calculation, ratio, and average.
Key ideas
- Row-Column Intersection: Every cell in a table corresponds to one row and one column. Always trace your finger or pen to confirm you're reading the correct value — most errors arise from reading the wrong cell.
- Units Matter: Check the table heading for units — data may be in thousands, lakhs, crores, or percentages. Forgetting to multiply by the unit factor leads to incorrect answers.
- Total vs Individual Values: Some questions ask for the sum of a row or column. Others ask for individual cell data. Read the question stem carefully before scanning the table.
- Percentage Calculations: "What percentage of X is Y?" means (Y / X) × 100. "Increase of X% on base B" means B × (1 + X/100). Be clear on which value is the base.
- Ratio and Proportion: Ratio of A to B is A:B or A/B. Simplify wherever possible to save time in answer matching.
Watch out for
- Wrong Cell Lookup → Correct Tracing: Mistake: Reading the value from the wrong row or column intersection (e.g., looking at 2019 data when the question asks for 2020). Fix: Use a finger or pen to trace the correct row and column. Double-check before writing the number.
- Ignoring Units → Apply Unit Multipliers: Mistake: Treating 120 ('000 tonnes) as 120 tonnes instead of 120,000 tonnes. Fix: Always note the unit in parentheses in the column header. Multiply or divide as needed to match answer options.
- Wrong Percentage Base → Identify Denominator: Mistake: Calculating (Total / Part) × 100 instead of (Part / Total) × 100. Fix: "What % of X is Y?" means Y is numerator, X is denominator: (Y / X) × 100.
Quick reference
- Read table title and units first — know what you're working with before touching any question.
- Trace row-column carefully — one wrong cell = one wrong answer.
- Percentage formula: (Part / Whole) × 100.
- Ratio formula: Simplify A:B by dividing by GCD.
- Average = Sum / Count — straightforward, just be careful with the count.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. The table below shows the population (in thousands) of five districts of Uttar Pradesh in the year 2021. District | Population (in thousands) ---------|------------------------- Allahabad | 4800 Kanpur | 5200 Lucknow | 3600 Varanasi | 2400 Gorakhpur | 3000 What is the total population (in thousands) of Allahabad and Varanasi together?
2. The following table shows the number of books sold by a bookstore in Lucknow over five months: Month | Number of Books Sold ------|--------------------- January | 1200 February | 1500 March | 1350 April | 1800 May | 1650 What is the average number of books sold per month during this period?
3. The table below shows the annual production (in metric tonnes) and export (in metric tonnes) of sugarcane from a district in Uttar Pradesh for four consecutive years: Year | Production | Export -----|------------|------- 2018 | 45000 | 12000 2019 | 52000 | 15000 2020 | 48000 | 13500 2021 | 55000 | 16500 In which year was the percentage of export to production the highest?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 17 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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