IPMAT Profit & Loss Questions for Practice: Solved MCQs + PDF

Q: What are the most important Profit and Loss topics for IPMAT?

Focus on basic profit and loss, percentage calculations, marked price, discount, successive discounts, profit after discount, loss questions, reverse calculations and questions involving multiple articles.

Q: Is Profit and Loss important for IPMAT Indore?

Yes. Profit and Loss is part of the arithmetic area of Quantitative Ability and has appeared in recent IPMAT Indore papers. It should therefore be included in your regular Quant preparation.

Q: Is an IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions PDF enough for preparation?

No. A question PDF is useful for practice, but you should first understand the concepts and formulas. Combine topic-wise questions with previous-year papers, mock tests and timed practice.

Q: How can I solve Profit and Loss questions faster?

Develop strong percentage skills, memorise common fraction-percentage equivalents, learn the basic CP-SP relationships and practise recognising common question patterns.

Q: Are discount and Profit and Loss questions the same?

No. They are related but use different bases. Profit or loss is generally calculated with respect to CP, while discount is calculated with respect to MP.

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Author : Lalita Vishwakarma

September 2, 2026

Profit and Loss is one of those topics in IPMAT Quantitative Ability that looks simple when you first study it. The formulas are short, the concepts are familiar, and most students have already seen questions based on profit, loss and discount in school.

A small change in the selling price, two successive discounts, marked price and profit together, or a question involving dishonest dealing can make a basic Profit and Loss problem surprisingly tricky.

That is why practising IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions is important. You need to know the formulas, but you also need to recognise which formula or concept a question is testing.

For students preparing specifically for IPMAT Indore, Profit and Loss is part of the broader arithmetic area that appears in the Quantitative Ability section. Recent IPMAT Indore papers and analysis continue to show arithmetic topics such as percentages, Profit and Loss, ratio and proportion, and simple and compound interest.

If you are looking for IPMAT Indore Profit and Loss Questions, this guide covers the important concepts, formulas, solved examples, common mistakes and a practical way to prepare for the topic.

IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions: Quick Overview

Before jumping into questions, understand the basic terms.

Cost Price (CP): The price at which an article is purchased.
Selling Price (SP): The price at which the article is sold.
Marked Price (MP): The price printed or marked on the article before discount.
Profit: The amount gained when SP is greater than CP.
Loss: The amount lost when SP is less than CP.
Discount: The reduction offered on the marked price.

For IPMAT, you should be comfortable moving between these values rather than memorising formulas in isolation.

IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions Practice Now

1. A trader marks his goods 40% above the cost price but allows a discount of 10% on cash payment. What is his profit percentage?

(a) 24%

(b) 25%

(d) 28%

Answer: (c) 26% — CP=100→MP=140→SP=140×0.90=126→profit=26%

2. A dishonest dealer claims to sell his goods at cost price but uses a weight of 800 g in place of 1 kg. Find his profit percentage.

(a) 20%

(b) 25%

(d) 33.33%

Answer: (b) 25% — (1000−800)/800×100=25%

3. A trader sold two horses at ₹9,600 each — one at 20% profit, one at 20% loss. What was his overall result?

(a) No profit, no loss

(b) 4% loss

(d) 5% loss

Answer: (b) 4% loss — equal SP, equal %profit/loss ⇒ net loss = x²/100 = 4%

4. A trader sold an article at a loss of 10%. Had he sold it for ₹300 more, he'd have made a profit of 5%. Find the cost price.

(a) ₹1,800

(b) ₹2,000

(d) ₹2,400

Answer: (b) ₹2,000 — 0.15x=300→x=2000

5. The marked price of a table is 25% above the cost price. A shopkeeper allows 12% discount and still makes ₹66 profit. Find the cost price.

(a) ₹600

(b) ₹630

(d) ₹690

Answer: (c) ₹660 — 0.10x=66→x=660

6. By selling 45 pens for ₹40, a shopkeeper loses 25%. How many pens should he sell for ₹40 to gain 25% instead?

(a) 24

(b) 27

(d) 33

Answer: (b) 27

7. A shopkeeper offers a 20% discount on the marked price and still earns a 20% profit. If CP is ₹960, find the marked price.

(a) ₹1,320

(b) ₹1,380

(d) ₹1,500

Answer: (c) ₹1,440 — SP=1,152→MP=1,152/0.8

8. A trader allows a 10% discount on marked price and still makes 8% profit. If MP is ₹660, find the cost price.

(a) ₹500

(b) ₹530

(d) ₹570

Answer: (c) ₹550 — SP=594→CP=594/1.08

9. A shopkeeper sells a washing machine for ₹18,400 at 15% profit. Had he sold it for ₹17,600, what would his profit/loss % be?

(a) 5% profit

(b) 8% profit

(d) 12% profit

Answer: (c) 10% profit

10. A retailer buys a mobile at 20% discount on MP of ₹20,000 and sells at full MP. Find his profit percentage.

(a) 20%

(b) 22%

(d) 28%

Answer: (c) 25%

11. A trader mixed equal weights of mangoes bought at ₹30/kg and ₹50/kg, sold the mix at ₹48/kg (20% profit). Total profit was ₹800. Find total quantity.

(a) 80 kg

(b) 90 kg

(d) 110 kg

Answer: (c) 100 kg

12. A cloth merchant allows 12% discount and still gains 10%. What would his gain % be if sold at the marked price?

(a) 20%

(b) 22%

(d) 28%

Answer: (c) 25%

13. A shopkeeper bought shirts for ₹90,000. He sold 2/5 at 20% profit, 1/3 at 10% profit, and the rest at 5% loss. Find the overall profit %

(a) 8%

(b) 9%

(d) 11%

Answer: (c) 10%

14. A company makes pens at ₹50,000 fixed cost + ₹8/pen variable cost, producing 10,000 pens. Each sells at ₹20. How many must be sold for 25% profit on total cost?

(a) 7,500

(b) 8,000

(d) 8,500

Answer: (c) 8,125

Important Profit and Loss Question Formulas

Knowing the basic formulas is the first step to solving IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions quickly.

Instead of memorising every formula separately, understand how Cost Price (CP), Selling Price (SP), Marked Price (MP), profit, loss and discount are connected.

Concept	Formula
Profit	Profit = SP − CP
Loss	Loss = CP − SP
Profit Percentage	Profit % = (Profit / CP) × 100
Loss Percentage	Loss % = (Loss / CP) × 100
Selling Price at Profit	SP = CP × (100 + Profit%) / 100
Selling Price at Loss	SP = CP × (100 − Loss%) / 100
Cost Price at Profit	CP = SP × 100 / (100 + Profit%)
Cost Price at Loss	CP = SP × 100 / (100 − Loss%)
Discount	Discount = MP − SP
Discount Percentage	Discount % = (Discount / MP) × 100
Selling Price after Discount	SP = MP × (100 − Discount%) / 100
Marked Price	MP = SP × 100 / (100 − Discount%)
Effective Discount for Two Successive Discounts	Effective Discount = a + b − ab/100
Effective Price after Two Discounts	SP = MP × (100 − a)/100 × (100 − b)/100
Profit when CP and SP are known	Profit % = [(SP − CP) / CP] × 100
Loss when CP and SP are known	Loss % = [(CP − SP) / CP] × 100
SP when Profit is p%	SP = CP × (1 + p/100)
SP when Loss is l%	SP = CP × (1 − l/100)
CP when Profit is p%	CP = SP / (1 + p/100)
CP when Loss is l%	CP = SP / (1 − l/100)

Quick Profit and Loss Shortcuts

Some Profit and Loss Questions for IPMAT can be solved much faster if you recognise the pattern immediately.

Situation	Shortcut
Same SP, one article at x% profit and another at x% loss	Overall Loss % = x² / 100
Same CP, one article at x% profit and another at y% loss	Net Profit/Loss % = x − y
Two successive discounts of a% and b%	Effective Discount = a + b − ab/100
Profit is p% of CP	SP = (100 + p)% of CP
Loss is l% of CP	SP = (100 − l)% of CP
Discount is d% of MP	SP = (100 − d)% of MP
Profit as % of SP is given	Convert it to a CP-based percentage before solving
Loss as % of SP is given	Convert it to a CP-based percentage before solving

How to Prepare for Profit and Loss for IPMAT?

Learning the formulas is only the first step.

If you want to improve your performance in IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions, follow a topic-by-topic approach.

1. Start With Percentages

Profit and Loss is closely connected to percentages. Before moving to difficult questions, make sure you can quickly calculate percentage increases, decreases and successive changes.

For example, you should be comfortable with:

10% of a number
12.5% of a number
16⅔% of a number
20%, 25%, 33⅓% and 50%
Successive percentage changes

Strong percentage skills can significantly reduce calculation time.

2. Learn the Basic Relationships

Do not memorise ten formulas separately. Understand the relationship between:

CP → Profit/Loss → SP

and

MP → Discount → SP

Once this becomes intuitive, many questions become much easier.

3. Solve Easy Questions First

Start with direct questions based on profit percentage, loss percentage and discount.

Then move to:

Profit + Discount
Successive discounts
Multiple articles
Same SP questions
Same CP questions
Reverse calculations
Mixed arithmetic questions

This progression makes your preparation more manageable.

4. Practise Without Looking at Solutions

When using an IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions PDF, avoid reading the solution as soon as you get stuck. Give yourself a few minutes.

Try a different approach. Only then check the solution. The objective is not just to know the answer. It is to develop the ability to find the answer independently.

5. Use IPMAT Previous Papers

Previous-year papers are one of the best ways to understand how Profit and Loss is actually tested.

Recent IPMAT Indore papers from 2022 onwards follow the current three-section structure, and Profit and Loss continues to appear within the arithmetic portion of Quantitative Ability.

You can practise using the IPMAT Indore Previous Year Papers and pay particular attention to arithmetic questions.

Do not just solve them. Maintain a list of:

Questions you got wrong
Questions you guessed
Questions that took too long
Questions where you used a lengthy method

That list becomes your revision material.

IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Profit and Loss questions are often lost because of small calculation or interpretation mistakes, not a lack of knowledge.

1. Using SP Instead of CP

This is probably the most common mistake. Profit percentage is calculated on CP.

2. Using CP for Discount

Discount percentage is calculated on MP. Keep the two bases separate.

3. Adding Successive Discounts

A 20% discount followed by a 10% discount is not a 30% discount. The effective discount is 28%.

4. Ignoring the Word “Same”

Words such as:

Same cost price
Same selling price
Equal selling price
Equal profit
Equal loss

can completely change the method.

Read the question before applying a shortcut.

5. Spending Too Long on One Question

IPMAT Indore has fixed sectional timing. The current structure gives 40 minutes to each section, so getting stuck on one arithmetic question can affect the rest of the section.

If a question is taking too long, move ahead and return to it if the format permits.

6. Memorising Instead of Understanding

Formulas are useful, but formulas alone will not solve unfamiliar questions.

Understand where each formula comes from.

That way, even if the question is worded differently, you can still build the solution.

Conclusion

IPMAT Profit and Loss Questions are not difficult because the formulas are complicated. They become difficult when the question combines two or three concepts, and you have very little time to decide what to do.

So, don't prepare this chapter by memorising formulas alone.

Understand the relationship between CP, SP and MP. Get comfortable with percentages. Practise discounts and successive discounts. Then move to mixed and previous-year questions.

If you are specifically searching for IPMAT Indore Profit and Loss Questions, use recent IPMAT Indore papers as your benchmark and focus on questions from the current exam pattern.

The current format has 90 questions across QA-MCQ, QA-SA and Verbal Ability, with 40 minutes allotted to each section.