SSC CGL Time and Work Practice Test 2026 — Free Chapter Wise Questions

Time & Work Tests — Pick a Level and Start

Tap a level to see every test in it. Level 1 is set at real SSC CGL difficulty — start there the day you finish the concept. Level 2 is pitched above the exam, to push accuracy under pressure.

Time and work looks like a long list of question types, but it runs on one idea: a worker who finishes a job in n days does 1/n of it every day, and people working together add these daily amounts — never their days. Take the whole job as the LCM of the given times and every daily amount becomes a whole number of units, so most questions reduce to adding and dividing small integers. Efficiency is the other half of the chapter: time and efficiency move in opposite directions, so a worker twice as efficient needs half the time.

The marks are lost in three places. The first is adding or averaging times — workers who take 12 and 18 days finish together in 7 1/5 days, not 15, and the averaged option is on the paper almost every time. The second is treating alternate days as exactly twice the joint time: it is only when the last turn ends on a whole day, and who starts can change the answer. The third is using M₁D₁ = M₂D₂ when the hours per day or the amount of work have changed too. Each test puts twenty-five time and work questions in front of you in one sitting, which is what makes these checks automatic.

How Many Time and Work Questions Are Asked in SSC CGL?

Time and work is a regular in both tiers, and the same method carries straight over to pipes and cisterns, so an hour spent here pays back in two chapters.

Counts vary by shift, and time and work often shares its Tier I slot with pipes and cisterns. Efficiency ratios, wage shares and man-days questions also lean on ratio work, which is why the three are best prepared together.

What You Will Practice in the Time and Work Chapter

Core topics

• Two workers together — the joint time, and the time saved over one worker alone
• One worker’s time recovered from the pair’s time and the other’s
• Three or four workers together, and the part of the job done in a day
• A helper’s time recovered from the group’s time, including a helper who joins late
• Pair times combined into all three, and one person’s time from the three pairs
• The part done or left after a joint spell, and the days worked from the part left
• Time for a part of a job from the time for another part
• A worker who leaves after some days, and the days the other needs to finish
• A worker who leaves a few days before the end, and the total time
• Several workers leaving at different times, or one joining late and another leaving early
• Alternate days and alternate hours — who starts, and the part day at the end
• Three-person rotations and pair rotations
• A daily worker helped by others on odd, even or every third day
• Efficiency as “k times as efficient”, as a fraction more or less, or as a ratio
• A day gap between two workers turned into their times
• One worker equal to a pair, or a multiple of a pair’s time
• What-if efficiency changes, and a worker who speeds up or slows down partway
• Output rates — pages, boxes or loaves per hour — for separate machines
• Wages shared by the work each person did, including helpers and staged work
• The man-days and man-hours rule, with changing output or harder conditions
• Workers added, moved or absent midway, and provisions that must last
• An unknown team size recovered from a what-if change
• Men, women and boys converted into one unit, and two mixed teams solved together
• Building against a destroyer, and work with days off

Formulas worth memorising

Two rows do most of the work: “add daily work, never days” and the LCM method that turns every rate into a whole number. Most of the others are those two applied in a particular order.

The three mistakes that cost the most marks

• Adding or averaging the times. Workers who take 12 and 18 days finish together in 12 × 18 ÷ 30 = 7⅕ days. The average, 15 days, is longer than the faster worker alone, which cannot be right.
• Doubling the joint time for alternate days. With 8 and 12 days, the joint time is 4⁴⁄₅ days, but alternating with the faster worker first ends in 9½ days, not 9³⁄₅. Count whole rounds, then the last part day, and check who starts.
• Dropping a factor from the man-days rule. When the hours per day change, or the new job is bigger or harder, M₁D₁ = M₂D₂ is not enough. Write all four factors, M₁D₁H₁ / W₁ = M₂D₂H₂ / W₂, and cross out only what really stays the same.

Solved Examples — SSC CGL Time and Work

How the Time and Work Chapter Tests Work

• 25 questions per test, with a full question palette — answered, skipped, marked for review, not visited.
• Optional 15-minute timer — with the clock to build exam speed, without it while you are still learning the chapter.
• Marking: +2 correct, −0.5 wrong, 0 unattempted — the same scheme as the real paper.
• Solutions, shortcut tricks and concept notes open after you submit, question by question.
• English and हिंदी, chosen at the start of every test.
• Free with a TrickySSC account — sign in once with Google or your mobile number, and every test is open to you.

How to Prepare Time and Work for SSC CGL

1. Turn every time into one day’s work first. A job done in n days is 1/n of the job each day. Days never add; daily work always does.
2. Use the LCM of the times as the job. Every daily output becomes a whole number of units, and the arithmetic stays in small integers.
3. Remember that time and efficiency move opposite ways. Twice as efficient means half the time; 1/n more efficient means the time is multiplied by n/(n + 1).
4. Split staged questions into stages. Write the work done in each stage, subtract from the whole, and only then divide by the rate of whoever is left.
5. For alternate days, count whole rounds, then the last turn. Check who takes the next day and whether that day is used in full or only in part.
6. Write the man-days rule in full. M₁D₁H₁ / W₁ = M₂D₂H₂ / W₂, then cancel only what really stays the same.
7. Convert men, women and boys into one unit. If x men or y women finish a job, 1 man equals y/x women; change the whole team into one kind before dividing.
8. Share wages by work done, not by days. Each person’s share is their daily work multiplied by the days they actually worked.
9. Do Level 1 untimed, the same day you finish the theory. It is set at real SSC CGL difficulty; the aim is picking the right method, not speed.
10. Repeat Level 1 with the 15-minute clock on, then move to Level 2. After that, verify against a previous year paper and a full mock test under locked sectional timing.

Related SSC CGL Maths Chapters

These chapters share the same rate and ratio work. Practising them as a block is the fastest route through arithmetic.

All SSC CGL Chapter Wise Tests

Every chapter below has its own free Level 1 and Level 2 tests with full solutions.

SSC CGL Time and Work — Frequently Asked Questions

More Free SSC CGL Practice