In this guide
A caselet hides a table inside a paragraph. A missing-DI set gives you the table but leaves holes in it. Both test the same skill: can you build a complete, correct table before you answer anything? Once the table is right, the questions are ordinary percentage and ratio work. If one cell is wrong, every question that uses it is wrong too.
These sets appear mostly in the mains, where Data Analysis & Interpretation carries the heaviest DI load. They are slow to set up, often three or four minutes, and then fast to answer. Candidates who panic at the paragraph skip them. Candidates who calmly draw the table often find them the easiest marks in the set.
Caselets: text into a table
- Read the whole paragraph once without calculating. Find the categories (departments, products, years) and the measures (count, percentage, ratio).
- Draw the table skeleton. Categories as rows, measures as columns, with a total row.
- Fill in the cells in the order the paragraph allows. Totals and direct numbers first, then values derived from percentages, then values that need a subtraction ("the rest").
- Check the totals. Rows should add to the stated total.
- Answer from your table, never from the paragraph. Going back to the text is where time disappears.
Worked caselet 1
The figures below are made up for practice.
A company has 800 employees. 40% work in Sales, 25% in Operations and the rest in Support. Of the Sales staff, 60% are graduates; of Operations, 50%; of Support, 40%.
| Department | Staff | Graduates | Non-graduates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 320 (40%) | 192 (60%) | 128 |
| Operations | 200 (25%) | 100 (50%) | 100 |
| Support | 280 (35%) | 112 (40%) | 168 |
| Total | 800 | 404 | 396 |
Support's 35% came from "the rest": 100 − 40 − 25.
Q1. How many non-graduates work in Support?
- 168, read straight from the table.
Q2. What percentage of all employees are graduates?
- 404 ÷ 800 × 100 = 50.5%.
Q3. What is the ratio of graduates in Sales to graduates in Operations?
- 192 : 100 = 48 : 25.
Worked caselet 2 (mains level)
The figures below are made up for practice. This one mixes a percentage, a difference and "the rest", so the order of filling matters.
A bank branch sanctioned 480 loans in a year: home loans, car loans and personal loans. Home loans made up 35% of all loans. There were 60 fewer car loans than home loans, and the rest were personal loans. Salaried borrowers took 75% of the home loans and two-thirds of the car loans. Of the personal loans, 25% went to self-employed borrowers and the rest to salaried borrowers.
Fill in this order: home loans (from the percentage), car loans (from the difference), personal loans (the rest), then the split of each.
- Home = 35% of 480 = 168.
- Car = 168 − 60 = 108.
- Personal = 480 − 168 − 108 = 204.
| Loan type | Total | Salaried | Self-employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 168 | 126 (75%) | 42 |
| Car | 108 | 72 (two-thirds) | 36 |
| Personal | 204 | 153 (75%) | 51 (25%) |
| Total | 480 | 351 | 129 |
Check: 351 + 129 = 480.
Q1. How many self-employed borrowers took loans in all?
- 42 + 36 + 51 = 129.
Q2. What is the ratio of salaried home-loan borrowers to salaried personal-loan borrowers?
- 126 : 153. Divide by 9: 14 : 17.
Q3. Car loans were what percentage fewer than home loans?
- 60 ÷ 168 × 100 = 5/14 × 100 = 35 5/7%, about 35.7%.
- The base is home loans, because car loans are being compared with them.
Q4. What is the average number of salaried borrowers per loan type?
- 351 ÷ 3 = 117.
Q5. Next year, personal loans rise by 25% and the other two stay the same. About what share of all loans will personal loans then be?
- Personal = 204 × 1.25 = 255. Total = 168 + 108 + 255 = 531.
- 255 ÷ 531 × 100 ≈ 48%.
Missing DI: filling the gaps
In missing DI, the blanks can always be found from the other cells, the totals, or a clue given below the table. The skill is spotting which blank to fill first.
- Start with rows that have two of three linked values. If total and one part are known, the other part is a subtraction.
- Use percentage columns to reach totals. If offline sales are 70% and equal 700, the total is 700 ÷ 0.7 = 1,000.
- Use clues only when the table runs out. Clues are usually needed for one or two cells, not all.
- Check every completed row before answering.
Worked missing-DI set
The figures below are made up for practice.
Items sold by four shops in a month
| Shop | Total sold | Online share | Online | Offline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 800 | ? | 320 | ? |
| B | ? | 30% | ? | 700 |
| C | 1,200 | 45% | ? | ? |
| D | ? | ? | 360 | 540 |
Filling the blanks:
- A: offline = 800 − 320 = 480. Online share = 320 ÷ 800 = 40%.
- B: offline share = 70%, so total = 700 ÷ 0.7 = 1,000. Online = 300.
- C: online = 45% of 1,200 = 540. Offline = 660.
- D: total = 360 + 540 = 900. Online share = 360 ÷ 900 = 40%.
| Shop | Total sold | Online share | Online | Offline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 800 | 40% | 320 | 480 |
| B | 1,000 | 30% | 300 | 700 |
| C | 1,200 | 45% | 540 | 660 |
| D | 900 | 40% | 360 | 540 |
Q1. What were the total online sales of all four shops?
- 320 + 300 + 540 + 360 = 1,520.
Q2. Which shop had the highest online share?
- C, at 45%. It also had the most online sales.
Q3. What is the ratio of A's offline sales to D's offline sales?
- 480 : 540 = 8 : 9.
Q4. What was the average number of items sold per shop?
- (800 + 1,000 + 1,200 + 900) ÷ 4 = 3,900 ÷ 4 = 975.
Common mistakes
- Answering from the paragraph. Build the table first, even when the first question looks easy.
- Taking "the rest" too early. You can only find "the rest" after every other part is known.
- Using the wrong base in "percentage of". Of Sales staff, of all staff and of graduates are three different bases.
- Skipping the total check. One wrong blank spoils three or four questions.
- Rounding too early. Keep exact values in the table and round only in the final answer.
Practice set
Use caselet 1 for questions 1 to 3, caselet 2 for questions 4 and 5, and the missing-DI set for questions 6 and 7.
- How many graduates are there in Support and Operations together?
- What percentage of Sales staff are non-graduates?
- If 25% of the non-graduates in Support leave, how many Support staff remain?
- Self-employed personal-loan borrowers are what percentage of all personal loans?
- What is the ratio of car loans to personal loans?
- B's online sales are what percentage of C's online sales?
- If D's online share rises to 50% with the same total, by how many items do its online sales rise?
Answers:
- 212. 112 + 100.
- 40%. 128 ÷ 320 × 100.
- 238. 25% of 168 = 42; 280 − 42 = 238.
- 25%. 51 ÷ 204 × 100, as the caselet states. Questions like this check that you kept the base right.
- 9 : 17. 108 : 204, divided by 12.
- 55 5/9%, about 55.6%. 300 ÷ 540 × 100.
- 90. 50% of 900 = 450; 450 − 360 = 90.
What to do next
- Do one caselet and one missing-DI set every alternate day for three weeks.
- Time the table-building separately from the answering. Aim for under three minutes of setup.
- Keep the calculation base strong with table DI and the percentage guide.
- Add data sufficiency, the other mains DI form that tests whether data is enough.
A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection website .
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