In a recently conducted national entrance test, boys constituted 65% of those…

Correct inference: The number of boys who qualified the test is less than the number of girls who qualified.

Reasoning:

• From the passage, boys constituted 65% of those who appeared and girls 35%.

• Among the qualified candidates, girls accounted for 60% and boys 40%.

• Because 60% of the qualified candidates are girls and 40% are boys, the absolute number of qualified girls is greater than the absolute number of qualified boys.

Numeric example to illustrate:

• Assume 100 candidates appeared: 65 boys and 35 girls.

• If 50 candidates qualified in total, then girls = 60% of 50 = 30 qualified girls, and boys = 40% of 50 = 20 qualified boys.

• Thus the number of qualified girls is greater than the number of qualified boys, which supports the chosen inference.

Why other statements are not valid:

• The statement that equal numbers of boys and girls qualified is unsupported because the passage gives a 60%/40% split among qualified candidates, not equality.

• The statement that equal numbers of boys and girls appeared is false because boys constituted 65% of those who appeared.

• The statement that fewer boys appeared than girls is false because 65% (boys) is greater than 35% (girls).