In an exam, Hiral scored more marks than Jaya. Kiara has less marks than…

In a 'which conclusion definitely follows' reasoning item, two people's marks can be compared with certainty only when a chain of stated greater-than or equal-to relations directly connects them. If two people are each linked only to different individuals, and those separate chains never meet, no relation between the two can be fixed -- concluding one would require an assumption the statements never make.

1. From 'Hiral scored more marks than Jaya': Hiral is greater than Jaya.

2. From 'John has more marks than Hiral': John is greater than Hiral, so combined with the previous step, John is greater than Hiral, and Hiral is greater than Jaya.

3. From 'Latika has as much marks as Jaya': Latika equals Jaya. Substituting Latika for Jaya in the chain gives Hiral is greater than Latika directly.

4. Separately, 'Kiara has less marks than Zubin' gives Zubin is greater than Kiara -- a second, standalone relation that touches none of Hiral, Jaya, Latika, or John.

Two disconnected groups now exist: Group 1 links John, Hiral, Jaya and Latika (John greater than Hiral, Hiral greater than Jaya, Jaya equal to Latika); Group 2 links Zubin and Kiara (Zubin greater than Kiara) only. Since the two groups share no common person, any comparison that crosses between them -- Zubin against John, Jaya against Kiara, or Kiara against Latika -- is left open by the statements and cannot be fixed either way.

The only relation that is forced by the statements, without crossing between the two groups, is that Hiral has more marks than Latika -- equivalently, Latika has lesser marks than Hiral.