Gandharva failed to pass her first preliminary exam, which was supposed to be a 2–3 mark. Then, armed with the lessons learned, Gandharva conferred with several friends, fellow candidates, and successful candidates to determine what to study and how much time to spend on each.
Rathore was unfazed by his early failures and decided to press on with newfound vigour. She chose to self-study instead of following the traditional path of enrolling in coaching centres in order to navigate the complex UPSC syllabus.