The ratio of the number of students passed in an examination to the number of students who failed was 25 : 4. If three more students appear in the examination and the number of failed students decreases by 3 compared to the earlier, then the ratio of the total number of students to the number of failed students currently becomes 8 : 1. The total number of students who appeared in the examination in the beginning were:

• A. 300
• B. 261
• C. 225
• D. 216