June 04, 2026

How I Went From Almost Last in Class to Second — And What That Proved About How We Learn

A Personal Story

How I Went From Almost Last in Class to Second — And What That Proved About How We Learn

I was consistently 25th out of 30 students. I did not like studying. I was not disciplined. And then one time, everything changed — and I was just as amazed as you are right now.

By Curtis Siewdass | Founder, Pass Exams Faster

I want to tell you a story. And I want you to read it carefully, because you might see yourself in it.

For most of my early school life — through what we call Standard 1, 2, 3, and 4 — I was coming 25th out of 30 students in my class. Almost last. Consistently. Not occasionally bad, not having a rough term. Consistently near the bottom.

And then one time, I came second in class.

Second. Out of 30 students. One person beat me to first place. That is it.

I was amazed. And I think you probably are too, right now. Because nothing about who I was had changed. I was the same student. The same background. The same lack of discipline. What changed was one thing — and that one thing is what this entire blog is built on.

Let Me Be Honest About Who I Was as a Student

I did not like to read. I did not like to study. I genuinely believed that playing was the only thing that mattered in life. And honestly, for a child between five and ten years old, that is all you really want to do — play.

I was also, I will admit it, a little bit lazy.

I never really understood a lot of the material I was being taught. I struggled to connect with it. I could not grasp why I was supposed to remember it, and I certainly did not have a method that helped me hold onto it. So I sat near the bottom of the class, year after year, and that became my normal.

I had no confidence. I had no discipline to speak of. I had nothing that would reasonably suggest I was capable of coming second in a class of 30 students. Nothing at all.

The Point of This Story

If a student like me — with no confidence, no discipline, and a long history of coming near the bottom — could come second in class, then this is not about natural ability. It is about method.

What I Did Differently That One Time

This is the part you can probably relate to, because most students have had at least one moment where something clicked differently — even if they could not explain why at the time.

That one time, I used the retrieval method. Now, I need to be completely clear about something: I did not know I was using it. I had never heard the term. I had no understanding of the science behind it. I was not following any system or framework.

All I know is that I focused on retrieving the information in a specific format, in a specific way, and in specific time increments. Instead of just reading and re-reading and hoping things would stick, I was pulling the information out. I was working with it differently. And I was studying in shorter, more focused sessions rather than sitting for hours and going nowhere.

I also did approximately 50% less studying than I would normally have done. Let that land for a moment. Half the time. Half the effort. And I still came second in class.

What This Tells Us

The problem was never the amount of studying. It was the method. All those years of coming 25th out of 30 were not because I lacked ability. They were because nobody had ever shown me how to study in a way that matched how the brain actually works.

The brain is not built for input. It is built for retrieval. It is built for questions. And the moment I accidentally aligned with that truth, everything changed.

When I Sat Down for That Exam

I want to paint you a picture of who I was walking into that exam. I was stressed. I felt overwhelmed. This was not a confident student sitting down with a calm mind. This was me — the same student who had struggled for years — sitting down in front of a test with all the usual anxiety.

But when I looked at the questions, something was different. I began to see them. I began to actually answer them. Not because the questions were easy, and not because I had memorised everything. But because I had practised the method of retrieval so often during my study time that when the questions appeared in front of me, the information came out.

I had not studied the specific questions. I had practised the method. And the method worked when it mattered most — under pressure, in the exam room, with everything on the line.

That is the experience I want every student reading this to have. Not just understanding the material at home in a quiet room, but being able to produce it when it counts. If you have ever wondered why you can know something during study and then freeze in the exam, the post on what to do when you study hard and still score below average speaks directly to that experience.

Why the Brain Works From Questions, Not From Input

Your brain is based on questions. It is not based on input. It is not based on repetition. It is not based on reading something over and over and hoping that eventually it will stay.

Let me give you a simple example to show you what I mean.

Imagine someone asks you how to get to a specific location. Your brain does not just passively receive that request. It immediately starts asking its own questions — which route, how far, which mode of transport, how much time is available. It is already working in retrieval mode, pulling out everything it knows that is relevant.

Now, one of the techniques covered in the book is about asking a better question. Instead of asking simply “how do I get there?”, you ask: “What is the most efficient, fastest, and safest way to get there at the lowest cost?” That is a richer question. It activates more of what your brain already knows. And that principle — of asking better, more specific questions during study — is a core part of the retrieval format the method is built on.

This is why rote repetition fails. It does not engage the question-based nature of how your brain actually processes and stores information. You can read something fifty times and still not be able to answer a question about it under pressure, because reading is input — and input alone does not build retrieval strength. You can explore this further on the active recall hub page, which goes deeper into the science of why retrieval works the way it does.

A Note for Parents Reading This

If you are a parent reading this, I want you to pay close attention to this story. Because the child I was describing — the one who did not like reading, did not like studying, preferred playing, and was consistently near the bottom of the class — that child is in a lot of households right now.

And that child is not a lost cause. They are simply missing the right method. There is a great deal on this blog that is written with you and your child in mind, and I encourage you to explore it. What worked for that struggling ten-year-old version of me can work for your child too.

What This System Actually Gives You

This system works with less effort. It works with less time. It works with less stress. And most importantly, it works with less anxiety.

Those are not promises I make lightly. I make them because I lived them. I was the student with no confidence, no discipline, no track record of academic success. And through one shift in method — without even knowing the name of what I was doing — I came second in a class of 30.

No longer will you suffer through the feeling of trying to remember something and not being able to get it out. When you have practised retrieval in the right format and the right way, you will have mastered the material so thoroughly that you will not even realise how capable you are — until you sit down in that exam and begin to answer question after question with a clarity you did not think was possible.

That is what happened to me. And it is what is waiting for you on the other side of this method. The post on memory techniques that actually work in exams is a practical place to start applying this right now.

Committed to Your Success

I encourage you, as we go through this journey together, to always remember one thing: the result I got was not because I was special. It was not because something suddenly clicked in my brain that had never clicked before. It was because the method I accidentally used that one time aligned with how the brain is actually designed to learn.

You have always been capable of this. You just need the right coach pointing you in the right direction.

I will talk to you in the next post. I am committed to your success.

— Curtis

The Complete System

Pass Exams Faster — The Book

Use the free content on this blog fully. And if it makes sense to you — if you find yourself thinking this is different from everything else you have tried — the book is where the full retrieval system is laid out step by step.

Get the Book on Amazon →

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Share this post with five people. A child struggling in school, a friend who has given up on exams, a parent who does not know how to help. This story might be exactly what they need to hear.

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Active Recall — The Core Method Read more →	What to Do When You Study Hard and Still Score Below Average Read more →
Why Some Students Learn Faster With Less Effort Read more →	10 Memory Techniques for Exams That Actually Work Read more →

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