June 04, 2026

Why I Started Pass Exams Faster — And Why I Am Not Who You Expect

From the Founder

Why I Started Pass Exams Faster — And Why I Am Not Who You Expect

I am not an educator. I am a martial artist. And what I observed over 47 years of teaching changed everything I thought I knew about how people learn.

By Curtis Siewdass | Founder, Pass Exams Faster

The first thing I want you to know about me is that I am not an educator.

I am actually a martial artist. I have been teaching martial arts for the past 47 years. That is where my real experience comes from — not a classroom, not a university, and not a teaching degree. A training hall. Decades of watching people learn, struggle, plateau, and break through.

So if you were expecting a former school teacher or an academic with letters after their name, I understand if that surprises you. But I think by the end of this post, you will understand exactly why my background is actually what makes this work.

What I Observed With My Own Students

Over the years, I began to notice something with my martial arts students. They were doing well with the physical side of their examinations. But they were consistently having trouble with the theory portion — the written and verbal part that tested their knowledge.

And I started watching how they were studying for it. I saw them repeating things over and over. Reading the same material again and again. Using rote memorisation techniques that had been passed down through years of tradition. They were working hard. There was no question about that. But the results were not matching the effort.

I began to notice trends. Not occasionally — consistently, over many years. The same patterns kept appearing. And I realised very quickly that the rote method was not working. Seeing something over and over again was not working. Trying to push information in was not the answer.

The Observation That Changed Everything

I began to notice that the output of information was more important than the input of information. Not reading more. Not repeating more. But pulling the information out.

I Did Not Have All the Answers — So I Went Looking

Now, I want to be honest with you. When I first made that observation, I did not fully understand why it was true. I could see what was happening, but I did not yet have the complete picture of how it worked.

So I began to search. I began to investigate. I studied the research. I looked at the gaps — what the popular methods were missing, what the older techniques got wrong, what students were actually experiencing versus what they thought was happening when they studied.

And through all of that — years of observation, research, and testing — I kept arriving at the same conclusion.

The Core Discovery

The most important thing about memory is the retrieval of information. Exams do not test how many times you read something or how many times you repeated it. What they actually test is how well you can retrieve that information when the moment demands it.

Why I Created Pass Exams Faster

I created this method, and eventually this blog, because I saw a lot of people struggling. They were using outdated methods to study. The techniques being passed around — rote repetition, mechanical memorisation, reading and re-reading — were not effective enough. And if you do even a little bit of research into how the brain actually works, you begin to understand why.

Your brain does not work the way most study methods assume it does. It does not store information simply because you have been exposed to it repeatedly. It works from questions. It works from retrieval. It works from being tested, not just being shown.

That realisation is what led me to start this blog — Pass Exams Faster — and to write several books on the topic. I wanted to really hone in on this specific expertise, because nobody else was talking about it clearly enough for everyday students.

If you have been wondering why your study sessions feel productive but leave you with very little to show when the exam arrives, this is where the answer lives. You can explore the foundation of it further on the active recall hub page, which lays out the core principles behind the method.

What This Method Actually Does

There is a specific format to the retrieval process I teach. It is not what most people expect. It is actually built around a failure method — intentionally allowing yourself to struggle to retrieve information first, and then pulling it out in a specific format that helps you understand not only the correct answers, but the incorrect ones too.

That distinction matters enormously in real exam situations. Most students are tripped up not because they do not know the right answer, but because they cannot confidently rule out the wrong ones. This method addresses both.

The other thing I want you to understand is what this does to your study sessions over time. After a while of practising the retrieval method consistently, you begin to master concepts faster. Your sessions become more efficient. You spend less time on material you have already locked in, and more precise time on what still needs work. It becomes better and better the more you use it.

You stop suffering through the feeling of trying to remember something and not being able to. Instead, you have practised the retrieval so specifically that when the exam moment arrives, it comes out of you naturally — sometimes even surprising yourself with what you are capable of producing.

This is not just about passing exams. It is about being able to do things at a much quicker rate than you thought was possible. That is the bigger promise of this work. If you want to see how this connects to the way memory is built during study sessions, the post on memory techniques that actually work is a good place to continue.

What I Want to Give You on This Blog

As we continue building out this blog together, I want to give you a lot of myself. A lot of backstory. A lot of the reasoning behind why this approach works so quickly and why other approaches fall short.

I also want to be straightforward with you about how I think you should use what is here. Use the free content fully. Absorb it. Apply it. And if it makes sense to you — if you find yourself thinking, this is actually working differently from everything else I have tried — then I would encourage you to get the book. That is where the complete system is laid out in detail, step by step.

The link is below. But the blog alone will give you a great deal to work with. My intention is for every post to carry real value — not filler, not generic advice, but the kind of insight that actually shifts how you study.

And if you are someone who has been studying hard and not seeing the results you deserve, I want you to know: you are not the problem. The method is the problem. And that is something we can fix.

Let’s Go on This Journey Together

I am not an educator. I am a martial artist with 47 years of teaching experience who watched students struggle with outdated methods and decided to do something about it. What I found, through years of observation and research, is that the retrieval of information is where memory is actually built — not in the reading, not in the repeating, but in the pulling out.

That is the foundation of everything here. I look forward to sharing more of it with you.

The Complete System

Pass Exams Faster — The Book

If the free content on this blog resonates with you, the book is where the full method is laid out in detail — the specific retrieval format, the failure method, and the step-by-step system for building real exam-ready memory.

Get the Book on Amazon →

You can also browse the Pass Exams Faster merchandise store for items built around the mindset of studying smarter, not just harder.

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Active Recall — The Core Method Read more →	10 Memory Techniques for Exams That Actually Work Read more →
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