Said It Here

Why can't I retain anything from McGraw Hill?

Standard study materials often lead to short-term memorization rather than actual retention, leaving students feeling like they are just cramming for exams. When information fails to stick day after day, it makes progress feel impossible and drains confidence.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Connecting to prior knowledge
  2. 2
    Using visually appealing anchor charts
  3. 3
    Using manipulatives
  4. 4
    Employing I do, we do, you do modeling
  5. 5
    Using short entertaining videos and clips
  6. 6
    Using a research-based protocol for reading instruction
  7. 7
    Discussing mind palaces for storing and accessing information
  8. 8
    Helping students create visually appealing notes on rules
  9. 9
    Using alternative external educational channels on YouTube (such as Tony Bell or Farhat)
  10. 10
    Finding open-source ebooks and digital textbooks on platforms like Openstax
  11. 11
    Switching back to traditional note-taking, writing things out by hand, and working through problems from scratch

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Accounting1 person · September 2026

I feel like I’m not learning much with McGraw Hill, but instead memorizing information for a short period of time and cramming for exams.source ↗

I need other study materials besides McGraw Hill because I’m just not retaining anything.source ↗

astralplvnes47 · r/Accounting · 4 upvotes

I definitely relate and at first I thought it was just me, but once I saw multiple people commenting they’re having issues with McGraw Hill it reassured me a little.source ↗

astralplvnes47 · r/Accounting · 1 upvotes
r/Teachers1 person · September 2026

for the last 6/7 years it is nearly impossible to get the information to stick.source ↗

Nothing works, everyday is like groundhog’s day.source ↗

I went from being completely confident in the protocol I use and my ability to help every student to feeling really demoralized and nihilistic about my future and those of my students.source ↗

hhhmmm0 · r/Teachers · 2 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised