For the stuff that won't stick, can you link it to practical examples? It works for me anyway, I'm hopeless remembering factoids on their own but if I can visualise them in a practical setting I remember them a lot quicker.
I've never been a good rote learner (some lucky buggers are). Study is a bit of a mind game and you may not be approaching it the right way for your mind. Maybe you'd be better building little models and talking through the facts as you play them out, or imagining scenarios where you need that knowledge (EDIT as outnabout suggests). I got through a particularly boring uni subject (damn prerequisites
) by doing that. It was still boring but I learned enough to pass and didn't forget it all the day after the exam.
You may not be a book learner; there are different styles of learning and most people use a combination of two or three styles.
Overview of learning styles
There are a lot of similar sites online (disclaimer: I haven't used this one and it may be spammy) and understanding how you learn can help you study more efficiently. Just reading through stuff doesn't work for a lot of people, particularly if they find the subject matter boring.
Failing that, really needing a pass to progress from burger flipping and/or spending a heap of money on the course is an excellent motivator.
Good luck!