Classroom assessment techniques have been advocated for use in the college classroom for over 20 years. The authors of this paper formed a new teaching technique, "the ticket to retention" ("TtR"), one that changes classroom assessment techniques so that the emphasis is on student retention of concepts. This technique combines the benefits of the ticket to leave, the one minute paper, the half-sheet response, the post-write strategy, and think-pair-share strategies. During the TtR technique, a sheet with one to five target questions is distributed to students. Students write their answers to the questions, discuss their responses with two classmates, and listen to those classmates share their answers. The results of this mixed methods study provide the students and professors' perspective of the ticket to retention and a percentage of information that students recall as a result of the implementation of the ticket (89%).