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Hello,

I would like to employ the PRWMS in the best way possible, for text book study reading.

Alex K. , what is the best way to use the system when so much is relevant, and missing one little detail could mean serious marks lost on an exam.

Thanks for your help-- I know a ton of people will benefit from an answer of this question. If this topic has already been covered, please link me to the information.

Thanks so much-
RG






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I have heard it said many times with a textbook you want want to treat each individual chapter as a book itself.I have heard that you want to photoread the chapter before,photoread the chapter you are studying and photoread the chapter after.

If you want an extremely high level of detail that will require you to make many,many multiple passes through the textbook.

You will spend much more time activating a textbook than a regular book. If you want lots of detail you will have to spend lots of time activating but it will still be faster than regular reading.

If you are starting to learn photoreading this is not the time to do it. It is not a wise idea to try to learn photoreading on something that has a lot at stake.
Photoread4me






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Chapters are books.
Purpose.
Layers.


If you consider each chapter as a book in it's own right you'll also need to have a purpose for that chapter.

So look at the chapter heading and establish your purpose. Why do you need to know, What do you need to know, How are you going to apply it in your life and When you're done what do you expect to be able to tell someone about that chapter / book?

Once you established your purpose for that chapter you activate it until it fully gels, in one or more activation layers.

Do that for each chapter and you will know everything you need to know from the book.

The key is to establish a purpose that is much more attainable, measurable and achieveable than just "to know everything in this book".

Purpose is relevance ... how relevant is the information to you. You can identify that fastest by considering each chapter title and establishing a purpose.

Alex.






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Can explain a little more about what you refer to as layering?






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Rather than stressing each activation pass. Take it lightly, you give yourself permission to superread and dip pages more than once. Each time remaining highly focused on the information you are seeking so as not to waste time getting caught in passive reading the stuff you already know.

You build the information with multiple passes much like applying paint. Its better to give two or three quick, thin, even, coats rather than one sloppy time consuming thick coat for a more complete finish.

Alex.







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This topic has been around many times before, but I was just sitting here and letting my mind run over it again.

The "How do I create a purpose" or the "What is a good purpose for this chapter" question came into my mind. Oten, when I was going to school I didn't really appreciate the course until it was review-for-exams time. Only then did the book (course material) come together.

Reflecting back on all those courses, I recall three basic types (there may be more). The first is the survey course, where you are just given a bunch of stuff to learn for that vague "later". Sometimes all these part actually fit into a whole picture / model / body of learning.

The second is where that vague "later" is at the end of the course. You are thought a bunch of tools you'll need to understand / do the really good stuff at the end of the course.

The third is where you go through the course and slowly build a more and more detailed understanding / model of a subject.

My suggest for reading a text book is to look at the objective of the "course" first. Then try and figure what the "textbook's author's" objective was. Sometimes they are the same, often they are not.

Once you have a feel for these, consider how each chapter helps to fulfill this / these objectives. This can help you figure out what you Want and Need from the chapter.

Now to be really general. I found that first year courses are of the first type. I would say that these are the hardest to form meaningful goals for. I would suggest, that you figure out why you Will Need or Will Want this information in the future. Seeing how this material will help you reach your goals will make it easier to create effective purposes. Hopefully your goals are not just "pass this course" or "get this degree" because you will have a life after those goals have been achieved.

Remember there are no bad goals / purposes. There are only good, better, and more better. The stronger you are interested and excited about fulfilling the purpose the more effective it will be.

You are perfection.
Iam2






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Hey Iam2, I sat here readint this post also, thinking of what advice to give.
I have been through the mill so to speak, and have now developed a strategy.

As it happens, it's virtually like you have said, so just wantt o abck that up really.

I wouldn't just concentrate on one chapter, and create a meaning from the title.
I'm not saying that's no good, of course it is, but I think you need a much more general purpose also.

Like Iam2 says, think about how what you are learning now, and how that will be of use to you in the future.

Also, I ahve 7 big books to read.I don't read one book at a time, I photoread all of them.

Then I preview all of them.Just keep going over them until i egt a real feeling about what it's all about.It amazing, you msut do this, don't just stay on a chapter or even a book if your finding it not gelling.

The fact is msot things in the entire world can be connected to anything else in some way.da Vinci stated that everything is in some way conencted to everything else.

This is true.

Of coruse you can't have that wide a goal.Da Vinci wanted to know how everyhting worked, which is cool, I'd love to know also.But hey, we've got to just pass a course, so we'll keep it simple.

Define your purpose, spend as long as you need on it, look at all your books, even if you course is going to take a year or more, and you ahve 7 or 8 books, or whatever.

When you have an idea through glancing through your books, when you start the earlier stuff it will fit into place so much easier.

Basically, text books have laods of facts and procedures and how to's etc etc, but these are really.
Instead of thinking of how will I get all this stuff, think instead of how does this fact, or this procedure fit into what i'm trying to achieve.

Afterall think about it.Scientists, or car designer, or bridge engineers don't spend their lives doing what they're doing because they love facts and details, or they love reading text books.

They ahve a vision of what they want to create.The details create their vision.

Thanks!









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I was wondering what would be suggested for reviewing for the AP American exam. Basically, if I know the most important information, events, and themes from each of the chapters, I'll do great. Because I've already either read or activated each of the chapters before, couldn't I just superread/dip through the entire text as a memory refresher? Or would some other method be a better use of my time?

I already have a study book by REA with review material summaries, practice tests, etc. I've PhotoRead it, but how else should I use this material to my advantage, do you think? How much Mind Mapping should I do in review considering that I don't have full Mind Maps or notes on most of the chapters I've read in my AP American text?

Thanks!

-CameronJ






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quote:
Originally posted by CameronJ:
I was wondering what would be suggested for reviewing for the AP American exam. Basically, if I know the most important information, events, and themes from each of the chapters, I'll do great. Because I've already either read or activated each of the chapters before, couldn't I just superread/dip through the entire text as a memory refresher? Or would some other method be a better use of my time?
-CameronJ


Hey Cameron -
I assume you're talking about the AP U.S. History test, right? The test is rigorous, but the more difficult part is the multiple choice because it is so fact-intensive.

The week before the exam (which was too early, I would suggest you start now) I read Princeton Review's "How to Crack the AP U.S. History Exam" - I know you already have a review book, but I found this one particularly helpful - more than most - because of it's 50/80 page summary of American history. This relatively short text was very, very helpful for me on the exam and really makes your knowledge become cohesive.

As far as mind mapping your textbook - if you haven't already get on top of it! I know there's not much more time, but if you can just do a page or two about each chapter, that would really help for the exam. The history textbooks can be so dense sometimes, Photoreading really helps out.

The people who did the best on the exam, that I knew, really did the reading well. I also knew some excellent writers who got by on their writing skills, but you have to know the material as well.

Good luck! I hope that doesn't sound too intimidating above, cause it's really not - in fact it was one of the more "enjoyable" AP tests I took (if it's possible for an AP test to resemble anything close to "enjoyable")>






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One powerful lesson my 5th grade teacher drummed into me.

"Read the questions first!"

It's interesting remembering the "tests" that we did at the retreat. I had forgotten the rule initially and managed to mess up the answers for the first 3 articles. Once I fixed up the mess as best I could without losing too much more time. I knew I needed to catch up with the other articles. So I read the questions first then superread and dipped the articles. Funny thing is the first half the test I had incorrect answer but in the last half I felt like I was in the flow. managed to get 100% correct when I read the questions first. Also managed to complete the test with minutes to spare.

Alex.

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited April 20, 2004).]







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