I was making a coffee when I realised I overlooked something in your post. Another thought you might like to consider.
Phrase your question 2 to 4 ways.
E.g. Who are the main characters
You might want to also add,
What roles did the main characters play?
How did the main characters become involved?
E.g. Where does the Waterloo battle take place? you could add
Why did the Waterloo battle take place?
What was the reason/purpose for the Waterloo battle?
When did the actual Waterloo battle take place?
Eg.What is the Italian kingdom you could add
Where is/was the the Italian kingdom?
When did the Italian kingdom start/end?
How did the Italian kingdom come about?
Some of the questions might prove redundant or even not be answered in that particular text. The reason for restating the question a couple of ways is to open the mind to covering more gound. I know it seems like extra work however after time your inner mind starts looking for answers to questions in this way... you may not even realise that you are asking the questions.
While superreading and dipping you may answer all three or four questions in one hit. As well as finding answers to questions you didn't quite form that way. You don't necessarily SR and Dip for each one.. you formed cluster questions and find cluster answers.
Of course by forming your questions in multiple ways you'll find more in the book and might be spending more time at it. However it probably what makes the difference between 70% comprehension and 90% comprehension. Information gathered this way usually stays with you longer especially if you put the key thoughts onto a mind map.
One of the methods is to list all the questions on one edge of your mind map. It comes in handy later for pre exam review later, when you fold the edge under, read the questions check if you know the answer if not... look at your mind map for any that you've missed. Naturally delete any questions that were redundant. If your mind map is for a certain chapter in the book make a note of the pages on the mind map. If, in reviewing you find you missed something, a photoread of that section may trigger the memory... if not another SR and dip surely will. This would probably take all of 10 minutes. A small investment prior to an exam.
Alex
