I'm also going into engineering. I find that it's almost as if the stuff I know from photo-reading and mind-mapping seems like stuff I already now because I've learned it so solidly and effortlessly. Mind-mapping helps me with the big picture. The details which engineering focuses on, I haven't figured a way to take care of those. The nice thing about this system is before I used to have so much troubles with reading but now I can focus when I read.
It has helped me out a lot, mainly when I do research for a paper, not so much with text books when you need the engineering beyond 100% comprehension.
