Activation is the way you develop the mind body link. The trust that we are processing the information from the books we are photoreading.
You could PhotoRead and have them activate during class. Depending on your natural intuition it would be hard to guess what your results will be. Without activation experience it would be like walking into a skating contest without ever having worn skates before. Who know you could be a natural? The ones activating books on a regular basis have developed the body mind connection to trust the information that comes from the inner mind.
As is often stated on the forum. First learn the whole system as given, then experiment. Once your mind habitually knows the responses you expect as a result of photoreading then you will find that can experiment with the system with a lot more confidence.
Alex