Ked,
A3 notebooks are suffient for a class, you may need to organise it onto three pages instead of cramping it onto one as you go. I went through one of my sketch books today and actually noticed some information that was important to me personally for dealing with something in my life right now.
I personally think that the mind mapping you are doing represents a greater clarification of the what you are learning than what you noticed with traditional reading. Before considering cutting back the time ask yourself, have you covered more ground in understanding what you learned? Is it worth the time or would reducing the time spent mind mapping represent a greater loss of understanding? Considering the 80/20 rule, that 20% of your time gains you 80% of the information. Is it worth the additional 80% of the time to find that remaining 20% of the information? (it might be if it improves your score in a tough exam.)
Consider also whether in your case 80% of the learning comes from doing the mind mapping where as only 20% is actually gained from the activation alone. In which case keep doing it that way. Besides behing human you'll natually cull it to what is only necessary the more you do it and the more experience you have with mind mapping. So This week it may be taking you an hour to do the chapter next week 53 minutes and 4 weeks from now you may find that 37 minutes is giving you the 80% you need and that last 20% isn't needed at this time because you find it in class activation.
You know the system it comes to letting your hands on experience guide you to honing it further.
Alex
