Usually when activation doesn't work you're not clear on your purpose.

That means when you start activating you don't know what you want to find out from the author.

Next problem is most people feel that because they don't get anything in the first 20 minute activation pass they cannot do it and give up.

The thing is you need to keep going adding the next activation pass and then the next and the next until it gelled. If you do as many activation passes with a purpose and mind probing questions you will finish the book in 1/3rd the time of traditional reading.

You must be asking mind probing questions on each activation. If you don't have questions don't bother. You're just passively reading.

The next problem is people try to rush the learning PhotoReading by using it on their school book. Of course they have a lot riding on their school text so fear of not getting it all and the fact that learners always try to learn quickly by saying to themselves, I don't need to "write" down trigger words, I'll just skip that, I don't like mind mapping so I won't do that. I don't have time to mind probe so I'll just start activating and see what I get. And their purpose is to know everything in the book (That's not a purpose by the way.)

So they work on their school work worried they will miss something, try to short cut the system and then when they realise they are spending the same time trying to learn their school work as they would without PhotoReading (some are actually spending more time learning because they have in the past actively avoided studying and hope PhotoReading will make it a 5 minute breeze where they usually didn't open the textbook at all), they cry foul.

Many people will spend 20 minutes activating and say they got nothing from the book and yet they will spend 20 minutes passively reading 15 pages of 200 page book and be okay with the fact they got nothing because they are only up to page 15.

If you want to success you need to become active. If you want to learn the system quickly do all the steps don't skip anything. I know some of the things seem mundane even look like they don't mean anything. But there is a reason they all train the body and mind to be active in reading.

Also learn the system on a book away from school work. Once you have it working on 3 books you can work it on school work.

After learning PhotoReading I took an intensive course. It is usually a 2 year part time program or 1 year full time. They had intensified it to 6 weeks. 4 weeks we were required to be present for full day lectures and the next two weeks we had to prepare our assignments.

I was ready to hand in the assignment 10 days early. While my classmates were working long hours on it I didn't do much. I mucked around designing business cards for them. One class mate had a computer disaster and lost all his contacts (he didn't want to lose Kylie Minogue's phone number) I fixed that for him. The instructor decided to challenge me because they refused to allow me to hand in my assignment. He asked me to come up with marketing ideas. I grabbed 10 books on marketing. Sat down and PhotoRead the stack, then mind mapped ideas that came up. I had 17 marketing ideas and wrote 1.5 pages in point form because it would have been 5 to 10 pages to write them all up and I was only supposed to produce half a page. It took me 35 minutes to PhotoRead and mind map. I typed it up in another 15.

It worked quickly because I had a purpose and asked mind probing questions. I knew what I needed to know and focused on my purpose.

Alex