When it came to activation, right from the start, I looked at superreading and dipping the same way as I look up the meaning of a word in a dictionary, Scan a phone book for a name/phone number. Sometimes I find what I'm looking for in one go and others I have to look again. I do it quickly. One of the best ways I've found to form mind probing questions is turn the headings into questions.
Sometimes everything you are looking for in the text is on one page, one paragraph or even just one line. One person can gain the understanding form one sentence and for another a completely different sentence clicks.
By turning the subhead into a question I can quickly find the answer in the following paragraphs, because that is where it has to be. I also identify what I already know about the topic, what seems familiar because it becomes easier to associate the other information with it. Some books I spend as little as 15 minutes activating others 3 to 4 hours. I acknowledge the fact that if it weren't for photoreading I wouldn't even bother regular reading some books so I grant them 3 to 4 hours to understand fully.
My first activation of the book is to get familar with it and notice anything that rings a bell to me. This can already be taking place prior to photoreading.
When I want to remember something from a book consciously, I still make associations. Mind mapping is the start and I mentally think about it. I find it particularly useful to 'tell' someone what I've found out. So I've got a whole lot of short docs on my computer consisiting of notes. Where I explain something that I've learnt. I've even found my kid brothers technique of talking out loud pretending that I am talking to someone about it helps. To memorise something you have to 'do' something with it to make it memorable for you.
Have you tried the 5 day test? That is what helps to motivate you to manually activate text successfully. It's explained starting on page 76 of the PhotoReading book.
Studying is still studying. Using the memory supercharger after a study session helps both the recall as well as building the inner mind conscious mind connection to help make activation easier.
I suggest you do the 5 day test... sometimes we are doing something that grew on us so naturally we don't realise just how much more we are absorbing... how difficult the task would have been prior to developing new skills. We are working to our same high standard without noticing how much greater the load has grown.
Alex
