Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Preparing for exams

Hi folks,

I did a photoreading weekend course last September to help with my studies ( Computer Science ). I feel this is going to be the real proving ground for me, i.e. how successfully I can recall the photoread material during exam session.

I have five subjects to prepare for. Each of these subjects covering five 10 chapters.

I am spending the first week of the Christmas Holidays photoreading and plan to spend the second week activating randomly using a combination of dipping and super reading. Needless to say, I have photoread a lot of the material already. There have been some missed materail. I am going over the material from scratch to review.

Can any folks provide any additional ideas?

I have yet to be convinced on the idea that photoread material can be recalled during exam. I find activation haphazard.

Many thanks and a very happy Christmas to all.!

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activating randomly using a combination of dipping and super reading."

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Randomly???? You mean that you're not going to form mind probing questions or you have some other activation techniques.

If skipping the mind probing questions in your review I have to ask. Why bother with the review? Getting active asking questions hearing/seeing/feeling yourself find the answers is what makes the information memorable. If you're just going to be random about it... where's the glue?

I strongly recommend you pose mind probing questions. If you're not sure if you need to review a chapter turn the chapter head into a couple of questions. If you can answer the review is complete without superreading and dipping.

If you cannot answer the chapter heading consider a sytematic activation approach and include mind mapping the chapter and activate it till it fully gels for you.

Remember you can photoread the book again prior to each activation pass [can; not have to].

Set yourself a block of time where you are going to do your review avoid exceeding the timeframe you set for yourself and if you finish early be good to yourself and don't start another part of it that is going to take you over the time you set for your review. Repeatedly taking more time than originally intended becomes a block to getting started in the future.

Alex

i completely agree with alexk.your post says absolutely nothing about questions. how is your conscious mind going to recognize answers in the book if you have not formed questions first?

this is why so many people have activation problems. they do not ask questions about the book & they have not asked themselves what is it that they want to get from the book what is their purpose?

so many people are totally clueless because they have no questions asked about the book & then they wonder why activation doesn't work. In order for activation to work you have be to activate with the text having a dialog with the author asking questions is being active. no questions not knowing what you are trying to get from the book = no results & not getting anything from activation.

so if you want to be successful & excel during your preview or postview find trigger words in the book and write down questions about those words then you will find the answers to those questions when you superread & dip.

photoread4me.

Maybe in the book, Paul should have called it ACTIVate in order to emphasize that important aspect of the ACTIVation process!

Naw, too cheesy

Thanks all for the replies. I took it for granted that every one is under the impression I am using the full photoreading instructions. Yes, I am starting with a preview using it to pick a few trigger words. In the post view I pick it more trigger words. Prior to the preview i "get into state" using the orange technique to ask questions as to my goals. Prior to PhotoReading I make the affirmations. In fact I tend to spend too much time forming questions during preview when I should depend more on the postveiw for this purpose. I am working on this. I just hope my recall works during exam. I am not spending any time doing normal reading to make sure everything is absorbed.

(maybe AlexK will jump in here with some simple advice?)

Good luck on your exams, expance! I just took mind a week or two ago, and they were easier than I thought :-) I think PhotoReading + Memory Supercharger really did help quite a lot

Was a bit hard to get the impression you're using the whole system when you say "activating randomly"

For recall mind map. With mind mapping it becomes self evident whether you're pulling and reviewing the information to your satisfaction.

If you're going to pull trigger words during a postview limit the preview to 90 sec, to know what you're about to photoread is ample. It's just a time killer duplicating your actions pulling out trigger words before and after. Probably spending more than 8 minutes on the preview too.

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I am not spending any time doing normal reading to make sure everything is absorbed.

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You cannot recall something that you haven't called upon in the first place. You must do enough activation to call on the information in the first place so that you can recall it at a later date.

Photoreading alone may be enough to get you a passing grade however time spent in activation gives you the ability to have information that you can recall and thus elevate your grade. You'll waste less time chasing your intuition to draw up the answers during the exam because you already did that during activation.

Alex

should i limit myself on trigger words? i seem to get carried away and fill up an entire page of trigger words from a book. i figure the more trigger words, the better, but maybe i'm just over-emphasizing this.

20 to 25 max. I personally see trigger words as a starting point many of them quickly become redundant as you start forming questions and other words become more significant as you activate.

Since the mind can only really hold 5 to 9 bits of information more really isn't better. For a Minimum I recommend 8 depending on your writing speed 25 really is the maximum achieve able with the fastest scrawl considering the page flipping and decision making and questions you start forming already.

Alex

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Originally posted by AlexK:

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You'll waste less time chasing your intuition to draw up the answers during the exam because you already did that during activation.

Alex

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You know, AlexK, that's a very good way of putting it. Thus it logically follows that in order to more easily get the highest possible grade on a test, activate the information as fully as possible! I sure ought to have done that on my English test on The Scarlet Letter. The strange thing is that I probably could have done much better on it if only I had finished it and not been so nervous about the time pressure. I'm sure that having activated the book more recently would have aided in this.

I still have yet to bring in Mind Mapping as an activation technique, but since I used them to (hopefully) ace AP American midterm exam, it ought to be easy to figure out

Have a nice day, and hope you had a Happy Christmas (instead of a drunken, American "Merry" Christmas ;-))

-Cameron