Myth #1: "Photo-Reading" is Speed Reading
Some years ago, a certain U.S. corporation started promoting the idea that a photographic memory could be used to accelerate reading speed and that with their training program, largely based on a cursory variant of the SQ3R system, you could cultivate a photographic memory. Inspired by the idea, I developed a much simpler "photo-reading" technique of my own. While my technique excelled in comprehension, it was appallingly unreliable (working only twice out of thirteen attempts). In these respects, my method was most unlike it's SQ3R based counterpart, which was found to be much more reliable but produced poor comprehension results. The only similarity between the two photo-reading methods, is that they are both slower than normal word by word reading at delivering information to the conscious mind (where it counts). Unlike the commercial variants on "photo-reading", I never allowed my "photo-reading" method to go to market for obvious merchantability reasons.
My experience on one occasion having successfully "photo-read" critical text in the fifteen minutes prior to an exam, was having to reread the material in my mind's eye during the exam because while I could remember in significant detail what the pages looked like, I hadn't had time to digest the contents of every page. It was only slightly quicker than flicking through books during open book exams, but sill far too slow to be practical for any normal exam conditions. My advice on regular exams is the same as for open book exams: if you need to open a book during the exam, it doesn't matter if you have the book at hand - you will do much worse than if you know your topic. Real reading is the key to successful study and proper speed reading (IE using the kind of techniques supported by empirical research findings) is the most effective way to acquire information.
"Photo-reading" is not even a shadow of speed reading and "photo-reading" techniques are in my opinion, only good for covert acquisition of eyes-only material and the most reliable methods (if any) can be learned from your country's diplomatic corps for the price of patriotism. If you want to learn faster, I suggest doing a search in the academic literature at your local university library for "speed reading, comprehension, vocabulary", and following the advice of those whose methods are an empirically proven success. See Reading Skills & Modern Literacy Requirements for more information or for recommended reading consult the domain's Bibliography.
