Most of the time when I'm reading a textbook, I just try to read everything, make sure I actually understand how everything works (i.e. derivations of results and formulas), and then skip all the exercises because of a lack of motivation. I can see how you'd maybe want to do lots of exercises if whatever you're learning is something you expect to use for itself, but a lot of the time (especially with something like calculus), I feel it's just a stepping stone, and I've found that when you're learning the thing you're actually interested in you'll be able to solidify your understanding of the basics at that stage.

Mind you, I write this as a data point, not as a recommendation. What works reasonably well for me may fail horribly for you.

(Also, I started filling out your survey, but then I gave up, 'cause I think my answers to some of the questions would've just been weird/not exactly answering the right questions.)