How to Get an A Without Reading a Book

The book report or essay is due in 24 hours, and you don't have time to get the book read. Or, the exam is tomorrow, and you need to answer questions. Of course, this isn't the best situation, and reading the book is the best idea. However, there are ways to get an A without plowing through every word.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Online subscription to a book notes service

1. Prepare for an exam or essay on a book you haven't read by making a set of categories on a piece of paper. For a novel, divide these into areas such as plot, themes, characters and quotes.
2. Visit a website on the author of the book. Read through chapter summaries to get the gist of the plot and character development. Put notes into each of the areas you set out in the first step.
3. Decide on a topic for the essay. Keep it fairly narrow. Without reading the book, concentrate on only those things that contribute to the topic.
4. Use an online notes service such as SparkNotes to supplement your chart of information.
5. Skim through each chapter in the book. Now that you've got the gist of it without reading the entire thing, you can look for quotes to use in the essay or to reference on the exam.
6. Read literary criticism of the book. You must quote the critic, of course, but this also helps guide forming opinions or a direction for the essay.
7. Go through class notes. Hopefully you attended class discussions on the book. Look at the kinds of things the teacher or professor highlighted. Chances are pretty good you need to address some of those in order to get an A.

Tips & Warnings

• These steps work best for novels, short stories, history, political science and philosophy types of classes. For fact-based textbooks, let the areas of class discussion guide you. Make sure you've read those sections and understand them.
• Take some of your ideas, and get a discussion group going in the dorm or in an online chat. This helps flesh out themes and gives you a way to see if your approach is on track with those who did read the book.
• If you've decided from the beginning you were not reading the book, then set up a study group with others. Each person reads one chapter, and reports on it to the others. This works for most kinds of books.
• Be careful about watching a movie based on the book. Movie scripts often veer away from the plot line.
• Remember that reading the book is usually the best way to earn an A.
• These steps don't guarantee an A. They are ideas on how to get one without reading the book.
• Never plagiarize someone else's essay or work. Use online summaries, essays and criticisms to guide your own thought process.