Is it possible to to pass a test on a novel having only read cliffnotes? Can anyone speak on past experiences? I haven't read any of the book and I have a test tomorrow.
Its possible, but it really depends on the teacher and the type of test and your ability to BS essay/discussions or make educated guesses. I suggest trying to read the book today if you really want a good grade. Cliff Notes are better than nothing, but more of a last resort. What book you reading?
Its possible unless your teacher gives you detailed tests. If you definitely can't read it all, read some of it and then read cliffnotes and sparknotes.
If it weren't I wouldn't have a college degree. Cool Story: When I was a kid, my parents bought me a hard bound set of Classics Illustrated comic books, where they took most of the standards of literature like Red Badge of Courage, The Count Of Monte Cristo and Tale Of Two Cities and made comic books out of them. When I went on to take my advanced placement tests for English a lot of the questions were from books I had only read as comic books and I passed. I really want to find a set to have at the beachouse for the grandkids: Classics Illustrated
I've taken tests by only reading cliff notes in high school and a couple of times in college. I think I got a C at best on those tests. Some teachers really know how to catch the students who didn't read the book/novel. You should really invest some time in reading those books the next time around.
If it's a high school or freshman lit class and you write well otherwise and have a good mastery of grammar you can probably make it through with a C provided you really work those Cliff's Notes. You would be over matched in a 4000 level literature class, cause I sometimes have trouble even having read and studied the book, but I doubt that is what you are asking.
People still use Cliff Notes? I would have thought that the internet would have rendered them totally obsolete. (Google? Wikipedia? Hello?) [old fart rant] I don't know how students today manage to make anything less than a B in any class when you can find any information about any topic on the internet. Sure as hell wasn't like that in the 80's or 90's when I was in school. [/old fart rant]
I have a friend who Lit classes at Lone Star College. He buys the Cliffs Notes too and writes his tests in a way so that someone who was only using Cliffs Notes would have trouble passing it.
Just make sure you read all the cliffnotes, or if using sparknotes read the chapter summaries and character descriptions and everything else they have available. Good luck to you.
You could also check out the BBC miniseries version from 1983. Streams instantly on Netflix (my wife's watched it muliple times) and stars the pre-Brosnan James Bond, Mr. Timothy Dalton. It's a pretty faithful adaptation: http://www.dvdempire.com/exec/v4_item.asp?partner_id=10007594&item_id=658615 You could watch as much of it as possible and get a pretty good sense of what's happening, using the Cliff Notes only to give you insight to the litterary aspects of the book. All this would take more time and energy than reading it, but I was the same way in High school. The shame of it is, I read alot of those "required" books over the last 5 - 7 years and have loved 'em.
I wrote a research paper on Jane Eyre in about 4 hours last semester. I remember seeing the movie several years ago, so I went on sparknotes, read the chapter outlines to refresh my memory... came up with some major motifs... voila!
man i feel really old or just havent been in an english class in forever I have no idea what sparknotes are back in high school i actually did try to cliff notes my way through a jane eyre test i got a C+ luckily for me our teacher dropped the lowest test grade so it didnt effect my final grade, but i found cliff notes to be a really good tool to help jog my memory after i read the book. and i am positive any decent professor at a college or university would make their tests in a way that a cliff notes only reader would not be able to get any better than a C. if you dont have the time to read the book (looks like you wont) watch the mini-series as was suggested and have that be the only thing you do for the rest of the day since the test is tomorrow.
I got a 100 on an essay on a book that I only read cliffnotes of. I did go through the book looking for actual quotes but that was it. Keep in mind this was summer school at a community college.
