THE NEXT MAN and HOW TO BEAT COLLEGE TESTS
Despite the efforts of Sean Connery, THE NEXT MAN was not a successful movie. The New York Times review suggested that the film-makers' knowledge of international affairs would "fit comfortably in the left nostril of a small bee." Check it out elsewhere if this piques your interest.
I just wrote the novel. All the dialogue from the movie went into the book (day by day as I was writing I'd get revisions to the script.) But the jokes are mine.
HOW TO BEAT COLLEGE TESTS a guide to ease the burden of useful courses might sound like a joke but it wasn't. Many techniques for getting credit the test taker isn't entitled to are described in some detail.
But the truth is that the students who "need" this kind of information pretty much already have it. It's the instructors who write the tests who don't know how widely they leave the door open to the ignorant but crafty.
And when this book was published, the issue of passing tests could be a matter of life and death. Young men were being drafted to fight in Vietnam. At the time, being in full time education provided a deferment. But you had to pass tests to keep from being expelled. Whether you liked the subjects you took or not.