I have a confession to make.
When I took my GCSE English Literature in 2009, I got a poem and play that I had been too lazy to read, so just skimmed for keywords and still came out with an A.
However, if you're going to uni, it's not really recommended you do that. What you can do is maybe read as much as you can, excerpts or maybe an audiobook? To act like you know what you're talking about.