I usually did a similar thing when there was a novel we had to read and write about. I just didn't bother to read them all the way through.

One time we were given a pack of printed papers that contained a novel from some "up and coming" author. We had to read it, pick parts that stood out to us and tell why they were particularly interesting. "It doesn't affect your grade but will make you better readers." Cool, so I don't have to bother with it. Pick a random page, tell how Johhny ice skating makes me feel happy because I like ice skating and call it a day. I'm not going to read the whole thing if I don't have to.

At the end of the class, the teacher told us that almost everyone had failed the side assignment. What? How come? She told us that she had inserted nonsensical stuff in this otherwise mundane novel out of curiosity. Stuff like lists of ABBA songs, foods she liked and a chapter about all the novel's main characters dying in a house fire. Almost no one wrote about the house fire even though it made no sense why it was so different from the rest of the novel and why it was never mentioned or explained, the characters just died and in the next chapter everything was fine.

She just wanted to see what would happen and how many would actually read the thing. Turns out not many. I think only three (or four) guys actually read the thing, mentioning how bizarre the house fire chapter was. Everyone else just wrote about mundane shit and how it made them feel these over the top emotions.

She basically just pranked out lazy asses. I would've probably read stuff all the way through after that, but it was my last class with mandatory reading, so...