How do I prepare for a closed-book exam?

First of all, make sure you’ve read the book! Preferably at least twice as this will help you gain a better understanding of the plot, style, themes, and tone. Depending on how you learn it may also be very helpful to listen to the audiobook as hearing someone speak the key words and phrases will really help them to stick in your head. It’s not possible to commit the whole novel/play to memory (unless you’re a total genius!) so divide it into key themes, character, and locations and put together a set of important quotes for each one that you can use for multiple questions. Try to commit these quotes to memory, focusing on the topics, characters, etc that haven’t come up in previous exam papers which should be available online on the exam board’s website.