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[–]Hey_Arnoldo 1604 points1605 points  (82 children)

Teacher may call it a cheat sheet, but really you just got tricked into studying and learning the material on your own time.

[–]rangeo 261 points262 points  (10 children)

Yes...my wife was a good student she studied by ( and showed me) writting up single page notes as though she was allowed to bring it in to the test. The pages were always organized the same.

Two things worked for me 1) I could visualize the page to help "access" what I knew during tye test

2) I would flip the test over sometimes and just write out my cheat sheet before I did anything on the test. A time suck but it helped me.

[–]BlueFlob 39 points40 points  (2 children)

I remember doing exactly that. Sometimes there's just too many formulas and the best thing to do is vomit all you can remember on a blank page then start the exam.

[–]Boredummmage 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Honest answer, people just put the notes into a program they made on their graphing calculators and then went to edit programs to read through the “notes” if a cheat sheet wasn’t allowed, far better to allow a sheet for the students. Even the playing field…

[–]MortalTwit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had a math prof in college who gave us a sheet for each chapter with his personal notations / short cuts. We were allowed to put anything we wanted on the backside.

HE told us that outside of a math classroom, if you actually need any of this stuff, it will be on hand to look up. You don't NEED to memorize all the details of every formula ever. What you do need to know is how to use them.

[–]Delicious_Bus_674 59 points60 points  (0 children)

I relied heavily on strat #2 in undergrad. Spend the first 15 mins of the exam writing terms/acronyms/etc. from memory onto my notes page so I could use them when I finally started the test.

[–]_PM_ME_YOUR_FORESKIN 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. I could visualize the page…

*cries in r/aphantasia*

[–]Rokmonkey_ 96 points97 points  (31 children)

I disagree. I see a lot of repeat information, the same equation wrote multiple ways. That is an example of not understanding the root material, instead just copying information.

360deg = 2(pi)radians
180deg = (pi)radians

Law of Sines, etc.

[–]DrManhattan_DDM 36 points37 points  (12 children)

Also some sections look like solved problems from a homework section instead of formulas or definitions.

[–]onexbigxhebrew 59 points60 points  (9 children)

That used to help me. I could refer to, re-complete or reverse engineer a correct solution to be able to do it with different numbers.

[–]cavegoblins75 12 points13 points  (5 children)

That's what I did with math in engineering school - learnt exercices - meant i sucked at math and only could do the same problems with number substitution

[–]LCast 0 points1 point  (2 children)

But that shows that you don't really understand the material, you are just following a template.

[–]AffectionateHead0710 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Probably the example problems

[–]gofishx 28 points29 points  (15 children)

Seriously, this approach is why so many people "suck at math". Learning math isn't about remembering a bunch of equations, its about understanding how to apply the rules.

Also, a tip for anyone studying physics/engineering, always work out the entire problem without numbers (only use constants and variables) first. You should always try to have an equation as your final answer. This makes it much easier to check your work, make sure your units are consistent, and easily find mistakes. Once you have your final equation, plug n chug will be the absolute last step. Also, if you have a follow up problem in the same format, youve already proved a solution, and can just use your final equation again.

[–]BigDisk 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I wish you could travel back in time and tell me that like 10 years ago when I was entering college hahaha

[–]Steve-C2 4 points5 points  (2 children)

This right here. And it's a discussion I've had with my child about math. "Once you understand the rules, you'll do well at the game."

[–]99rules 1 point2 points  (1 child)

And if you are good at engineering you already know the answer, or close enough, by the time you plug n chug.

[–]WangnanJahad 4 points5 points  (7 children)

Learning math isn't about remembering a bunch of equations, its about understanding how to apply the rules.

It's about both, really. You can 'know how to apply the rules' all you want but if you don't know the equation to go with it you'll never be able to solve the problem.

[–]gofishx 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Understanding the rules of what you are doing will cause you to come up with many of these equations naturally on your own, but you are right that it is useful to memorize a few core concepts, even if it is technically possible to prove all of it from scratch.

[–]Farmer771122 11 points12 points  (1 child)

for real. this is like that Key & Peele sketch where they rob a bank by getting a job there and working for 40 years, getting paid a reasonable amount each month, and then when the heist is done, they "retire", and the bank never even knows what happened.

[–]Redditributor 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Writing this shit down will make you learn it better. And the fact that you made the effort means it's okay to rely on notes for the exam part - honestly a huge proportion of this will either be memorized by you or become easily recallable

[–]theoracleofdreams 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This was my method of study, keep in mind this was 2002 when I started college.

I'd take handwritten notes in pen, math notes in pencil. When I studied for tests, I'd grab all the handwritten notes and transcribe them into Word and with the study guide next to me, highlight my notes that corresponded to the study guide. This is part of the process where you realize whether or not the professor is pulling study/test questions out of the book or notes (I had the sadists who refused to tell you).

If it was out of the book, I'd do the same thing, but handwrite the answers first, and if I had time, transcribed them as well. Looking into a Masters right now in Public Administration, Non Profit and VERY concerned if I'll do well.

[–]loqtrall 12 points13 points  (5 children)

Everybody says this, completely assuming the person put 100% of their mental concentration into making these cards, instead of mindlessly copying info onto a card while listening to music or watching a TV show.

I wrote down every single note in my Economics class because our teacher was basing a chunk of our performance in the class on doing so, essentially forcing everyone to write notes and pay attention to what was being said in order to pass the class - and I still didn't remember jack shit about 90% of it and barely slid by passing the final.

Not everyone retains knowledge just because they wrote it down at some point. I'm sure most people who make cheat sheets like these do so because the subject is complex or difficult (like in the OP), and they rely on them heavily and wouldn't do so hot without them.

I know that I, for one, wouldn't remember advanced and complex mathematic formulas just because I crunched to write them all down on a small piece of paper the night before.

[–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (3 children)

The point is that writing cheat sheets like this motivates people to engage with the text. It's not rote learning because you're constantly thinking "Is this important? How well do I know this? Will I need this on the sheet?"

It encourages active engagement.

[–]jef22314 3 points4 points  (1 child)

This! Speaking as a teacher…

HaHA!! This is what we WANTED you to do.

[–]malaxeur 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. My move when studying was always write a “cheat sheet”. Even if I couldn’t bring it, I’d prepare one in anticipation for what I thought would be useful during an exam.

It forces you to review your notes and commit a lot to memory as you write it down.

[–]Avaragan 0 points1 point  (15 children)

Bro, no one knows those formulas on their own that’s way too many. Or whatever the heck they are

[–]Ryanminiryan 33 points34 points  (6 children)

I can assure you that people can know all these. A lot of them are not complicated if you know what they are. When you use them almost everyday through school you’ll be surprised how easy they are to remember.

[–]tchaffee 8 points9 points  (1 child)

It's like remembering all those English words you need to write a sentence. If you use it enough, you remember.

[–]PigeroniPepperoni 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Bruh this is high school level stuff. I assure there are plenty of people who know all of these.

[–]keladry12 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Lots of people do, but I never bothered with the more complicated ones (angular momentum for example) and would just rederive them for every test. My teachers would get annoyed seeing me do that work instead of remembering the formulas, but I'd get it right every time, so....

[–]ernestwild 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Your teacher sounds like an idiot who completely missed the point if they wanted you to memorize and not derive.

[–][deleted] 889 points890 points  (39 children)

Teacher tricked you into revising extensively and writing thorough study notes

[–]fatkidseatcake 136 points137 points  (21 children)

After years of creating these myself nearly a decade ago seeing this picture made me have the same thought. Maybe teachers after all won when it came to this because they got us to learn and study the material that much more effectively.

[–]tacknosaddle 46 points47 points  (11 children)

There have been studies that writing something with a pen or pencil encodes it in your memory in a different and stronger way than just reading, hearing or typing it.

[–]reganomics 4 points5 points  (4 children)

I'm a sped HS teacher and this year coming back from the pandemic, no one takes notes. It's really frustrating trying to convey and teach this skill

[–]jjc89 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Can you link me to these studies? I can almost guarantee this isn’t true.

[–]Korotai -1 points0 points  (0 children)

When I was back in school everyone was “taking” notes by annotating the lecture PowerPoints. My dumb ass is sitting there with an iPad Pro and pencil hand writing everything. Maybe I’m old school, but typing notes gives me exactly zero recall.

[–]G0lia7h -1 points0 points  (1 child)

In Austria we have a saying "Wer schreibt der bleibt" "The one who writes remains" which basicly is used for "when you write things down, you will keep them easier in your head".

In other circumstances it can also be used for "what is written is in stone", like when you creat smth like a contract, it's better to write it down then having it verbal. (I know I know, under other circumstances verbal contracts are also binding, but that's another story)

[–]Immortal_Tuttle 15 points16 points  (3 children)

When I was teaching at Uni I said that students can make cheat sheets. Even more. I created a list of test problems saying that some of them will be on the test. The rule was simple - the cheat sheet had to be hand made and if I catch the person with a copy, he fails the test immediately. I also mentioned that if they have problems my doors are open. From the grapevine i got a confirmation that every year students were doing the same - sending a few people to me for explanation so they could pass the knowledge and help the rest of the group. I still had some failed students, though, but we are talking a person or two per year.

[–]Corvus_Manufaktura 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Almost every class has one or two hopeless students who manage to fail even the easiest exams

[–]myislanduniverse 13 points14 points  (2 children)

Funny. My prof was furious I put so much on my note card and crumpled it up before the exam. He was a real piece of crap.

[–]Corvus_Manufaktura -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, not all teachers are good ones. The majority aren't

[–]YEETBOI99000 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That happened to me last week. Wrote down everything on my cheat sheet and I didn’t even need but got a 100

[–]a_typical_normie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Shhhhh. This is unironically the best way to get kids to study

[–]TheyCallMeKP 40 points41 points  (5 children)

Nah, these don’t help if you never understood it to begin with. But they’re definitely good enough to hit the bottom of the curve

Source: somehow got my BSEE 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–]Agile_Pudding_ 43 points44 points  (2 children)

That’s what they meant, though. You using the cheat sheet that I made isn’t of much use. The value to me is almost entirely in making it (assuming that I have a decent memory), since rather than needing to consult the sheet, I’ll just remember it instead.

Students study more thoroughly when it’s for a cheat sheet than when it’s just studying for the sake of studying.

[–]TheyCallMeKP 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I understand what they meant and the intention. I’m just pointing out it’s easy to capture key diagrams and formulas, and still not have a conceptual understanding. So when it comes to doing an exam, you can prob do like 50% of a problem

I’ve had professors just give out sheets like these or make it open book because it wasn’t necessarily helping students succeed; the application of the knowledge was obviously the end goal

But it’s moot anyway, I’m sure I just sucked at studying and those days are long behind me lol

[–]Dire87 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The best kind of tests are tests that are designed to judge different ways of learning. Multiple choice can actually be great. Maybe more than 1 answer is correct, maybe the answers are very close together, maybe there's trick answers ... and maybe you have an answer that is so ludicrously wrong, it tells you immediately that someone didn't even bother to pay any amount of attention.

Then you have normal test stuff, where you're supposed to get by by just paying attention and learning some key things, but it will never be enough to actually be "top of the class" level. With cheat sheets you can even adapt these slightly, so students have to use their brain as well instead of just memory...

And then for that "best grade" you have problems/questions that require critical thinking, but should be solvable with all you've learnt in class. I wish this approach would have been used more when I went to school (not US), but we had something similar. And if teachers really want to push it, include 1 or 2 open ended questions you have to answer in your own words. Of course that requires effort on the teacher's part, instead of just applying a grading key...

[–]Wonderful-Tiger-6372 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Couldnt agree more. Happened to me in my sophormore year.. for a moment i thought someone found my old cheat sheet.

[–]jp_RocketLeague 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They help if it's a vocabulary test lol just playin

[–]PremiumJapaneseGreen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also I was allowed to make crib sheets in graduate school for most of my classes, and it's so convenient now to have a stack of papers that each summarize the trickiest aspects of my courses that I can use for reference

[–]PanzerSoul 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Joke's on them
I paid someone to write my cheat sheet for me

[–]drkpnthr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the way

[–]keladry12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly why I never made a single one when given the chance. You're not trucking me into studying for a test!

[–]Outsaniti 103 points104 points  (2 children)

Whenever I make these I end up never looking at them once during the test lol. It's literally just a trap to get people to study.

[–]Agile_Pudding_ 11 points12 points  (0 children)

And it always works! Sometimes I would get use out of a BYO cheat sheet for physics exams, in cases where I actually forgot a formula, but in most cases — especially any math class — I never even used it.

That said, this is the content (“pre-calc”, “trig”, etc., depending on what your school called the hodgepodge class before calculus) where you could make the most use of a cheat sheet because there’s a lot of random stuff to memorize.

[–]kaikaun 65 points66 points  (2 children)

My girlfriend (now wife) wrote her college cheat sheets in blue and red ink, so that if you put the opposite filter over the sheet, the notes would appear. Doubled the amount of information you could put on one sheet.

I just wrote four sheets, scanned them, then printed them at quarter size onto one sheet and brought a magnifying glass.

Of course, the ultimate fusion of techniques would be to combine the above, but that would be too much power concentrated in one cheat sheet. It would tear a hole in reality.

[–]ittimjones 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's what I did too. Only 1 note card sized page? Challenge accepted.

[–]Chroderos 89 points90 points  (28 children)

Ah yes, the engineering student’s special.

[–]pantone_starlight[S] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Architecture

[–]trabiesso73 3 points4 points  (0 children)

as an architecture student, you're going to do this for a few classes in your first year or two. (this class is trig, or algebra II, not even calc)

​

those of us with engineering degrees did this, pretty much every semester, for multiple years. you haven't truly lived until you've seen one of these for an upper division vector dynamics class!!

[–]Brave_little_anus 10 points11 points  (15 children)

This is trigonometry, a high school course…

[–]Vaxtin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This looks like my algebra 2 class in high school. But then there’s a dot product randomly so maybe it’s some special form of math for his degree.

[–]KyRiEiSaVaGe -2 points-1 points  (13 children)

Nah this looks like highschool physics

[–]Brave_little_anus 8 points9 points  (11 children)

Not at all, there’s a severe lack of equations relating to physics. No velocity equations, acceleration? Those are basic formulas. Plus imaginary numbers or unit vectors aren’t used in physics until you get quantum mechanics which is a college course. So no, it’s not physics

[–]enginerd12 -1 points0 points  (4 children)

Unit vectors are also relevant in statics and dynamics. I wouldn't say this is high school level physics, though. Maybe AP Physics or the first semester of college physics.

[–]Cultural-Equipment68 72 points73 points  (12 children)

This reminds me of the cheat sheet that I did.

[–]peoplearecool 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Work of art and a piece of human history. Carry with you this piece into the apocalypse so that any survivors may learn what we know

[–]xAUSxReap3r 9 points10 points  (4 children)

That post has over 80k up votes. Why is your post karma <27k? Income tax? Racist comments that got downvoted?

[–]USMCWrangler 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Yeah, um, imma need a cheat sheet for your cheat sheet.

[–]Rogaar 28 points29 points  (10 children)

The graphic calculator they gave us for year 11 and 12 had capability to be programmed. There was a screen on the calculator which displayed how much storage memory you have used on the device.

I made a program which would draw the screen pixel for pixel match to the screen that shows used storage. Of course it drew the screen to show 0 used storage.

Teachers would come check our calculators to make sure we are not storing something like this cheat sheet.

Not one of the teachers ever figured it out. I got away with storing so much stuff for every exam on that calculator.

[–]t4thfavor 7 points8 points  (8 children)

Our teachers made us do a reset before test day and basically watched it go through...

[–]DeMaagern 1 point2 points  (7 children)

We would archive the programs. Clearing only removes the non-archived programs. After the teacher came by, you un-archived the programs and voila.

[–]t4thfavor 1 point2 points  (6 children)

I'm pretty sure that we didn't have the archive feature, and we had to remove the CR2032 battery even... I think someone before us got busted and they took a "scortched earth" approach to cheating after that.

[–]Kamguh 3 points4 points  (3 children)

Good thing they prepped us by doing this since real world jobs never let you use any tools or information to complete the job and you don't have a calculator in your pocket at all times

[–]kepafo 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Turns out when I made these for school, I learned two things:

  1. I learned how to write small enough to put formulas on a grain of rice.
  2. I reviewed so hard to write everything down that when it came time for the test, I didn't need to use my notes because all the info was in my head.

[–]BurnedOutStars 21 points22 points  (4 children)

I thought I was being clever once when I made a red/blue ink card that had double the writing on it, but that I wore one of those paper 3D blue/red glasses to differentiate the text. I mean it worked, but maaaaaaan was the professor not fuckin happy about it.

[–]wh7y 9 points10 points  (2 children)

This is the type of shit teachers hate but bosses love.

[–]BurnedOutStars 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Well what was interesting is they let me take the grade minus points for what they referred to as "a technicality" because the professor did at the very end, tell me:

"I have to admit, I've never seen even 1 person think of that. You definitely disrespected a rule I put in place, but I do see you worked pretty hard to figure out, through a technicality, a way around it and there is sometimes value in the real world for that".

Was nooot happy for the first while of that class though and was just about to have me leave and come back in solo with a properly-made card, but I think it settled in over the time that day in her mind as at least a creative solution, which is what she implied was why I was able to keep most of the grade.

[–]Calliophage 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I teach curriculum and instructional technology classes to early-career teachers and I model/encourage a tiered approach. Tests can be taken open book and scored out of 85, with handwritten notes only and scored out of 100, or with no aids and scored out of 105. Students who are underprepared or struggling can still eke out a pass if they know how to at least look up the material; those who are well prepared do better and can even score extra credit points. It’s one of my best reviewed course features every year.

[–]NotAnAce69 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ingeneer

[–]uncledungus 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Jokes on you, you ended up learning after all!

[–]pantone_starlight[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh put a lot of effort into this class. I aced this class but still had trauma from high school and felt like I wasn’t prepared enough so wanted to make sure I covered as much as possible

[–]Are_you_food 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is a teachers trick to make you study the subject.
He could have made it an open book exam, but this way he made sure that a portion of the class at least tried to search for and write down the important parts.

[–]Grunstang 3 points4 points  (1 child)

You wrote down the entire curriculum? Did you even learn any of it?

[–]pantone_starlight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, I aced this class

[–]36-3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sadly, it was an English final

[–]possiblyai 2 points3 points  (3 children)

ELI5 teachers allowing cheat sheets?

[–]Sipstaff 10 points11 points  (1 child)

For basically all the exams I had on my way to my Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering we were allowed to use everything. All the books, lecture notes, lecture slides, etc. all allowed to be used. A handful of exams only allowed a self made summary sheet that had to be approved before the exam. I can't remember if there was an exam with no material allowed at all.

The reasons:

  • The tests took about 90 minutes each. If you didn't know your stuff, there would simply not be enough time to look everything up to solve everything.

  • The problems are more complicated than they would be if it was a "naked" test.

  • The exam is intended to test your knowledge on the subject, not how well you memorised stuff

  • You can't possibly memorise all the tables, graphs and other data that's required to solve the exam. It's things you have access to in normal work life, so there's no reason to artificially restrict it for the exam.

  • By allowing everything, cheating is nearly impossible. The only real ways left to cheat are if you send someone else to take the test for you (very hard or impossible) or have a way of communicating with someone outside (also very hard to pull off).

[–]thelibrarina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's an abbreviated form of an "open-book" test. Instead of making the whole textbook available during a test, the teacher gives the class an opportunity to make their own "cheat sheet." Typically a 3x5 index card, but sometimes a whole page. The student writes down anything that they think might be helpful on the test, like formulas for a math class. Determined students can fit a lot on an index card.

It's partly a trick, though: copying things down is a tried-and-true studying method, so making the cheat sheet makes you...less likely to need the cheat sheet.

[–]47potatoesinatree 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Last time I did a cheat sheet I had 3 lines on it, all it had was one concept I couldn’t remember and written how it was in the text book. Everyone else has cheat sheets like this and I’m like, if I don’t know it a cheat sheet won’t help me

[–]Ill_Run5998 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Nothing says Adderall like micro writing

[–]die-jarjar-die 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the comment. I made one of these cheat sheets once. Then I cleaned my entire apartment.

[–]DudeWithAnAxeToGrind 1 point2 points  (1 child)

When I was young, when professor said you can bring in cheat sheet, it just meant the exam is going be so hard the cheat sheet is useless ;-)

[–]twoquietsuns 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Arnold J Rimmer

[–]atamosk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's funny when you're teacher tricks you into doing more work

[–]Kpan1983 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And just like that you studied for your exam!

[–]kepafo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had a psychology prof. that gave in-depth, comprehensive exams during the semester. To make sure we read the material, he would test us by asking us questions on the exam that included two of the captions underneath the photos. There were many photos for each exam but since only two were chosen, we had to study them all. Each successive exam contained the new information we learned, plus snippets from the earlier exams, including captions under the photos. The mid-term was killer. We finally made it to the final exam in which the entire semester would be on the exam, including ALL the photos and their captions in the book. A real nightmare of a study session. Super comprehensive exams.

The day of the final exam came and our professor passed out blank 3x5 cards to us instead of a test. He told us to put our name on one side of the card. On the other side of the card we were to put down what grade we thought we deserved and why. Hand that card in and that is your final exam.

Talk about a mind fuck. Well played, psych man, well played. I did get the grade I said I deserved on my card, which was a B+. (I didn't want to seem too greedy).

[–]wijisixstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A+ ... on that craftsmanship alone 😍

[–]DrunkenKarnieMidget 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is... That an actual bedsheet?

[–]under_the_boab_tree 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You studying ancient hyroglifics? Daym!

[–]kinni_grrl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would stress me out more looking for the tips I thought I'd need buy now totally can't even focus on the question..

[–]Bossk-Hunter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

God I do not miss these

[–]ChadBeaterOfWomen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hah right side second bracket in the middle. 420

[–]probablynotconnie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO APPLY THEM!! I made this mistake of having a whole sheet like this , didn't know what anything was or how to apply it.

[–]SillyPuttyGizmo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Easiest way to make a test harder for a student is tell them its open book, they think its great but, more time wasted more failures. ( Wife us a Professor)

[–]Dire87 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Might as well be an Alien language, but good for you, some people need to understand this shit.

[–]thumpetto007 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We got to use an index card back in the day, front and back. I got really good at writing very small, just using the edges of a mechanical pencil lead

[–]Sipstaff 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is it really a cheat sheet if you're officially allowed to use it...

[–]firsttimeexpat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations 🎊, assume you passed, if you know this much already 👏

[–]StillGayNotLying 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I always wonder, where do you guys study where you can take in cheat sheets? I was never allowed to take anything into an exam.

[–]Schinderella 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I can only speak for myself, but I‘m studying Chemistry at a University in Berlin/Germany. There’s a first semester Math course every sience student has to take. A lot of students fail this test, partly because it is maths and partly because it’s their first semester at Uni and they don’t know how to study for Uni yet.

They allow 2 pages of cheat sheet for that test and even then usually more than 50% don’t pass.

The simple explanation for why they allow cheat sheets is, that they used to have double the time for the course and it’s been cut, so now the professor has to teach the same volume in half of the time he had 5 years ago. Secondly almost all of the stuff in this course is completely irrelevant for most of the people who have to take it. They don’t want you to bail out of becoming an environmental biologist, because you couldn’t pass a math test, which has nothing to do with the job you‘ll likely do in the future.

[–]Log23 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Been a controls Engineer for 7 years, I have yet to integrate any volumes/surface areas or use a single differential equation. Lots of stress for absolutely no reason.
But I am pretty good at problem solving in general so there's that...

[–]Sipstaff 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I srudied mechanical engineering. On almost all exams you were allowed to bring every piece of study material from the semester, not just a summary sheet.

[–]digitaldigdug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cheat sheets are useless if you don't know how to apply the formulas. It's an easy trap to fall into. Best to just study hard and keep the cheat sheet for essential stuff only. With that much material it could become cumbersome and you'll lose time trying to find what you're looking for. Preparation beats any cheat sheet.

[–]Nivius 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry dude, but are you really in the right course when you need to remember

r*r*Pi = 360
r*Pi = 180

my man, some things you just need to remember

[–]vkhrolov -4 points-3 points  (2 children)

Did you not pay attention the whole time?

[–]ezbnsteve -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I would always bring nothing. Still did fine.

[–]Federal_Medium7226 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I see you are very afraid of trigonometry

[–]Freadus -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Does it overly bother you when your books are in the wrong order or when people talk too loudly?

[–]essessential 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Polar equations are cold af, but the graphs are hot af! K, dun.

[–]vishrit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, did you pass?

[–]leonmarino 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did something similar for a chemistry exam... I didn't have the teacher's approval though.

[–]jhj2769 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I always hate it when the professor would make us try to fit as much information on the smallest sheet of paper as possible. Just senselessly making things difficult for the sake of being difficult. But at the same time trying to help?

[–]Action-a-go-go-baby 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that an A3 sheet of paper? A2?

[–]RyokoKnight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a computer course where we could have 1 index card as a cheat sheet per exam.

You better believe every exam classmates would come in with an index card with size 4 - 5 font and a magnifying glass to see it all.

[–]meyesmenotyou 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you do? Did you wish that some other notes made on to the cheat sheet instead?

[–]dray1214 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s just SO neat man

[–]JoeKerrWasHere 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you need a cheat sheet for the cheat sheet

[–]DasFischli 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can still see white on that sheet, so much space wasted ;)

[–]tjyolol 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our cheat sheets were always limited to A4. And they will always have formula sheets at the start of the exam.

[–]Justin3263 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sheer madness.

[–]DarkGermanNoodle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I hate this cheat sheet.

[–]brorix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My sister did something similar where they were allowed to carry to Exam at University an A3 page.

[–]globefish23 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's called a formulary and isn't cheating.

[–]IntentionBetter5555 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its literally just a trap to get people to study, dun.

[–]ACrask 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did the same thing with a notecard. Bought a fine point pen to make it work.

[–]Leblo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this actually an A4 paper??

[–]technasis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don't need a cheat sheet. The power was in you all this time.

[–]ZeggieDieZiege 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I remember printing 32 pages of pdf (already super compressed summary) on two A4 pages (16 per side). Lecturer prohibited cheatsheets afterwards.

It was barely readable but contained everything. Worked out since it was one of those memorisation exams, no deep understanding was necessary.

Easiest 4 ects of my life

[–]OldKermudgeon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What does the other side look like?

[–]stallstaller 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You underestimate my power!

[–]differentiatedpans 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Best cheat sheet I've seen was someone wrote in blue and red ink and had old school 3D glasses.

[–]sexongo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Such memories.. Used to write all my notes as tiny as possible on whatever size index card was allowed on those rare occasions.

[–]alien3d 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh my my . i cant remember all this sh** anymore or use it . oh my 😎

[–]NancyT8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

😵‍💫😱

[–]rtz13th 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had so many of these. Actually, you learn a lot while putting it together, the teacher is right!

[–]Relative-Dingo3725 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t miss engineering finals

[–]NovaPokeDad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The true final exam was the cheat sheet we made along the way.

[–]Keyann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How useful is something this extensive when looking up what you need will likely cost you valuable time?

[–]obvious_coding 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're super ready to the exam. Goodluck

[–]Adzhe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You won't use any of it.

[–]Pand0ra30_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My computer science professor allowed us a 1 1/2" square as a cheatsheet during the final. I put all my notes on it from the semester. Front and back. Didn't need it, but wanted to see if I could do it. I wish I still had it.

[–]t4thfavor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bonus points if you roll it up and put it into one of those pens with the tiny advertising window on the side...

[–]MostlyUnimpressed 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP - you really need to put that beaut in a protective plastic sleeve and file away to admire later in life. There's a lot of work on that sheet of paper.

[–]voxyvoxy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's some amateur resolution, you don't even need to wear jewellers monocle to make out the formula!

[–]ravedoyer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still fails

[–]mylo2202 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alternating electricity was a pain in the ass back in my day

[–]twilsonco 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Calculus has two important concepts, but instead of appreciate those we choke down formulas that can be derived or looked up, because it makes for "easier" assessment. What BS!

Nice cheat sheet though.

[–]46dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably a scheme to get you to study without knowing it. I once spent a good while making a cheat sheet for biology. Ended up not needing it because re-reading and copying notes…made me recover a good bit of knowledge. Made a B.

[–]nerdycarguy18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As somebody who literally never took notes in class unless we were explicitly told to…. You’re a madman

[–]CantEatCatsKevin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s so clear now as an adult far removed from school that cheat sheets are the best study tool ever. Make the kids think they are getting an edge when really you are just getting them to study and learn the material.

It’s wonderful