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This article was co-authored by Daron Cam. Daron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College.
This article has been viewed 36,417 times.
Some instructors allow their students to use a page of notes for their math exams. These notes are usually called cheat sheets, or crib sheets. Many students love this idea, but then when it comes time to actually make their cheat sheet, they don’t know where to begin. To be helpful, you need to prepare a cheat sheet well in advance of a test. If you use your cheat sheet to literally cheat on a test without studying for it, you will likely not do well on your exam, no matter how much information you cram into your notes. But if you study and take the time to prepare a thoughtful cheat sheet, it can be an invaluable asset during exams.
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 3:
Preparing Notes for Your Cheat Sheet
Take daily class notes throughout the course. You should get into the practice of adding to them every day during and after class. This way, you can write down specific things the instructor focused on. These skills, topics, and examples are more likely to be included on the test.[1]- For more information on how to take good math notes, read Take Perfect Math Notes.
- If you wait until just before the test to take notes, you will likely be overwhelmed with information in the textbook and online, and you will waste a lot of time and energy.
- Label notes clearly, with a date, unit, and/or chapter heading. It might also be helpful to clearly mark in your notes when exams are. This will help you remember what material might be on an upcoming test, and which material was associated with a previous test.
Review your notes. A few days before the test, look back over what you’ve written throughout the course, or since the last test. Be aware of skills and concepts you are confident about, and which you aren’t.[2] Don’t worry about including information you know well on your cheat sheet.- Don’t think of this as “refreshing your memory.” If you need to “refresh your memory” about a concept, then you probably don’t know it very well.
Highlight things you need to remember. This usually includes formulas, vocabulary, rules, theorems, and other things you need to learn through rote memory.
Remember the important things. Determine which formulas, rules, etc., appear frequently in assignments. You can even make a chart and tally each time you use a particular formula or theorem. The ones that appear the most frequently are the ones more likely to appear on a test, and the ones you should therefore memorize. Since math is sequential, these are probably formulas you will need to know for the rest of the course, not just for the upcoming test.[3]
Paraphrase the concepts you are unsure about. Rewriting your course notes is usually not helpful, because if you do not understand something, simply writing it over and over again will not lead to understanding. By rewriting your notes using different words and examples, you can help ensure that you truly understand the concepts behind the notes.- Make sure you do this well before the test, so that you can still get help from your instructor if you need to.
- Use your class notes, textbook, assignments, practice tests, and online resources to help you paraphrase concepts in a way that you can understand.
Reorganize concepts that the test will cover. You might understand a skill in isolation, but not how it fits in with the overall concepts. Often you will learn skills and formulas first, and then use them later on for various concepts. Simply organizing your cheat sheet in the same order that you took notes will not necessarily help you understand how all the information fits together.[4]- To reorganize your notes, it is helpful to use graphic organizers, such as lists or mind maps.[5] You can also use Venn diagrams, flow charts, or T-charts.
- While reorganizing concepts, include any formulas, vocabulary, or rules associated with them in your graphic organizer.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 3:
Creating Your Cheat Sheet
Include things you don’t know. When you begin to create your cheat sheet, start by listing everything you remember about the test concepts. Then, go back and compare this list with your notes. Things that you forgot, or that you remembered incorrectly, should go into your cheat sheet.[6]
Don’t include things you know. You might be tempted to write down things you already know on your cheat sheet, because you’re worried you’ll draw a blank during your test. Try to avoid this temptation, and be confident in your abilities. You have limited space, so you want to reserve your cheat sheet for things you have difficulty remembering.
Outline your cheat sheet. Think of how you can organize the information. Use each major concept that will be covered on the test as a heading. Use bullet points, colors, and your graphic organizers to help present the information in a way that you can access quickly and easily.[7]
Be neat. You can hand write or type your cheat sheet, depending on how you can better present the information. Writing by hand may make it easier to incorporate graphic features, and to cram more information into tighter spaces in the page.[8] However, you don’t want to write so small that your notes are difficult to read, or to cram in so much information that your notes are difficult to follow.- One advantage of creating your cheat sheet by hand instead of by computer is that writing by hand helps you synthesize and understand topics better.[9]
Talk to your instructor before digitally shrinking your notes. Some people like to use their computer to shrink down their notes, so that they can print four pages of notes on one standard sheet. You should first check with your instructor to make sure that this technique is acceptable. Some teachers might view this as actually cheating, and will take your notes away from you during the test.- If you feel you need to include so much information on your cheat sheet that you have to use a computer to shrink down your notes, that probably means you didn’t prepare well enough for your test.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 3:
Using Your Cheat Sheet
Practice before the test. If possible, take a practice test using your cheat sheet. This will help you get used to using your sheet.
Edit your cheat sheet. After you take a practice test, edit your cheat sheet based on how you used it on the practice exam.- You might notice that there were things missing from your sheet.
- You might learn that things you thought you needed to include on the sheet were unimportant, or that you remembered things on your own. You can remove these from your sheet to free up space for more important concepts.[10]
Pretend you don’t have a cheat sheet. While taking the test, don’t use the cheat sheet as a crutch. Go through the test without the cheat sheet first, completing everything you can without it. Then go through the test a second time, using your sheet to help you complete those problems you struggled with.- Put your cheat sheet under your test or under your desk, so you aren’t tempted to waste time looking at it when you don’t need to.
Keep your cheat sheet. You can use your cheat sheets to help you prepare for final exams.[11]- Review your sheet after you get back your graded test, so that you can see how it did and did not help you. Then make revisions as needed.
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Expert Q&A
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- QuestionHow do you take notes on a complicated math topic?
Daron CamDaron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College.
Academic TutorSo let's say you're taking notes specifically on graphing trigonometric equations. You'd highlight that word, then write down every step involved on the graphing process. Make sure you can repeat every single step, and add additional bullet points under each step. Eventually, you want to internalized the info so you can comprehend the process using 3-5 steps or something like that. - QuestionHow do I choose what to highlight on math notes?Daron CamDaron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College.
Academic TutorI recommend highlighting key vocabulary terms and topics. This just makes it so much easier to navigate your notes and process what you're doing. - QuestionCan I learn math if I don't take notes in class?Daron CamDaron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College.
Academic TutorMaybe, but you'd be making things exceptionally hard for yourself and you're less likely to really understand what's going on. It's much easier to learn math if you're taking diligent notes.
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Tips
- Notes should be used more as a learning tool than as an actual device to use in the test.Thanks
- A "cheat sheet" is not cheating. It's simply a common name given to a page of notes a teacher allows you to use on a test. You should not use a cheat sheet if your instructor has not explicitly told you and the class that you can use one. That would be cheating.Thanks
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About this article
Daron Cam
Academic Tutor
This article was co-authored by Daron Cam. Daron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College. This article has been viewed 36,417 times.
Co-authors: 29
Updated: January 13, 2022
Views: 36,417
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 36,417 times.
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