Most participants reported that cheat sheets boosted their confidence and efficiency during exams¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? A majority (55%) reported cheat sheets helped them work faster and more confidently, and 57% said sheets reduced recall time; 11% reported slowdowns. → Helen Weixu Chen 2026

Evidence¶

Helen Weixu Chen 2026¶

Helen Weixu Chen, Victoria Sakhnini, and Lesley Istead. (2026). Make or Take: How Students Navigate Self-Created and Instructor-Provided Cheat Sheets. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. https://doi.org/10.1145/3834566

q3 · i? · associational · r1

Self-reported perceived impact on time management across both exams. Only "a small proportion (11%)" reported that sheets slowed them down; these are descriptive percentages with no test.

"A majority (55%) felt that cheat sheets "helped me work faster and more confidently, " and 57% said cheat sheets "helped reduce time spent recalling definitions or formulas. ""

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Cheat sheet type was not significantly associated with exam performance on either exam, though a moderate non-significant trend favoured self-created sheets on the final — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Most students used cheat sheets as an occasional backup or continuous aid rather than a one-time reference — related
• Students using self-created cheat sheets reported greater perceived coverage of needed final exam content than instructor-provided users — related
• Self-created cheat sheet users reported significantly longer midterm preparation time than instructor-provided users, but the difference was not significant for the final exam — related
• Preferences for instructor-provided sheets were grounded in trust, alignment and efficiency, while self-created preferences reflected personalization, control and studying through creation — related