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March 29, 2026, 07:56:36 am

Author Topic: comparing cheat sheets?  (Read 8167 times)  Share 

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soopertaco

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comparing cheat sheets?
« on: June 10, 2011, 03:49:33 pm »
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Trust me to leave writing my cheat sheet to the weekend before the exam lol.

Just thought this could be a place where we could compare each other's cheat sheets, contributing tips and maybe other things to put on our cheat sheets?

here's mine btw, it's no where near finished but i still have to hand draw the diagrams and put in some worked examples.

:)
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soopertaco

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2011, 03:52:11 pm »
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here it is
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cohen

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2011, 03:57:54 pm »
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I don't have any examples on mine, i'll post it in an hour (5ish) when i get home, mine just has definitions, diagrams and alot of formulas :P

Lasercookie

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2011, 04:43:20 pm »
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Mine is split up for one page of motion, 1/2 page for special relativity, 1/2 page for electronics. It's typed and I set the font-size to 9. Any smaller than that is too small really.

Currently on motion I have a few equations (mainly just derived gravity equations, circular motion etc.)
I also have definitions for each type of graph (e.g velocity-time, net area = displacement, total area = distance, gradient = acceleration).

That stuff takes up about one-fifth of a page. The rest of the first page will be example problems from trial exams.

On the second page:
Special relativity - Mainly just definitions that will help me eliminate possible answers from the multiple choice questions straight away, but I do have a few equations, a table of Lorentz factors and one example problem for simultaneity. 

Electronics: Mainly definitions, if I have space left I may put in a worked problem.

Oh yeah, I also have in the header and footers: "Reread The Question, Highlight Key Points" and guidelines for worded questions and counting the area under a graph.

Worded Questions:
  • 3 to 4 points
  • Explain Background Science
  • Address the Question
  • Conclusion

Counting Squares (approx): Number of Full Squares + ½ Number of Cut Squares (My teacher told us this, I thought it was kind of dodgy but it works pretty well in all the questions I've done so far)

I've tried to keep the information minimal and maintaining ease of readability.

Also, I noticed on your cheat sheet, soopertaco, that your equations are just quite low-resolution images (though it might be easier to read when printed out). You might find it a lot easier to make use of the Microsoft Equation Editor in MS Word. It makes equations nicely formatted and that much easier to read.

cohen

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2011, 05:42:36 pm »
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Here's my cheatsheet, i put everything that I thought might be useful to me on the exams, it's helped me so far :)
http://uppit.com/m5wi6q4ihbvd/Physics-Help_Sheet.docx

The extra space on it's for the diagrams :D

VivaTequila

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2011, 10:00:27 pm »
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I for one stand strongly for not using a cheat sheet in an exam.

Writing a cheat sheet or downloading a commercially available one (if anything) just detracts you from working through your exam as you frantically scan your cheat sheet for answers that might not be on it.

I'm all for writing one; doing that forces you to consolidate and process information, condensing it into an easily readable page of notes. I however condone taking it into the exam as it is completely redundant.

If you don't know how to answer the questions conceptually, then a cheat sheet isn't going to help you. This is especially true because exams try to always ask new questions which involve a different concept, or a new way to use certain information as has happened in the previous VCAA exams.

That's just me though. I've committed all my formulae to memory, and I know how to use them all in adaptable situations.

If you do take a cheet sheet in, chances are you won't use it. And if you decide that you don't know what is going on in a question because it's foreign, glancing over your cheet sheet will most likely give you a method of solving a familiar problem. You need to be amiable in solving new problems, be adaptable and understand the concepts.

TL;DR not wasting my time on a cheat sheet and investing effort into making it neat when I could knock out more practise exams and spend my time revising and pinpointing my own mistakes, rather than reinforcing things that I am comfortable with.

Lasercookie

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2011, 10:26:53 pm »
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For me, personally, the physics exams have increasingly had more explain type questions, where the examiners can choose to be quite pedantic with marks. Why risk losing one mark just because you incorrectly worded an explanation under the exam pressure.

The way I use cheat sheets are usually just to double check that my formulae I'm using are correct. Nothing worse than incorrectly writing down an equation. I don't really like going to directly to the derived formulas, I will usually start from the base formulas and derive them from scratch on the exam paper. That way I'm sure that I've understood the situation described correctly.

I do agree on your point on having to know how to answer questions conceptually. To be honest, if somebody didn't know how to do this by this stage, I would be extremely worried.

If you've already made a cheat sheet, I don't see why you would not want to bring it into the exam, even if you don't use it. It's a piece of paper that should be/is a collection of all the points you've defined as regularly struggling upon, what harm is there in bringing it into the exam room. An A4 page doesn't take up much space or get in the way of your work.


physics

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2011, 10:37:00 pm »
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HELLO EVERYBODY!

as my username suggessttss I DO PHYSICS =D

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW A CHEATSHEET SHOULD NOT LOOK LIKE LOL
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Bozo

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2011, 10:38:20 pm »
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looks like a sick cheat sheet.

physics

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2011, 10:44:56 pm »
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looks like a sick cheat sheet.


half the stuff shouldnt be there...not to mention it was double sided
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soopertaco

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2011, 10:57:03 pm »
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LOL that's crazy, looks like that took a lot of time!
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taiga

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2011, 11:02:35 pm »
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I would upload mine but it contains some things from iTute.

Speaking of which their cheatsheets are available at: http://www.itute.com/download-free-vce-physics-resources/free-physics-summary-sheets/
vce: english, methods, spesh, chemistry, physics, geography.

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Bozo

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2011, 11:59:42 pm »
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Did you put much effort into yours taiga, btw how many prac exams did you do for physics?

dmanz

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2011, 12:10:18 pm »
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can i bring in two single sided A4 sheets or do i have to glue them together??

pi

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Re: comparing cheat sheets?
« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2011, 12:11:42 pm »
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can i bring in two single sided A4 sheets or do i have to glue them together??

Glue them together, just so the supervisors can't pick on you. Better to be safe than sorry