Cheat Sheets Significantly Impact Student Success on Biology Exams

Student-generated cheat sheets have been used during exams to help students organize their thoughts, avoid excess memorization, and reduce anxiety on large stakes assessments.  Cheat sheets were implemented at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill post the COVID-19 pandemic to bridge the gap between online, open note exams and closed note, in-person and proctored exams. Cheat sheet research thus far is sparce, frequently contradictory, and often based on small seminar classes and not large lecture-based ones. We asked if cheat sheets promoted student success in an introductory cell and molecular biology course. To explore this question, three Biology 103 unit exams and the cumulative final exam were coded using a three-part system based on Bloom’s taxonomy. Percent correct of each code as well as overall exam scores were compared in a semester where students were allowed cheat sheets on all exams, and a semester where they were not allowed, except for the final exam. Students performed significantly better in the semester with cheat sheets on lower order thinking questions on all four exams. Students in the semester without cheat sheets performed significantly better on higher order thinking questions as well as overall exam score on two of the four exams. Therefore, from these data we conclude that cheat sheet use significantly impacts performance on exams and consistently support lower order thinking skills. These data also suggest that cheat sheet use significantly impacts student exam performance in varying contexts and warrants further investigation.