Academic Poll: Formula Sheets

1) Some classes yes, some no. More frequently yes, IIRC. And in grad school, exams were usually take-home/open book.

2) It depends on the class, but generally I say yes, because ideally the exam isn't testing if the student can remember all the scaling factors for Maxwell's Equations in SI vs cgs units, but whether the student knows when and how to use them.

1) Not in my math courses, but I was a math major.
2) Being allowed is a personal choice - some of my colleagues let students make their own formula sheets. I don't, but do two different things.

In my introductory courses I provide a with the formulas that are not from the math, but from the applications (finance, etc). I used to allow students to make a one-page sheet of formulas, but the results were so wide-ranging that it soon became depressing to me. some students would do a good job, some would procrastinate and do a half-a***d job, without studying, because they thought the formulas would save them.

I give everyone the same formulas so they are on equal footing: they seem to be studying more, since I don't tell them exactly which formulas they will have.

In upper-level courses the regular tests are given in two portions: 60% take-home. They have access to books, formulas, my notes, and (most importantly, since these are quite involved tests) computers. The second portion is given in class, the day the take-home is submitted. All the calculations are provided for them their job is to write short, clear (I can hope) summaries and interpretations. It seems to work out well.

sorry to be so wordy.

I let them use a formula sheet. The formulas won't do any good if they don't know how to apply them. And so frequently they don't...

I vote yes. There are pedagogical and practical arguments on either side, but I would argue "train like you'll work" makes sense to me. If I could have arranged for all my students to have equal access to Wikipedia, I could have given much more challenging exams. For that matter, I was fond of giving take-home tests, not the least reason being that I did not have to devote precious class time to babysitting.

BBB

In lower-division courses, I allow a 3x5 card (both sides). (The size limitation is to encourage students to figure out what the crucial formulas are, rather than copying down everything they see.) In upper-division courses, I allow an 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper. In graduate courses, all exams are take-home.

1) Depended on the class, but often, yes.

2) I'd go with the option not given: I'd be inclined to provide the formulae I thought were relevant and useful if I were actually giving in-class exams rather than short projects.

1) In undergrad, usually yes I was allowed to bring formula sheets. In graduate classes, no. Either the class has so much material and so many equations that the exam is simply open book, or the class is on theory and concepts (math, control systems) that don't require much memorizing.

2) Matters not to me as a student. If there are many complicated equations, I would appreciate being given those on the test or having it open-book. But any way you structure it, the whole class is in the same boat.

I just gave open-book/open-note tests.

What Novak said. My calc instructor didn't allow us to bring in a formula sheet, but he would put all relevant basic formula on the blackboard. But then, he was an engineer, not a mathematician, and considered making us waste time memorizing stuff we'd look up if we ever needed it once out of school was pointless (knowing full well that once out, all the memorization in the world would be gone within a year or two unless it was stuff you used daily).

1. No. At least I don't remember that.

2. No, but I provide an equation sheet for them, or include important equations in the questions.

Yes and yes. Formula sheets, no books (otherwise may as well make it take-home exam). The more advanced the class, the more I let them have, but then the exam is also correspondingly more difficult.

I was sort of assuming this was for freshman physics. I was always allowed a formula card, and I never looked at it. But making it was a useful way to study.

(1) Generally yes, unless it was an open book exam or a math class, or the professor provided the formula sheet.

(2) Again, yes. Doing a proper job of preparing such a sheet is a useful way of studying. And as others have said, it doesn't do you a bit of good if you don't know when/how to use the formula.

1) No never.

2) No. I teach calc, and I feel that the equations aren't complicated enough to warrant a memory aide. That being said, I try to emphasize in my teaching that there is more to calculus than equations, and I frequently show them ways to (re)derive new equations from old ones using techniques we've learned. I tell them that if they don't know the equations I can promise they'll fail, but if they know the equations, I can't promise they'll pass. I get frustrated when students get so hung up on this.

Yes for both. Why bother testing them on memorization (when they can so easily look up some of this information in real life), test them on application. It's not like it makes the exams that much easier - people fail even with equation sheets.

Into exams!? Hell no!

As an undergrad, equations/formulae were divided into two categories: those you need to be able to use, and those you need to be able to recall. If you weren't required to remember a certain formula, it would be given to you in the exam paper (or occasionally on a supplemental sheet together with various physical constants).

Taking in a sheet with formulae written on it is usually referred to here as cheating. :P

Yes and yes. Both undergrad and grad classes generally allowed this, I don't remember anyone making a point of forbidding it for a class where it would be relevant. Why bother testing people whether they can memorize something they can look up in 2 mins on wikipedia? You'll memorize anything you use alot in any case.

And I have to say back when I was undergrad it was quite useful as a way to study.

1) For most classes with in-class exams, yes.

2) I think whatever the instructor wants is fine -- it's not a big deal either way. In my experience, most allow cheat sheets and I think that's appropriate.

As a student I experienced both situations. It certainly made it easier to study when I didn't have to go through the rote process of memorizing formulas. And, as has been mentioned, knowing how to apply the formulas is far more important than their memorization.

I tend to err on the side of the 'real-world' test: in a real-world situation, a researcher would never be expected to do calculations without a reference (if they needed it.)

I feel the same way about allowing students access to calculators in test situations.

1) In some classes
2) Yes

If you properly make a cheat sheet it is an excellent way to study. I often did this even if we weren't allowed because you review (or should) the context for each equation. I think what is important is to eliminate the stress students get about memorizing something so the stress they have is about solving the problems. And when it comes to grad courses, the exams should always be open book, if not take home. All grad courses I have taken have involved enough problems that you need to look something up, and often to do anything besides a trivial solution you need to spend more time than most exam periods allow.

1)yes
2)yes

If a test does not allow an equation sheet, I take that to mean one of 3 things:

1) the test will include a list of formulas I need. I prefer this situation.
2)the test will not require any non-trivial formulas. In other words it will be an easy test.

or, in the case where neither of the above are true,

3) the professor is incompetent and does not understand that his job is not to make me memorize things I could simply look up in any real world situation.

I was never allowed to use a formula sheet as a student, but to this point I have allowed them in my introductory and modern physics classes. I tend to make a sheet for the students and publish it well enough in advance so they know what they will be getting. It includes mostly basic, general formulas, not the numerous special case derivations that the books highlight. I want students to know the general formulas are the ones they need to know how to use.

When I see these students again as juniors and they are unable to recall any kinematic equations (or even general relations from them), though, I always reconsider my stance on allowing formula sheets.

(assuming physics classes)
1. sometimes
2. YES

I keep a "formula sheet" pinned up on the bulletin board behind my computer monitor and reference it frequently. To the extent that classes are supposed to test real-life skills rather than memorization, formula sheets should be allowed.

Also, preparing the said formula sheet often proved to be a very valuable studying exercise.

1: Depended on the class. 2: Yes.

Like quite a few people have already said, a lot of this comes down to what the instructor is trying to accomplish.

When I was younger and dumber, I actually preferred courses where the formula sheet was not allowed. Those tests tended to involve substantially less actual thinking. If I was allowed to make a formula sheet, or knew that one would accompany the exam, I knew that knowing the formulas was not gonna save me - I'd have to learn the concepts, and think.

Later in my extended career as a student, I came to prefer the courses where formula sheets were involved. For the same reason.

1) As a student, there were a couple of times that I could use a formula sheet. For most intro classes, no formula sheet.

2) I think that students should be able to bring a formula sheet. The question to ask is, what are you testing? If you are testing if students can memorize formulas, then obviously no sheet.

I think in physics this a pretty easy question. We all know that if the students have a formula sheet, many problems will still be non trivial. Really the only bad thing about formula sheets or open book tests is that it lets the student have a false sense of security.

My classes have been somewhat evenly split between bring in a sheet, and provided one on the test. The problem with a student produced one, is how do you disallow sheets with large amounts of text (ie writing out the answers to sample problems in full).

For me as a teacher
1. simple relations should be remembered (f=ma stuff)
2. complicated equations should be given or allow a sheet (do you really want to test students on memorizing which eqn has Pi and which has Pi/2?)
3. if you do a eqn sheet with the test, give it out early, so students know what will be there (I had an instructor give us an equation sheet, but left off a needed equation and would not give it during the test time)

1) We were allowed one 8.5 x 11 sheet (with anything we wanted on it) for my intro physics class, and one 3 x 5 notecard (with anything we wanted on it) for physical chemistry. No formula sheets for other classes, though I've had classes with take-home tests, open-book tests, classes where the questions were distributed ahead of time, and so forth. I don't remember whether we were allowed formula sheets in my grad school geophysics class. I don't think I derived heat flow equations from first principles during exams, though.

2) I don't teach any classes in which there are a lot of equations to remember, so I don't allow formula sheets. I thought they were mostly good as study aids - I found that I rarely actually looked at the sheets, but that writing them made me think about which equations were important, and which were simply rearrangements of others. (Some of my classmates wrote every version of every equation on their sheets, but then couldn't read them because their writing was too small.)

1) Sometimes.

2) On one hand, trying to pack tons of info into a single sheet of paper is perhaps the best way of studying for a test that I've ever found. It can take hours to write stuff in and review the material. But, if I were giving the test, I would not allow it. So much info is available, that the test must be really well made and often very difficult to still be effective. My preferred method is a professor provided list of equations. I had various professors who would supply "potentially useful equations" with some basic formulas, as well and common integrals. It was enough to keep courses from being a memorization test, while still testing knowledge, not formula sheet making skill.

1) Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Most of the time where formula sheets weren't allowed the professor would provide a "common equations" sheet of some sort, though my senior E&M professor expected us to simply remember everything.

2) In general I'd say yes, though a professor-provided formula sheet was always an acceptable substitute for me. A good compromise one prof used was to provide a very basic formula sheet in PDF form, but allow any formula sheet on 8.5" x 11". Most of us simply wrote additions on the sheet he provided (which had lots of white space): useful integrals, a special case of a general equation, whatever.

#1 - sometimes

#2 - Yes but possibly with some controls. Such as "whatever
you can get on a 5x8 index card" or something to that effect.

I was always allowed to use a formula sheet. It seems to me the point was to learn how to perform real-world operations. Asking someone to memorize every formula is like asking someone to go through life never using a calculator. It's unrealistic.

++ Jamie Bowden and Danny Taft.

Better simulation of a real world environment. Someone over as Cosmic Variance (was is Sean Carroll maybe?) pointed out that a math methods course in particular and a lot of the material in other courses are to familiarize physics students with the existence of the tools they might possibly need someday, not to make them learn them and remember them forever.

A similar point applies at all levels -- knowing there are appropriate tools and knowing how to learn/re-learn their use is a much more powerful and useful skill than just knowing restricted toolset. And, as some people have pointed out, mastering a toolset reinforces this ability to learn/re-learn (the cheat sheets). E.g., whenever I need the calculus of residues, I can bring myself back up to speed in a reasonable amount of time despite not using them regularly.

1) Depends on the class
2) Yes, it's better to allow cheat sheets. If a test only asks you to recall formulas, then there's something seriously wrong with that test.

Not to mention that the cheat sheets make great study tools. I make sheets even for the classes that do not allow them in exams, and then I refer back to them even after the class is over.

1) Yes I was allowed to bring homemade formula sheets for some exams. I was a good student, but felt it was unfair and generally had bad experiences with this. Hence....

2) I never allow homemade formula sheets. If necessary, I provide a sheet and publish it before the exam. They know exactly what to expect, and can focus on learning material rather than making the formula sheet.

1. Vast majority 2. Most likely
If a student can somehow magically put all the answers worked out for the test on a formula sheet, heck they deserve the A.

1) I don't remember whether we got a list of identities in my HS trig class, but I know none of the calculus or higher level math classes I took had formula sheets. We were allowed to bring the CRC tables with us to physics exams, but that was because there were no calculators back then and we also weren't expected to remember random integrals that would be hard in a calc 2 class. Open book material was tested at home. Class time was for material I still have in my head. Most importantly, the grad comprehensive exam was taken based on what was in your head. We were not allowed calculators (or slide rules) because it was all symbolic or order-of-magnitude.

2) I do not allow formula sheets, but I sometimes put pre-announced formulas on the exam. For example, I expect them to know 1/2 mv^2, but not the doppler shift formula. I have confirmed this practice with the neighboring engineering school where my students are headed. I have taught a few classes (as a TA) where different practices were followed. The most interesting was "open everything" (bring any books you wanted) - but those tests was harder, and had a stricter time limit, than any that my students will want to take. In that class, a smart student would make up a good formula sheet and leave the library at home.

2a) If I did allow formula sheets, I would collect them and grade them for quality as part of the exam grade. Points would be given for generality and taken off for pointlessly specific equations that answer a specific homework problem.

Suggested followup question:

If you do allow formula sheets, what is the maximum amount of information you ever saw on one?

Apropos comments #3 and #5, I've seen an index card that looked like a microfiche card. (Google it.) It contained entire solutions, not just formulas, covering every topic on the exam.

#37:

Hah. I have some fond (now) memories of just absolutely packing both sides of a sheet of notebook paper with .7 mm mechanical lead pencil tracings for what promised to be a horrific exam of one sort or another.

It was, in fairness, probably a good way to study, and it certainly wasn't a bitter experience-- just nerve-wracking at the time-- but I can't even clearly remember the subject any more, so it wasn't *that* great a way to study.

I remember seeing sheets, mine and others', that seemed like they had more surface area covered in lead dust than left clear.

1) Sometimes, usually not, but there was usually a short list of physical constants and basic formulae at the end of the test paper.

2) I'm not sure on this one. I think students should have access to relevant formulae, but giving them in the question where they are to be used saves the students who don't have a clue - they now know what formula to use. I'd be in favour of either a list at the end of the exam (some of which might be irrelevant to the test given) or allowing a small self-made card.

1) It varied from class to class. In my intro to physics classes, the professor didn't allow us to bring any loose paper, but did allow us to bring the book (which, of course, we could write in) with us. Some didn't allow us anything and some gave us a formula sheet they made up. My classical mechanics professor allowed us to bring in what ever we wanted to the exam (the final in that class was an oral exam, BTW). It was all over the map.

2) I will start off by telling you what I most disliked to hear. In those classes where the professor made up the formula sheet, sometimes he would suggest that for anything left off the sheet, you could simply derive it from the equations on the sheet. I always found derivation to be way too much of a trial and error thing to be usable in a time-limited situation like an exam. Needless to say, I always hated to hear someone mention deriving a needed formula during an exam.

With that off my chest, I can answer the question. I don't think that forbidding students to make up formula sheets helps in discerning whether or not they have learned the material. Since determining the degree to which the student has mastered the material would seem to be the aim of having an exam, I would be in the let them make up their own formula sheet camp. I forget who it was that remarked "Life is open book", but I agree with him (I think it was a him).