Wiktionary
alt. 1 A sheet of paper containing notes used to assist (with or without permission) on a test. 2 (context idiomatic English) Any summary or quick reference used as a shortcut or reminder, a crib sheet. n. 1 A sheet of paper containing notes used to assist (with or without permission) on a test. 2 (context idiomatic English) Any summary or quick reference used as a shortcut or reminder, a crib sheet.
Wikipedia
A cheat sheet or crib sheet is a concise set of notes used for quick reference. "Cheat sheet" may also be rendered "cheatsheet".
Cheat sheets are so named because they may be used by students without the instructor's knowledge to cheat on a test. However, at higher levels of education where rote memorization is not as important as in basic education, students may be permitted to consult their own notes during the exam (which is not considered cheating). The act of preparing a cheat sheet is also an educational exercise, thus students are sometimes only allowed to use cheat sheets they have written themselves. In such usage, a cheat sheet is a physical piece of paper, often filled with equations and/or facts in compressed writing. Modern students often print cheat sheets in extremely small font, fitting an entire page of notes in the palm of their hands during the exam.
The term can also apply to the fully worked solution for exams or work sheets normally handed out to university staff to ease marking.
Usage examples of "cheat sheet".
It seemed to Stu that the days would go on forever like this: Glen bitching goodnaturedly about the food, Larry noting their mileage on his dog-eared cheat sheet, the two cups of coffee, someone burying yesterday's scut, someone else burying the fire.
I got a cheat sheet off the Net that says what they stand for and how to pronounce them.
Salla's eyes drifted to the top of her cheat sheet and she looked confused.
The demonstration had so impressed Phillip that he had asked for a 'cheat sheet.
Recently, a good friend of mine in Grantville sent me a 'cheat sheet' on the production of rubies and sapphires.
I said, jiggling the phone to write on my palm like a test cheat sheet.
The man in charge of the crew read haltingly from his cheat sheet of German phrases to fill in the local workers, and another quiet cheer went up.