Learn Turkish: Sınav için kopya hazırladın mı? - Have you prepared a cheat sheet for the exam?

In Turkish school and exam contexts, kopya takes on the specific meaning of "cheating" or a "cheat sheet." While kopya hazırlamak literally translates to "preparing a copy," idiomatically it means making a cheat sheet. You will also frequently hear the common phrase kopya çekmek, which means "to cheat" on an exam.

Since "a cheat sheet" is the direct object, shouldn't it take the accusative case and be kopyayı?

It doesn't take the accusative case here because it is an indefinite, general object. The speaker is asking if you prepared "a" cheat sheet or "any" cheat sheet, not a specific one. In Turkish, indefinite direct objects stay in their plain dictionary form and must sit immediately before the verb. If the speaker had said kopyayı hazırladın mı?, they would be asking "Did you prepare the cheat sheet?" (referring to a specific one you both previously discussed).

Could I change the word order and put kopya somewhere else in the sentence?

Not easily. While Turkish has very flexible word order, an indefinite direct object (like kopya in this sentence) is “glued” to the verb and must come right before it. You could move the prepositional phrase to the end as an afterthought (Kopya hazırladın mı sınav için?), but kopya and hazırladın must stay together.