Exit Tickets That Actually Tell You Something
October 28, 2026 · 5 min read
A good exit ticket takes three minutes and tells you exactly who needs what tomorrow. Eight formats, and how to sort the results in under five minutes.
An exit ticket is a short task students complete at the end of a lesson. Done well, it's the fastest way to know whether today's teaching landed — and to plan tomorrow around evidence rather than a feeling.
What makes a good one
- One learning goal. Test the thing you taught today, not everything.
- Two to five questions. It should take three minutes, not ten.
- At least one question that reveals a misconception. Not just "can they do it" but "do they understand it".
Eight formats
- Three quick questions of rising difficulty from the day's topic.
- Spot the mistake: show a worked example with an error and ask students to find and fix it.
- Explain why: "Why do you need a common denominator to add fractions?"
- Which is bigger and how do you know? Great for fractions, decimals, negative numbers.
- Write your own question on today's topic, with its answer.
- One thing I'm sure of, one thing I'm unsure of.
- Rate your confidence 1–4 next to each answer.
- A live quiz round: five questions on screen, students answer on their devices, results appear instantly.
Sort in under five minutes
Make three piles: got it, nearly, not yet. Don't mark in detail. Tomorrow, "got it" students start on extension work, "nearly" students get a quick fix-up, and you work with "not yet" students directly. Give each group a worksheet at the right level — easy, medium or hard on the same topic.
The data is the point. An exit ticket that doesn't change tomorrow's lesson is just a worksheet.
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