How do you know if your students are truly engaged with a lesson and retaining the information? An exit ticket can be a great way to pulse check what your students know and give you key information about where you can jump ahead and where you need to spend more time during the next lesson. 

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Today, we’re covering some exit ticket FAQs to answer all your questions about this formative assessment type, and sharing some exit ticket templates you can take and customize to use in your classroom.

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• Exit ticket FAQs
• Tips for creating effective exit tickets
• 4 exit ticket templates

[Exit Ticket FAQs](id-faq)

Want to know more about the basics of exit tickets? Browse the answers to some of these frequently asked questions:

What is an exit ticket?

An exit ticket is an informal formative assessment given at the end of a class or lesson. It’s a quick way to help you find out if your students understood the material you covered so you can adapt instruction to meet students’ needs.

Why should you use exit tickets?

Exit tickets can tell you what information your students retained from the lesson and give you a peek into the effectiveness of your instruction. Some of the best reasons to use exit tickets include:

• Getting quick, actionable feedback about how your lesson went over with students.
• Letting you measure students’ comprehension in the moment, right after learning.
• Verifying that students can use a skill, solve a problem, or answer specific comprehension questions based on your lessons.
• Having students reflect on what they’ve learned.
• Giving students the chance to express their thoughts, questions, or opinions on new information.‍
• Teaching students critical thinking skills.

When should you use exit tickets?

Exit tickets are a good after-reading or after-learning activity. They help you see what your students learned before you “exit” the lesson. They also let you know if you need to go back and review or reteach any of the information.

Another way to use exit tickets is to check for understanding at natural breaks throughout the school day. For example, if you wrap up instruction before lunch at the same time each day, try a lunch exit ticket before students leave the room. This can encourage them to recap what they’ve learned before they move on with their day.

How often should you use exit tickets?

You can use exit tickets as often as you like in your classes as long as you plan how to use them effectively and review the results regularly. Plan and craft your exit ticket prompts when you develop your lesson plans. Then choose a cadence that works for your class, like daily, weekly, or bi-weekly.

Can you use exit tickets with any class size?

Yes, you can use exit tickets with any class size or group of students. They’re great assessments for after whole-class lessons, small group breakouts, or individual assignments. Students can respond together in small group assignments or on their own for whole-class lessons or individual assignments.

Can you use exit tickets for any subject?

Yes, you can create exit tickets for any class or subject. Use generic exit ticket responses across classes or make them more specific to fit the lesson or subject. For example, you can check students’ knowledge of ELA literacy skills, historical information in social studies, formulas in math, or key terms in science.

Can you use exit tickets with students at any grade level?

Yes, you can use exit tickets with students at any grade level. Yet the way you present them may vary by age and ability level. For example, with early elementary students, you may use verbal exit tickets or ones that require selection or image responses rather than asking students to write out an answer.

Do exit tickets have other names?

Exit ticket is a commonly used phrase to describe an informal end-of-lesson assessment, some educators may use synonyms like:

• Exit slips
• Closing tickets
• Reflections
• Lesson checkouts
• Wrap-up tasks

What question types can you use when making exit tickets?

The way you present the information for your exit tickets can vary. You don’t have to use short answers or fill in the blank for every question. Some of the question types you can use to collect information from your students include:

• Short answer responses
• Fill-in-the-blank
• True or false
• Multiple choice
• Matching

How can you make exit tickets more engaging for students?

Exit tickets are supposed to be quick and low-stakes. But if students have to complete the same type of assessment over and over, they may start to check out. Keep them engaged and enthusiastic about completing exit tickets and spice them up with themes or new activities to collect their responses. You can try:

• Social exit tickets: Turn your exit tickets into mock social posts like Instagram grids, tweets, or TikTok videos.
• Emoji reactions: Pose an exit prompt and have students respond with emojis and explain why they chose that emoji.
• Tip jar: Have students write tips to each other to help them better understand the lesson.
• Polls: Try a poll as a pulse check rather than having an open-ended response for students to answer.

How do you use exit tickets in class?

Using exit tickets in class is easy! At the end of a lesson, share the exit ticket prompt and ask students to respond. You can use slips of paper, index cards, sticky notes, or a dedicated notebook for each student to collect responses. 

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You can also ask students to respond orally and record the responses yourself. Use the information from student responses to adjust your future teaching and lesson plans, and to reteach and clarify information from the lesson. For easier grading, trend mapping, and data collection, use a digital tool like Formative to write, distribute, collect, grade, and analyze your exit tickets.

[Tips for creating effective exit tickets](id-tips)

Want to get the most out of the exit tickets you create for your students? Check out these tips:

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• Set clear expectations: Tell students exactly what you want them to share with you and how you want them to share it in every exit ticket prompt.
• Tie tickets to lessons: Make sure the question or task in the exit ticket ties to a skill or lesson objective. This can make it easier to interpret students’ responses.
• Keep it short: Keep exit tickets direct and easy to understand. The grades don’t matter; assessing what students know and how effectively you taught the lesson does.
• Make tickets engaging and relevant: Come up with new and interesting ways to collect information through exit tickets, such as varying the types of questions you ask or how students can respond.
• Provide feedback: Respond to prompts where students want you to provide more information. Add clarity, reteach where necessary, and expand the lesson where students are interested.
• Use the data: Use exit ticket data to inform future instruction and differentiate instruction where possible.
• Collaborate on common assessments: Collaborate with fellow educators to create shared exit tickets and exchange insights.

[4 exit ticket templates](id-library)

With Formative’s shared library of teacher-created and Formative-team-created content, you can always find examples of engaging exit tickets to use or customize to fit any lesson across subject areas. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Lesson Reflection

Assess how students felt about their performance and the strategies they used in class with a simple lesson reflection exit ticket. Students rate their understanding on a scale of 1 to 5, explain their responses, and share any questions they still have about the lesson.

2. Draw It Out

Share exit tickets with younger students by asking them to draw a response to the daily lesson. We’ve also included space for students to ask additional questions to clarify their understanding of the lesson.

Formative Paid Teacher and School or District subscribers can modify this activity to include audio or video responses so your youngest students can response without typing full sentences.

3. Presentation Playback

Encourage students to pay attention to in-class speakers and presentations with the Presentation Playback exit ticket. Students can share what they learned from watching, listening to, or engaging with classmates presentations or a guest speaker.

4. Two Truths and a Lie

Have students write two two factual statements about topics covered in the lesson and make up a lie that sounds like it could have been part of the lesson but wasn’t. Extend the activity by reading some of the responses and having the class guess the lie.

Create actionable exit tickets with Formative

Visit the Formative Library to get access to free pre-made content developed by educators like you. Use templates as-is or customize them to fit your students’ and instructional needs. You can also sort content by:

• Subject
• Grade level
• Language
• Public or internal school or district library

If there isn’t a pre-made exit ticket that fits your needs, create your own! Log into your Formative account and choose how you want to make your exit ticket. You can create a brand new formative, import content from Google, or enhance a .PDF or .Doc that already exists.

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Don’t have a Formative account yet? Sign up for your Formative Bronze account to start creating digital exit tickets and tracking student progress today!