Exit Ticket Ideas: 40 Examples You Can Use Tomorrow

A good exit ticket is short, tied to what you taught today, and quick to read. If sorting the answers takes longer than the lesson they check, the habit will not last until winter break.

• One to three questions. One that checks today's skill, and at most one where students rate their own confidence.
• Tied to today's objective. Ask about what you taught today, not the whole unit.
• Answers you can sort fast. Multiple choice and one-word answers sort in a minute. Paragraphs do not, so keep them for the days you really need them.
• Used the next morning. The point is to change the first ten minutes of tomorrow: who gets another example and who moves on.

Check the skill

1. Solve one problem like the ones we did today, and circle the step you found hardest.
2. Which of these four is an example of today's idea? (Multiple choice, one right answer.)
3. True or false: [a mistake students often make]. Explain your answer in one sentence.
4. Here is a worked example with one mistake in it. Find the mistake and fix it.
5. Put these steps in the right order.
6. Use today's new word correctly in a sentence of your own.

Find the muddiest point

These ask students to name what is still unclear. They take longer to read than a right-or-wrong question, but they tell you exactly where to start tomorrow.

1. What is one thing from today you are still not sure about?
2. Which problem today was the hardest, and what made it hard?
3. If you had to explain today's lesson to a friend who was absent, where would you get stuck?
4. Write one question you still have about today's topic.

Let students rate themselves

1. Pick one: I can do this on my own / I can do it with a hint / Not yet.
2. From 1 to 4, how sure are you that you could solve a problem like today's on a test?
3. Which of today's learning goals did you reach?
4. What would help you most tomorrow: another example, more practice, or moving on?

Summarize and connect

1. 3-2-1: three things you learned, two you found interesting, one question you still have.
2. Sum up today's lesson in one word, then explain your word in one sentence.
3. How does today's lesson connect to yesterday's?
4. Write a newspaper headline for today's lesson.
5. Where could you use what you learned today outside school?

Math

1. Solve 3/4 + 1/8 and show your work.
2. Which expression is equal to 2(x + 5)? 2x + 5, 2x + 10, x + 10 or 2x + 7?
3. A classmate says 0.5 is smaller than 0.35 because 5 is less than 35. Is your classmate right? Explain.
4. Estimate first, then solve: 48 × 21. How close was your estimate?

English and reading

1. What is the main idea of today's passage, in one sentence?
2. Find one example of figurative language in today's reading and name the type.
3. Rewrite this run-on sentence as two correct sentences.
4. Which word best describes the narrator's mood in the last paragraph? Quote one piece of evidence.

Science

1. Predict what happens to a balloon if you put it in the freezer, and explain why.
2. Which of these is a chemical change: melting ice, burning paper, dissolving sugar or boiling water?
3. Name the independent and the dependent variable in today's experiment.
4. What is one way today's experiment could have given a wrong result?

Social studies and history

1. Name one cause and one effect of the event we studied today.
2. Whose point of view is missing from today's source?
3. Put these three events in the order they happened.

World languages

1. Translate into the language we are learning: "I would like a glass of water, please."
2. Choose the verb form that completes the sentence. (Multiple choice.)
3. Write three words from today's list and use one of them in a sentence.

• Kindergarten to 2nd grade: "Tap the picture that shows three apples." Read the question aloud; one question is plenty at this age.
• 3rd to 5th grade: "Which is bigger, 7/10 or 65/100? Tell how you know." One skill question plus a quick self-rating works well here.
• Middle and high school: "Solve 3(x - 2) = 12 and show each step." Write it exactly the way it will appear on the test, so the exit ticket doubles as test practice.

Paper works fine. The catch is the sorting, and the stack of slips that goes home with you. A digital exit ticket sorts for you: you see each student's score, which questions they missed, and which question most of the class missed before you plan tomorrow. Here is how to run one in Sheelon on the free plan.

Would you rather have everyone answer in the room at the same moment? Use Start game and pick Classwork instead: students join with a PIN, each works at their own pace, and you end it when the bell rings.