Formative Assessment Examples: 15 Quick Checks for Any Subject

Teachers ask me for formative assessment examples more than for anything else, and the request usually comes with a worry: "I do not have time to assess every lesson." The worry is fair if assessment means marking. It is not fair if assessment means finding out, in three minutes, who got it and who did not, and then changing what happens next.

Here are 15 formative assessment examples that take between one and five minutes, a table that sorts them by when to use them, and a Grade 9 science example of what to do with the answers.

What makes an assessment formative

A check is formative only if the result changes something: the next ten minutes, tomorrow's starter, or which group you sit with. The same quiz is formative on Tuesday if you re-teach on Wednesday, and summative on Friday if it only becomes a grade.

So the test of any formative assessment strategy is not "how good is the task" but "what will I do with the answers before the next lesson". Keep that question next to every example below.

15 formative assessment examples

At the start of a lesson

1. Three-question starter. Three questions from last lesson on the board. Students answer on paper. Walk the room and read answers, do not collect.
2. Show me the answer. Mini whiteboards or a sheet of paper held up. One question, every student answers at once, you see the room in ten seconds.
3. Vote with fingers. A multiple-choice question with four options. Students show one to four fingers at the same time. The wrong answers tell you which misconception is in the room.
4. Pre-test with a twist. Five questions on the new topic before you teach it. Students write "sure", "guess" or "no idea" beside each. Teaching time goes to the "guess" column.

During the lesson

1. Hinge question. One well-chosen multiple-choice question at the point where the lesson can go two ways. If most are right, move on. If not, re-teach now, not next week.
2. Think, pair, write. Students think alone, agree with a partner, then each writes the answer. Collect the writing from a sample of six students, not all.
3. Traffic light cups or cards. Green, amber, red on the desk during independent work. You sit with the red group first.
4. Worked example with a mistake. Put a wrong solution on the board. Students find the error and explain it. Their explanation is the evidence.
5. Cold call with wait time. Ask the question, wait, then pick a name at random. Hands up only tell you about the confident students.
6. One-sentence summary. Halfway through: "Write what we have learned so far in one sentence." Read four aloud without names.

At the end of a lesson

1. Exit ticket. Two or three questions on a slip, collected at the door. Sort into three piles before the next lesson. See exit ticket templates for the formats that sort fastest.
2. Muddiest point. "What is the one thing you are least sure about?" Group the answers; the most common one becomes tomorrow's starter.
3. Two stars and a question. Two things understood, one question. Better for primary classes than a blank "any questions?".
4. Short auto-marked quiz. Five objective questions online, results in a table. Best for recall and procedures, not for explanations.
5. Rank the confidence. Students rate each success criterion one to three. Compare with their exit ticket. The gap between confidence and accuracy is the most useful number you will collect.

Which formative assessment tool to use when

A worked example: Grade 9 photosynthesis

Objective: students can explain where the mass of a plant comes from, using the word equation for photosynthesis.

At the start, vote with fingers: "Where does most of a tree's mass come from? Soil, water, air, sunlight." In most classes "soil" wins, which tells the teacher exactly what to tackle. The hinge question halfway through is the same question after the equation has been taught. The exit ticket is one sentence: "Explain why the answer is air, using the equation."

Sorting the tickets takes five minutes. Pile one explained it with the equation. Pile two said "air" but could not say why. Pile three still said soil. Tomorrow's starter is written for pile two, and the teacher sits with pile three during practice. That is the whole method: a check, three piles, one change.

Three habits that make formative assessment stick

• Write the check when you write the objective. If the objective is clear, the check is obvious. If you cannot write the check, the objective needs work, not the assessment.
• Sample, do not mark. Six scripts read well tell you more than thirty scripts ticked quickly.
• Record one line, not a spreadsheet. "Pile three: Ahmed, Sara, Jonas, re-teach with diagram." Keep it with the lesson plan so next week's plan starts from it.

How TeachBuddy AI helps

Several of these checks have a faster version in TeachBuddy AI. The quiz generator builds a short auto-graded quiz from the lesson plan or a textbook page, shared by link or access code, so the hinge question or exit quiz is ready before the lesson. Inside a Space, class voice lets every student record a spoken answer to one question, which is show me the answer for explanations rather than facts. Interactive worksheets in a Space are auto-marked for objective questions, so pile sorting is done for the recall part and you spend your time on the explanations.

After the lesson, the two-minute reflection asks what landed and what did not. TeachBuddy AI proposes a note for the next lesson and an update to the class description, and you approve each one. Nothing is written to a profile without you.

Frequently asked questions

What are some formative assessment strategies for any subject?

Exit tickets, hinge questions, show me the answer on whiteboards, vote with fingers, think pair write, and the muddiest point. All of them work in maths, science, languages and humanities because they check thinking, not content.

What formative assessment tools can I use without technology?

Paper slips, mini whiteboards, fingers, coloured cards and a random name list. Technology makes recall checks faster to mark, but the classroom versions are enough for most lessons.

How often should I use formative assessment?

Every lesson, at least once at the end. The check should take under five minutes and change something before the next lesson, otherwise it is just a quiz.

Want exit quizzes and checks built from the same plan as the lesson? Create a free TeachBuddy AI account and start with your next lesson's objective.