Exit Ticket Template: 10 Formats and How to Read the Answers
Ten exit ticket template formats with exit ticket examples for maths, science and English, and a five-minute way to sort exit slips for the next lesson.
An exit ticket template is the cheapest assessment a teacher owns. One slip of paper, two or three questions, collected at the door. In my training sessions almost every teacher says they use exit slips. Then I ask what they did with yesterday's pile. Most of the time the answer is a pause. The tickets were collected. They were not read.
This post gives you ten exit ticket template formats, exit ticket examples for three subjects, and the part most guides skip: how to read a pile of thirty slips in five minutes and let it change the next lesson.
What a good exit ticket does
An exit ticket answers one question for the teacher: who reached today's objective? It is not a mini test, not a reflection diary, and not a chance to cover everything taught. If the ticket takes students more than five minutes, it is too long. If it takes you more than five minutes to sort, it is too open.
The ticket should come from the objective. If the objective is "compare two fractions with the same denominator and explain why", the ticket has two comparisons and one "explain why". Writing the ticket before the lesson is the fastest way to find out whether the objective is clear.
10 exit ticket template formats
| Format | What it looks like | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Three questions | Two routine items plus one "explain" | Maths, science, grammar |
| 2. 3-2-1 | 3 things learned, 2 questions, 1 connection | Humanities, end of a unit |
| 3. One sentence | "Explain today's idea in one sentence to a friend who was absent" | Any subject, any grade |
| 4. Find the mistake | A worked answer with one error; circle and correct it | Maths, science, languages |
| 5. Muddiest point | "The one thing I am least sure about is..." | New topics, older students |
| 6. Confidence plus answer | One question, then "sure / not sure" | Spotting lucky guesses |
| 7. Sort or match | Six items to sort into two groups | Primary, vocabulary, classification |
| 8. Draw and label | A quick diagram with three labels | Science, geography |
| 9. Sentence frame | "___ is larger because ___" | Language learners, younger students |
| 10. Next-step choice | "Tomorrow I need: more practice / a harder task / to re-watch the example" | Planning the next lesson's groups |
Most lessons need format 1 or 3. The others are for specific jobs. Keep three formats you like and use them until students fill them without instructions.
Exit ticket examples by subject
Grade 5 mathematics: area of rectangles
- Find the area of a 6 cm by 4 cm rectangle.
- A rectangle has area 20 cm² and one side of 5 cm. What is the other side?
- Explain in one sentence why we multiply instead of add.
Grade 8 science: states of matter
- Draw the particles in a solid and a gas (two boxes).
- Circle the mistake: "When ice melts, the particles get bigger."
- Sure or not sure about question 2?
Year 7 English: persuasive writing
- Underline the rhetorical question in the sentence given.
- Write one sentence that uses a rule of three.
- Muddiest point: which device are you least sure how to use?
Notice each example has one routine item, one that needs thinking, and one that tells the teacher something about confidence or confusion. That mix is what makes the pile sortable.
How to read exit slips in five minutes
This is the routine I teach. It works for thirty slips and a cold cup of tea.
- Do not mark. No ticks, no scores. You are sorting, not grading.
- Make three piles. Got it. Nearly. Not yet. Decide using the "explain" item, not the routine ones.
- Write three names from the "not yet" pile on tomorrow's plan. That is your first group during practice.
- Pick one wrong answer from the "nearly" pile and make it tomorrow's starter: "Here is an answer from yesterday. What is right about it, and what is missing?"
- Note one line on the plan: "11 got it, 13 nearly, 6 not yet; confusion was multiply versus add." Then recycle the slips.
The slips are not the record. The one line is. Over a term those lines show you which objectives your class finds hard every year, which is the kind of evidence that improves planning.
Mistakes that make exit tickets useless
- Five routine questions and no "explain". You learn who can copy a method, not who understands it.
- Collecting without sorting. A pile in a drawer is a pile in a drawer.
- Giving a grade. Students start to play safe and copy. The ticket stops being honest.
- Different format every day. Students spend the time reading instructions instead of answering.
- Using the ticket as the only check. It is the last of several formative checks in a lesson, not the first.
How TeachBuddy AI helps
If the ticket comes from the objective, it should be built from the plan. In TeachBuddy AI the lesson plan generator can produce a quiz or a set of questions from the plan in one click, and you keep the three you want for the slip. The quiz generator makes an online version shared by link or access code, auto-graded for objective items, so the routine questions sort themselves and you read only the "explain" answers.
The one-line note has a home too. After the lesson, the two-minute reflection in My Lessons asks what landed and what did not. TeachBuddy AI proposes a note for the next lesson and, if you want, an update to the class description. You approve each change, so nothing about a student is written without you.
Frequently asked questions
What are some good exit ticket examples?
Two routine questions and one "explain why" for maths or science; "explain today's idea in one sentence to an absent friend" for any subject; "find the mistake" in a worked answer for languages and maths. Each takes under five minutes.
What is the difference between exit tickets and exit slips?
Nothing. Both mean a short check collected at the end of a lesson. Some schools say slips for paper and tickets for digital, but the purpose is the same.
Should exit tickets be graded?
No. Sort them into got it, nearly and not yet, and use the piles to plan the next lesson. A grade makes students cautious and makes the ticket a test.
Want exit questions built from the same plan you teach from? Create a free TeachBuddy AI account and your next lesson can end with a ticket that matches its objective.
Hira leads training and customer success at TeachBuddy AI. A school leader and teacher trainer, she writes practical, step-by-step guides on planning, assessment and classroom routines.