How to Write Effective Quiz Feedback

Most quiz feedback doesn’t do much to help students. While one meta-analysis found that feedback improved performance on average, more than a third of feedback instances made performance worse. Simply adding feedback doesn’t automatically help students; what matters is what you say and how you say it.

There are generally three levels of feedback in quizzes: telling the students whether they were right or wrong, telling them the correct answer, and explaining why their answer was right or wrong. As you might expect, the first two are the weakest and don’t do much to help students, while a 2015 study confirmed that elaborated feedback yielded the best results. So how can you make sure that the quiz feedback you provide actually helps students learn and improves performance?

Question-level feedback

Write feedback for wrong answers first

This is where you can add the most value to students. Being quizzed improves long-term retention more than rereading course materials, but multiple choice questions without feedback can teach students the wrong answers, because they tend to remember the answers they chose. Feedback can help to fix this. A good explanation states the correct answer and explains the reasoning in two or three sentences in a neutral tone.

In PressPrimer Quiz, we offer feedback opportunities at the quiz, question, and answer levels. If time is limited, the question-level feedback for incorrect answers can help students learn from their mistakes and improve outcomes. Adding feedback at the answer level helps further personalize quiz-taking.

Don’t skip feedback for correct answers

It’s tempting to leave feedback empty for correct answers, but that doesn’t help students who guessed right or weren’t entirely sure of the answer. Even a one-line confirmation of why the answer is correct helps transform the question into something students will remember.

Keep it short

If feedback is too long or complicated, students won’t read it. Target short explanations that correct errors.

Quiz-level feedback

Match the message to the score

Students who scored 40% on a quiz need different guidance than students who scored 95%. Struggling students need support and clear next steps, whereas strong students need validation and, ideally, a challenge.

In PressPrimer Quiz, we use feedback bands at the quiz level to show messages based on a user’s score. Writing a distinct message for every band can help students understand what their score means and what to do next.

Choose direction over praise

Writing “Great job” is one of the least effective types of feedback you can provide to students. What helps students most is instead addressing where students are going next and how they’re doing. That direction about what’s next is critical for learning and staying engaged.

Delayed or immediate feedback?

While it’s often assumed that immediate feedback (so showing correct answers and feedback after each question is answered) is best, it really depends on the context. Immediate feedback is great for motivation and works well for practice, but for long-term retention, feedback delivered after the whole quiz is complete is at least as effective.

PressPrimer Quiz offers both with its Quiz Mode setting. Tutorial mode shows feedback after each question, which works well for practice and self-study. Standard mode holds feedback until the results page. We also offer Practice Mode, which makes quizzes untimed, offers unlimited attempts, provides immediate feedback, and keeps results out of reports. It’s a safe way to practice and learn new concepts.

A quiz checklist

Before you publish a quiz, check that:

1. Every question has feedback for incorrect answers that explains why, not just what.
2. Correct answer feedback confirms why it’s correct in a single sentence.
3. Feedback bands are set up on quizzes to direct students to next steps.

Feedback is where a quiz stops being just a measuring tool and starts being a lesson. To get started on your own WordPress site, the free PressPrimer Quiz plugin offers robust feedback options to help educators build effective quizzes.