TRADITIONAL READING QUIZZES SUCK. YOU SHOULD TRY THIS INSTEAD.
What I use instead of multiple choice - and why it gives me better information about what students actually know
Traditional quizzes really do suck. And this is coming from an AP/Honors kid, a former gifted and talented student who lived for that 10/10 with a big beautiful circle surrounding it.
After the better part of a decade giving out various quizzes to my own students, I’m here to set the record straight. Quizzes are just a way to separate the students who did the reading, and the ones who didn't. They’re a way to award compliance and punish non-compliance.
What a freaking waste.
Because that second group of kids, the ones who didn’t do the homework and still showed up the next day, they’re still smart. They’re still capable. And you’d be surprised how often those kids are the ones who actually really know the content you’re teaching. They sat through the lecture. They followed the discussion. They know something. A quiz that only rewards homework compliance ends up shutting out a whole group of students who still want to show what they know.
For ELA and Social Studies teachers especially, this is worth thinking about. If the broader goal is to get students reading closely, thinking historically, building arguments, interpreting meaning - then a multiple choice quiz based on ten pages of reading doesn't show you any of that.
Here are two formats I use instead. Both have a low floor and a high ceiling - meaning every student has an entry point, and the kids who went deeper have room to show it. Let’s get into it.
The Emoji Story Quiz
Give students a bank of 6-8 emojis - each one representing a concept, a person or group, an event, or a feeling from the unit or text. You pose a question that you want to assess. Students choose 3-4 emojis to represent their answer and they explain their choices.
For a Social Studies class covering Native Removal and Manifest Destiny, the bank might include a neutral face, a leaf, crossed swords, a scroll, a tired face, an angry face, a skull, a money bag, a flame, a mountain.
For an ELA class mid-novel, the same format works just as well. Ask students to choose emojis that represent characters, themes, turning points, or the emotional arc of the text so far. A flame for conflict. A skull for foreshadowing. A tired face for a character running out of hope.
Here's why it works: the student who didn't finish the reading still heard the lecture, still followed the discussion, still has something to say. They can pick the skull and the mountain and write two solid sentences about what those represent. They're in the conversation.
The student who did the reading can go deeper - cite the Indian Removal Act by name, connect the money bag to economic motivations, explain why the scroll represents something made legal even thought it didn’t make it right. The more depth they bring, the higher the grade. The quiz differentiates naturally without you designing two separate versions.
A few things that make it run smoother: show a strong example and a weaker one before students start and have them grade both - they'll understand the expectation faster than any rubric explains it. Offer a few vocab terms or character names alongside the emoji bank for students who need the scaffolding. Sentence stems help reluctant writers get past the blank page. Adjust the number of emojis, how many they choose, and how much writing you expect based on what your class actually needs.
The Outlier Quiz
This one is built on the old Sesame Street bit: one of these things is not like the other.
Give students three or four concepts, characters, people, or events from the unit or text. Their job is to identify which one doesn't belong and explain why. There's no single right answer - it depends on the lens they're looking through, which is exactly the point.
In ELA, characters are the natural fit. Take Ralph, Piggy, and Jack from Lord of the Flies.
A student who mostly followed along in class might say Jack is the odd one out - Ralph and Piggy are trying to maintain order, and Jack just wants to hunt. That's a valid answer.
A student who read closely might argue Piggy is the odd one out. Ralph and Jack are both fighting for leadership, both performing power in different ways, both trying to win the group over. Piggy isn't interested in power at all - he's interested in being right. That's a fundamentally different motivation, and it's exactly why he ends up isolated.
Both answers show real thinking. Neither is wrong. The grade reflects the depth of the reasoning, not whether they landed on the "correct" answer. And the kid who provides quotes and clearly demonstrates that they read last night’s chapter still gets rewarded with more points.
In Social Studies the same format works across almost any unit. Three causes of a war - which one is the outlier? Three political figures - which one operated from a different set of values? Three primary sources - which one is doing something different than the other two?
The format teaches comparison and argument construction without ever calling it that. It feels like a puzzle. Students are doing historical thinking and literary analysis and they don't even clock it.
Why Both of These Work
Neither quiz rewards compliance over understanding. A student who paid attention in class can participate. A student who went deep can show it.
You're also getting better information about what they actually know. A student who picks the skull emoji and writes "a lot of Native people died on the Trail of Tears and the government caused it" knows something pretty emotionally deep about the unit. A student who connects the scroll to the Indian Removal Act and explains that legal doesn't mean right knows something more nuanced. You can see the difference. You can plan your next lesson around it.
That's what a quiz is supposed to do.
Drea