Many teachers look for ‘fun’ and yet worthwhile learning activities to run in their final lessons of the school year. Erin Miller describes her tried and tested formula for the perfect end-of-term quiz
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Rejoice – the end of term is nigh! And yet, some teachers may be feeling a certain sense of dread about the last lessons of term…

The pressure to have a “fun” lesson to end things on a high can be acute, often combined with the feeling that we ought to do something worthwhile, and then compounded by the awareness that “everyone will be doing quizzes”.

Even so, I still say that there is nothing like a good quiz to round off the year and hopefully the structure that I describe below can help you to add some flair to your final lesson of this academic year.

It is thanks to contributions – from colleagues online and offline – that I have finally perfected my formula for hosting an end-of-term quiz (it only took 10 years).

These suggestions are not evidence-based, but rather they come from years of experience and lots of mistakes along the way. But I think this approach optimises end-of-term learning while also creating something that is enjoyable (fun!) and still worthwhile.

 

Choosing your topics

I only base my quiz rounds on things we have learnt in class. Sure, I will add in some light-hearted questions, but there will be no Disney Kahoots in my classroom!

Generally, I look back over my units from the year and adapt the quizzes that I have already used with the class (which saves me time and workload). This approach leads to a “year in review” style and feeling to the quiz, where you touch upon the full variety of units that your students have studied with you that year – an effective retrieval exercise. Further, it can be nice to hear students reminiscing about the topics that they liked and enjoyed – and undoubtedly those they were less enamoured by.

 

Rounds and question writing

In a one-hour lesson, aim for eight rounds of 10 questions. Variety in rounds is very important to maintain the pace of the quiz. However, eight entirely different rounds will take a lot of time for you to create. Therefore, I suggest that every other round contains a twist on traditional quiz questions. Ideas for this include:

  • Fill in the gaps.
  • True or false.
  • A picture round.
  • Spot the mistake.
  • Matching exercises.
  • Odd one outs.

Keep in mind that closed questions are essential, and answers should ideally be single word and factually indisputable.

 

Teams (grouping)

It is the last lesson of term, so we are relieved of the pressure of agonising over the need to create perfectly differentiated groups – variety and change is what matters here.

It is possibly their last day together as a group, so everyone should work with everyone else at some point.

Here are my two golden rules for grouping: teams should never be any larger than four and teams must switch up at least every two rounds. As scoring is individual (see below), it doesn’t matter how many times the group make-up changes.

I have found that students tend to enjoy the fact that groups change, and that scoring is individual, because this means that their fate is not sealed by the group they are in.

Write every student’s name on a piece of paper and put them in a hat. Draw out the names at random and put them into their groups. After two rounds, repeat this process. The physical movement around the classroom and collaborating with different people will keep up the pace of the quiz.

 

Marking and keeping score

Marking is simple – the rounds must be marked by another team. Just send the papers clockwise around the room.

Keeping score can be tricky. It can be arduous and lead to long pauses while the teacher is trying to tally up numbers, and long pauses with a busy teacher on the last day of term is inviting disruption! But the solution is simple: it just requires a few minutes of preparation before the lesson…

Before the students enter the classroom, write all of their names on the whiteboard or have them printed out at the front. This should be in a table with their names in the left-hand column and eight boxes to the right for each round. At the end of each round, one person from each group goes up to this table and adds the score for each group member. As each round passes, the latest score must be added to the old score. So if a student scores four in the first round, and five in the current round, the latest score will be added and recorded as nine. Leave the maths to the students!

 

Scoring

In my experience, the thing that really spices up a classroom quiz is to add an element of excitement. One way to do this is to make every other round (or fewer if you prefer) a “double or nothing” round. The idea is that students can choose to double their points if they hit a certain score (this target will be set by you).

So, for example, if you set the “double or nothing” target at 8/10, then if they get eight or more points, they can double their score. However, if they get less than eight, they get zero.

The team must agree whether to double or nothing before the round begins. I find this usually makes for some very enjoyable debate between group members, along with the jubilation (or despair) at the end of the round!

When the quiz finishes, because of individual scoring, there will be a clear winner. It is your choice if you want to provide a prize.

 

Final thoughts

In my experience there are three distinct elements that students love about this approach to end-of-term quizzes:

  1. That they have their own score at the end.
  2. The fun and excitement of the “double or nothing” element.
  3. That they get to work with everyone in the class.

So while it takes a bit of preparation, I think it is worth it. And of course, if you prepare a quiz this year then when next year rolls around you will have less work to do to repeat the process.

I hope you can take all or some of the above and use it in your classrooms this term. Good luck with your quiz-hosting!