3-2-1 exit tickets

Read time
3 minutes
Category
Exit tickets
User role
Teacher
The 3-2-1 exit ticket strategy is a specific style of exit ticket that encourages students to reflect on and summarize their learning, while identifying areas that require more attention. Students are asked to answer three questions. This page includes subject-specific examples as well as general information on this style of exit ticket.

The prompts you use within the 3-2-1 format can change depending on your learning goals, lesson outcomes or student needs, however the general format is flexible enough to work with most subjects or lessons.

Review the responses to help you differentiate your instruction. How did your class go as a whole? Was there enough understanding to proceed with the next concepts? For those who are still struggling, how can you adjust your lesson plan to revise what is needed?

Benefits:

  • Gives students the chance for self-modification prior to summative assessment
  • Embeds reflective learning practices
  • Teachers can use responses to guide lesson planning, understand what concepts may need further review, and learn what students enjoyed

FAQs

What adaptations can be made?
What age group is this strategy best for?
Can this be used for online learning?

3-2-1 exit ticket ideas and examples

  • FICTION

3 – adjectives you’d use to describe the protagonist

2 – ways the setting influences the plot

1 – predict what will happen in the next chapter

  • GRAMMAR

3 – abstract nouns in the reading

2 – adverbs in this chapter

1 – example of a compound sentence

  • MATH (example: word problem solving)

3 – problem-solving strategies for word problems

2 – things to do after you have solved the problem

1 – thing you find yourself getting stuck on regularly

  • SCIENCE (example: cell biology)

3 – organelles within an animal cell

2 – elements of cell membranes

1 – function of lysosomes

  • SOCIAL STUDIES (example: biographies)

    3 – questions you’d like to ask this person

    2 – most interesting things about their life

    1 – thing about them that you most relate to

  • SOCIAL STUDIES (example: history)

    3 – cultural practices of an ancient civilization we studied

    2 – key figures from that civilization

    1 – way this civilization influenced modern society

Asking great 3-2-1 exit ticket questions

To get the most out of the exit ticket process, questions should:

  • Be low stakes, i.e. ungraded, to elicit genuine responses
  • Be short and open ended
  • Link directly to the learning outcomes
  • Focus on skill(s) or concept(s) being taught
  • Allow students to demonstrate understanding
  • Challenge students to synthesise what they have learnt
  • Prompt reflection and leave space for areas of struggle
  • Use clean specific language that is not vague or ambiguous.
  • Avoid passive and negative wording that will enforce “I can’t” attitudes

Check in with your students in under 30 seconds