How To: The Pre-Quiz Power-Up

• Lesson Objective: Review content in preparation for an assessment

• Grouping:  Whole-Group

• Methodology: Students receive a multiple choice review sheet which we review in a competitive fashion.

• Duration: 10 minutes

  
  

The Pre-Quiz Power-Up

I like to make our quiz reviews competitive to keep students engaged. Am I giving away the answers directly before a quiz? Yes. And I think that’s fair—especially for my last-period class that’s already powered through six periods of instruction before they reach me. It’s just a quick refresh to boost their confidence and reinforce effective study strategies. A little support goes a long way.

🖍 How the Routine Works

For this review activity, students remain seated at their desks. It’s open-note, and I encourage them to retrieve their Introduction to the Concept packets from the first day of the unit. As I pass out the multiple-choice review sheet, I suggest they take a few minutes to skim their notes. Once we begin, I challenge them to flip their packet over and try answering without looking.

I read each question aloud, and students first circle their chosen answer on the review sheet. Then, they move to the corresponding corner of the room: A, B, C, or D. The first student to reach the correct corner earns points—drawn at random from a bin of cards labeled 100 to 500.

I’ve found the randomness of the point values keeps all students engaged. Even if a student is trailing with zero points, a lucky 500-point draw can put them right back in the game. That element of surprise creates excitement and encourages participation throughout the entire activity.

There are countless ways to adapt this game depending on your group and your time constraints. For example, if we’re short on time, I’ll skip the movement piece and have students raise their hands instead. Although I’ll admit—it’s not always easy to tell who raised their hand first! Still, the flexibility of this review format makes it a classroom favorite.

Check out the Interactive Unit Guides to see how this lesson fits within each unit. There, you’ll find links to the unit-specific Quiz Review. I build these for each unit to both review and target our current phonological patterns.