Throughout the year you will have been receiving feedback from your teachers about your assessments. But are you making the most of this feedback? Many students are too focused on what mark they received and neglect to make the most of the feedback they are given.

It’s not just about what you did wrong either! The feedback is a chance to celebrate what you did right, what you understood and the skills and learning you demonstrated.

However it is also a chance to address areas you found difficult or did not perform as well in.

Below are some questions you can ask yourself when an assessment is returned to make the most of the feedback you are given.

When a test or exam is returned:

• What specific feedback did your teacher give you and how should you use that feedback?
• Will you be tested on these topics again or are they important for overall understanding in this subject?
• Which areas do you need to ask for help on as you still don’t understand?
• Which questions from your test paper should you re-do? Re-do them!
• Should you re-write any questions or essays and re-submit?
• Was there any revision work you did not complete before the test?
• What topic areas do you need to review and revise, what should you do to address these?
• Are there topics you still need to finalise study notes on?
• Are there sections of your study notes that you need to re-do?
• Did you plan ahead to give yourself enough time to revise?
• What changes do you need to make in the way you study for that subject next time?
• Are there students who did really well that you can talk with to find what they did differently?

For other types of assessments:

• What parts of the assessment did you do really well?
• What did you enjoy about the assessment?
• What can you learn from the feedback you were given?
• Is there any part of the feedback you don’t understand that you need to discuss with your teacher?
• Can you ask a student who did really well if you can look at their assessment so you can see what is needed to get top marks?
• What could you have done differently?
• Do you understand what you need to do to improve or do you need to ask your teacher for more guidance?