Best questions for elementary school student survey about test taking experience

Here are some of the best questions for an elementary school student survey about test taking experience, along with tips on crafting them. If you’d like to build this survey in seconds, Specific makes it simple to generate and customize surveys for deeper insights fast.

Best open-ended questions for elementary school student survey about test taking experience

Open-ended questions let students express their thoughts in their own words, giving you deep, qualitative insight—especially useful when you want to understand feelings, discover unknown issues, or hear new perspectives. However, keep in mind they can lead to higher nonresponse rates (sometimes over 50% compared to 1-2% for closed-ended questions) and can be more time-consuming for students to answer [1]. Despite these challenges, qualitative responses are often rated as ‘very useful’ by educators for improving student experience [2]. Here are 10 open-ended questions we recommend:

1. How do you feel before you take a test at school?

2. Can you describe what happens in your mind or body when you take a big test?

3. Tell us about a time you felt proud after a test.

4. What is your favorite way to prepare for tests?

5. Is there something teachers could do to make tests feel less stressful for you?

6. What do you think helps you remember things best when studying?

7. Can you share a story about a test that was particularly easy or hard? What made it that way?

8. How do you celebrate when you do well on a test?

9. What is something you wish teachers understood about taking tests?

10. If you could change one thing about how tests are done at school, what would it be?

Even though open-ended questions may require more effort to analyze, their power lies in capturing student voice, context, and unexpected feedback that improves your school community [3].

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for elementary school student survey about test taking experience

Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you want to quantify feedback or gently start a conversation—sometimes kids find it easier to choose from options than to reflect from scratch. This structure lets you quickly spot patterns and easily follow up for richer detail with the right prompts.

Here are three great examples:

Question: How do you usually feel before a test?

• Excited

• Nervous

• Calm

• Other

Question: What do you do most often to get ready for a test?

• Ask a teacher for help

• Study with friends/family

• Review notes or books

• Don’t really prepare

Question: Do you prefer paper or online tests?

• Paper tests

• Online tests

• No preference

When to followup with "why?" Use a follow-up “why?” question after a student’s selection to deepen your understanding. For example, if a student picks “Nervous”, follow up with “Can you tell us what makes you feel nervous before a test?”—this approach can reveal root causes and actionable insights.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Include an “Other” option if your answer set may not cover all possibilities. Follow-up questions for the “Other” choice can uncover unexpected insights, especially useful for younger audiences who may offer unique or overlooked responses.

NPS: Should you use it for elementary school student test taking experience?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks respondents how likely they are to recommend something on a scale of 0-10—with a quick, quantifiable way to measure satisfaction or loyalty. For elementary school student surveys on test taking experience, an adapted NPS question can spark honest feedback: “How likely are you to tell your friends that taking tests at our school is a good experience?” Since NPS predicts future attitudes, mixing NPS with open-ended follow-ups can boost predictive power by as much as 27% compared to ratings-only surveys [3]. Try building your NPS survey for students’ test taking experiences and see how it amplifies your insight.

The power of follow-up questions

The heart of a conversational AI survey is using automated, AI-powered follow-up questions. These smart follow-ups let you dig deeper, clarify fuzzy answers, and gather context in real time, just like a skilled interviewer—without chasing people by email. This turns static responses into true student voices and saves you hours that would otherwise be spent writing back and forth. If you want to understand how automated followup questions work, check out our article on how AI follow-ups boost survey quality.

• Student: "I just feel weird before tests."

• AI follow-up: "Could you tell me more about what feels weird before a test? Is it something you think about or feel in your body?"

How many followups to ask? In most situations, 2-3 follow-up questions per topic are enough for clarity—without exhausting respondents. With Specific, you can even set limits and let the AI move on as soon as you get the detail you need.

This makes it a conversational survey—turning a one-sided form into a dialogue. Students feel heard, engagement rises, and your data becomes richer.

AI response analysis, unstructured data, easy insights—Specific’s AI tools let you quickly analyze and summarize open-ended replies (how to analyze feedback), so you never have to wade through walls of text to find what matters.

Automated follow-ups are new for most schools—try using our AI survey builder to see why this experience uncovers more real student stories.

Prompting GPT for better elementary school student test taking experience questions

If you’d rather work with ChatGPT or your own AI, prompt engineering is simple but powerful. Start broad, then refine as you review what comes back. Here’s a step-by-step approach I use:

Start with a request for open-ended questions:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for elementary school student survey about test taking experience.

Help your AI understand more context for higher quality questions. Include your goals, student age, or key outcomes:

We want to understand why some students feel anxious about tests and how they think teachers can help. Suggest 10 open-ended questions about test taking experience for elementary students aged 8-11.

Next, ask the AI to organize its output for easier review:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Pick categories that matter most, and push deeper:

Generate 10 questions for categories “Test anxiety”, “Preparation routines”, and “Celebrating success”.

This process helps you uncover gaps and build a more personalized, relevant student survey.

What is a conversational survey?

Unlike rigid web forms, a conversational survey feels like a chat—questions and answers flow in a way that’s natural for students, and AI adapts in real time with follow-ups, clarification, and empathy. AI survey generation makes question design much simpler: instead of laboring over every detail, you provide your intent, and the AI survey generator handles structure, wording, and logic—while letting you fine-tune as needed. Try our guide to creating a survey for students about test taking for more details.

Why use AI for elementary school student surveys? Because it’s tough to keep kids’ attention, and conversational surveys turn feedback into something fun, friendly, and effective. AI survey examples show that students give longer, more thoughtful replies when the process feels more like a chat and less like homework. Specific’s best-in-class UX in conversational surveys keeps feedback flowing for both creators and respondents—removing friction at every step.

See this test taking experience survey example now

Want more candid student feedback, deeper insights, and clear next steps? Start your survey now to engage students in a natural, meaningful way—and make every answer count.