Best questions for high school sophomore student survey about reading and writing confidence

Here are some of the best questions for a high school sophomore student survey about reading and writing confidence, plus practical tips on how to create them. With Specific, you can build a conversational survey like this in seconds—no technical skills required.

Best open-ended questions for a high school sophomore student survey about reading and writing confidence

Open-ended questions draw out genuine, thoughtful feedback, letting students express feelings and experiences in their own words. These questions are great for surfacing challenges and opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise uncover—it’s especially useful where confidence and attitudes, not just behaviors, matter. If you want to know what’s really happening behind the numbers, open-ended questions are where you start.

1. What do you enjoy most about reading or writing in school, and why?

2. Describe a time when you felt confident about your reading or writing abilities. What contributed to that feeling?

3. When you struggle with a reading or writing task, what typically makes it challenging for you?

4. How do you usually prepare for reading assignments or writing essays?

5. What kinds of feedback from teachers help increase your confidence in reading and writing?

6. Are there specific topics or genres that make you feel more or less confident reading or writing about them?

7. What do you wish teachers or schools did differently to help you feel more confident about reading or writing?

8. How has your confidence in reading and writing changed from last year to this year?

9. What strategies have you found most helpful for becoming a stronger reader or writer?

10. If you could change anything about your reading or writing classes to boost your confidence, what would it be?

There’s strong evidence that writing confidence drops as students progress through school: on average, high school seniors are 13% less confident in writing than fourth graders [1]. Tapping into students’ personal stories helps you figure out what’s really driving (or hurting) their confidence.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a high school sophomore student survey about reading and writing confidence

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you want quick, easy-to-quantify answers. They’re also ideal for starting a conversation: it’s less intimidating for students to pick an option than to elaborate right away—then you can dig deeper with smart follow-ups. Use these to spot patterns fast, or as an icebreaker.

Question: How confident do you feel about your reading skills right now?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Somewhat unconfident

• Not confident at all

Question: When it comes to writing assignments, which part do you find most challenging?

• Getting started with ideas

• Organizing thoughts

• Grammar and spelling

• Finishing on time

• Other

Question: How often do you read for pleasure outside of school?

• Every day

• A few times a week

• Once a week

• Rarely or never

When to follow up with "why?" If a student chooses “Not confident at all” for reading or writing, always ask “why?” in a follow-up. That’s where the most actionable insights are—maybe it’s due to lack of feedback, tough subject matter, or other stressors. For example: “You mentioned you’re not confident in writing. Why do you think that is?” Getting their reasoning reveals what’s actually blocking progress.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” when your predefined options might not cover the student’s experience. For instance, a student may face unique challenges in writing that you didn’t anticipate—they’ll often surprise you. Follow up with: “Can you tell me more about your answer?" This often uncovers unexpected influences and points for action.

Should you use NPS-style questions to measure confidence?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) isn’t just for customer loyalty. Adapted for education, it quickly gauges how likely students are to recommend a class or activity based on their experience—making it a powerful proxy for overall confidence and satisfaction. It’s simple: students answer a single 0–10 scale question, followed by explanations. For high school sophomore student surveys on reading and writing confidence, this gives you an at-a-glance measure of student sentiment, helping you spot major gaps or promoters to learn from.

If you’re interested in using NPS as a fast pulse check, try our NPS survey builder for high school sophomores—it’s ready in seconds.

The power of follow-up questions

Open responses and even multiple-choice answers often need a bit more digging. That’s where effective follow-up questions shine—and why we built automated AI follow-ups into Specific. Follow-ups transform surveys from static forms into dynamic, two-way conversations, surfacing details, context, and real motivations.

Specific’s AI asks context-aware follow-ups instantly, just like a smart interviewer. This means you get richer insights without tedious back-and-forth emails. Plus, it keeps the conversation natural—students don’t feel interrogated, and you surface deeper context, like how a lack of feedback or teacher support really shapes their confidence.

• High school sophomore student: “I don’t like writing essays.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what makes essay writing difficult for you?”

• High school sophomore student: “I’m confident with reading, but not with poetry.”

• AI follow-up: “What about poetry makes it harder than other things you read?”

How many follow-ups to ask? Usually, 2–3 targeted follow-up questions are enough to clarify, encourage detail, and explore real root causes. You can also set Specific to skip ahead once you get the clarity you need—no wasted time or fatigue for students.

This makes it a conversational survey: The result? A survey that actually feels like a conversation—students engage more deeply, and you capture the nuances a form misses.

Easy AI-powered analysis, even for open text: With all these open-ended replies, it might seem overwhelming to analyze—but with AI survey response analysis, you can instantly chat with results, see themes, and get big-picture insights.

Automated, contextual follow-ups are a new approach. Try generating your own survey and watch how much more you learn.

How to prompt ChatGPT to generate great high school sophomore student reading and writing confidence questions

If you’re using ChatGPT or another AI to draft questions, start with a straightforward prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Sophomore Student survey about Reading And Writing Confidence.

But AI always performs better with a bit more background. Here’s a richer prompt:

I’m a high school teacher aiming to understand my sophomore students’ confidence in reading and writing. The survey is anonymous and I want honest feedback about what influences how students feel, what motivates or discourages them, and how to support growth. Suggest 10 open-ended questions I can include.

Next, organize your ideas for clarity:

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

Focus where you want the most depth. For instance:

Generate 10 questions for categories “Challenges in Writing” and “Building Reading Confidence”.

This process fine-tunes your surveys and ensures you’re digging into what matters—especially when paired with smart AI-powered editing tools like Specific’s AI survey editor for fast iterations.

What is a conversational survey—and why do they work better?

Conversational surveys are a new breed—they’re AI-powered surveys delivered in a chat-like format, where every student’s response is a chance to ask better, smarter follow-ups in the moment. Rather than ticking boxes, students have a natural conversation with the survey—it’s fluid, context-aware, and responsive, unlike clunky forms that just collect one-dimensional answers.

Let’s see how they compare:

This approach is especially important because research shows students’ reading and writing self-efficacy dramatically impacts performance, engagement, and even reading for pleasure [3][4][7]. With conversational surveys, you gather details and nuance, identifying what will actually help students grow.

Why use AI for high school sophomore student surveys? It’s simple. You save hours designing and analyzing, reach students in formats they’re used to (like chat), and capture fast, actionable insights about their confidence and skill growth. See more tips in our how-to guide for high school survey creation.

Whether you use a ready-made AI survey example or start from scratch with the AI survey generator, Specific gives you the best-in-class, browser-friendly, conversational survey experience for meaningful adolescent feedback.

See this reading and writing confidence survey example now

Ready to uncover what really drives confidence in your classroom? See how much deeper your insights get by switching to a conversational AI survey—quick to launch, insightful, and built to support every high school sophomore’s voice.