Making a live quiz during your presentation
A well-built live quiz during your presentation boosts student engagement, provides formative feedback and makes misconceptions visible — all three within 30 seconds per question. This article describes six steps to build a strong quiz in 10 minutes, with attention to the type of questions and the pitfalls you should avoid.
Why a live quiz?
A live quiz during a presentation does three things at once: it activates all participants (not just those who raise a hand), measures understanding formatively without grade pressure, and makes misconceptions visible so you can adjust immediately. Three functions in one moment — more efficient than separate polls or open questions.
6 steps to build a live quiz
- 1
Decide what you want to measure
Knowledge (factual check), understanding (concept application), or opinion (gauging views)? The kind of measurement determines the kind of question. Too often, teachers pick multiple choice for everything — often not the best choice.
- 2
Choose the right question type
Multiple choice: knowledge + clear answer. Open question: understanding + reflection. Word cloud: brainstorm + mood check. Pin-the-spot: visual recognition (anatomy, maps). Combine them for variety.
- 3
Write the question first, the answers afterwards
A good question is clear and specific. Beginner mistake: thinking up the answers first and writing a question around them — this leads to vague questions. Ask first: "what do I really want to know?".
- 4
Make wrong answers didactically relevant
With multiple choice: every wrong answer should be a typical misconception. That makes the quiz formative — you find out faster where students get stuck. Avoid "obviously wrong" answers that make it needlessly easy.
- 5
Build the quiz in at the right moment
Not just at the end. Plan one quiz question per 12-15 minutes of lesson time. Right after a conceptual block: check whether it landed. At the end: a summarising check.
- 6
Give immediate feedback, not a grade
After each question: a brief explanation of why the correct answer is correct. Sometimes also why the typical mistakes are typical. No grades — those trigger performance pressure instead of learning.
Question types and when to use each
Multiple choice
Fast, structured, easy to moderate. Best for knowledge checks and concept application.
Open question
Deeper reflection but harder to moderate live. Best for 1-2 key moments per lesson.
Word cloud
Quick brainstorm or mood check. Best for the start of a lesson or capturing what the group already knows.
Pin-the-spot
Visual recognition on an image. Best for anatomy, map reading or diagram questions.
Ranking
Indicate order or priority. Best for procedures or decision-making moments.
Multiselect
Multiple correct answers. Best for "which of these match..." questions.
In LectaMe
LectaMe supports all the question types above directly in the slides — no tool switch. Quiz Flow generates AI quiz questions with realistic misconceptions as wrong answers. Live polls give whole-class insight within 30 seconds; session analytics show which questions were hardest. No grade leaderboard — deliberately didactic, not competitive.
Frequently asked questions
Which question types work best for formative quizzes?+
For formative purposes, multiple choice (fast, structurable misconceptions) and word clouds (open association without competitive pressure) are the most used. Open questions work for deeper reflection but are harder to moderate live. Pin-the-spot is ideal for visual subjects (anatomy, map reading, diagram structures).
How many quiz questions per lesson?+
Rule of thumb: one question per 12-15 minutes of lesson time. A 60-minute lesson therefore has 3-4 quiz questions. Fewer than 2: too few formative moments. More than 6: too many interruptions of the content.
Do quizzes also work in large groups (100+ students)?+
Yes, better than in small groups. In large groups you cannot ask 100 people individually "who gets it" — a live quiz gives insight into the whole group within 30 seconds. For 100+ students, multiple choice and word clouds work best; open questions become unmanageable to moderate.
What is the difference between a live quiz in Kahoot vs in LectaMe?+
Kahoot is a gamified quiz tool with points, speed and leaderboards — strong for wrap-ups and energetic moments. LectaMe's quiz feature is didactic and integrated into the slides — no separate app, the question appears at the right didactic moment, focused on learning instead of winning. Both work; different goals.
How do you stop students from copying each other's answers?+
Three approaches: (1) A quick timer — 30 seconds per question, too short to copy. (2) Multiple choice with shuffled answer order per device (LectaMe supports this). (3) A social contract — explain that the quiz is formative, not graded, so copying gains you nothing. In practice the third works best.
Further reading
Build your first live quiz
Quiz Flow with AI-generated questions and didactic misconceptions. Free, no credit card.
Start for free