Questions to Ask My Teacher
Twenty questions a student can put to a teacher, covering the lesson you did not follow, the marks you lost, what is actually on the test, and how to get help outside class. Written for school and college students who want specific answers rather than general encouragement.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Can we go back over the part of today's lesson where I got lost?
Why ask it
Teachers can usually name the exact point where a class loses the thread, and most would rather fix it now than mark thirty wrong answers later. Bring the specific slide, step or question. 'I do not get any of it' gets you the same explanation again at the same speed.
Where exactly did I lose marks on this assignment?
Why ask it
Marks disappear for reasons invisible in the grade: a missing unit, an unanswered part b, a claim with no evidence behind it. Asking about a piece already returned is the cheapest feedback available in a school and almost nobody collects it.
What would this piece of work have needed to move up a grade?
Why ask it
This turns a grade into instructions. Listen for whether the gap is content you did not know or presentation you did not do, because those two problems need completely different work.
Which topics are on the test, and which are not?
Why ask it
Most teachers will describe the boundaries of a test if you ask plainly, and knowing what is excluded is worth as much as knowing what is in. If the answer is 'everything', follow up with which parts carry the most marks.
How much of my grade comes from homework compared with tests?
Why ask it
Weighting decides where your effort belongs, and it is often nothing like what students assume. If daily work carries a large share, a run of missed pieces will cost you more than one bad exam ever could.
When are you free for me to come and ask things outside class?
Why ask it
Office hours, a free period and the ten minutes after the bell are very different in practice, and the answer tells you which the teacher actually means. Naming a time also makes you a student they are expecting rather than an interruption.
Can I show you a draft before I hand the real thing in?
Why ask it
Feedback before submission is worth several times feedback after, and many teachers will read an outline or one paragraph if asked with time to spare. The answer also reveals the real deadline: the point after which nothing can be changed.
What is the most common mistake you see on this kind of question?
Why ask it
Teachers watch the same errors repeat every year and can usually name them in a sentence. This is the highest-value question here, because it lets you skip a mistake rather than make it and learn from it.
When you write 'explain your reasoning', what does a full answer look like?
Why ask it
Grading language is compressed and students routinely misread it. Ask to see one answer that got full credit. If the teacher cannot produce one, ask what specifically the marks are awarded for.
How should I be studying for your tests? Rereading my notes does not seem to work.
Why ask it
Saying what you have already tried blocks the generic advice about reviewing notes. Methods differ sharply by subject: past papers in math, self-testing for vocabulary, timed essay plans in history, and the teacher knows which applies here.
Is my problem the content itself or the way I write it up?
Why ask it
This is the diagnostic question. If your ideas are right and the write-up loses the marks, the fix is small and mechanical. If the content is missing, no amount of formatting will save it, and it is much better to know that early.
Honestly, am I behind where you expect people to be by now?
Why ask it
Asking for a straight position is uncomfortable and it is the fastest way to find out whether you are quietly drifting. Frame it against the course expectations rather than against other students, which a teacher cannot discuss with you.
What should I do when I get stuck on homework at ten at night and there is nobody to ask?
Why ask it
Everyone hits that wall. What matters is knowing in advance what this teacher wants: an attempt with a note where you stopped, an email, a skipped question, or a worked example to copy the method from. Without an answer, most students hand in nothing.
Can I redo this, or make the marks up somewhere else?
Why ask it
Retake and revision policies vary and are rarely announced. Ask early in the term rather than after the grade you want to fix, because a teacher who has already refused once tends to keep refusing.
Is there something harder I could do when I finish early?
Why ask it
This signals you are after the subject rather than the marks, and it usually produces better material than the standard extension sheet. If the offer is only more of the same, ask for a harder version instead of a longer one.
What do the students who do well in this class do differently?
Why ask it
Teachers can describe successful habits precisely, and the answers are almost always mundane: they start the work the day it is set, they ask during the lesson, they redo problems they got wrong. Do not expect an answer about talent.
What should I be reading outside the textbook?
Why ask it
Asked this way you get the one source that will actually help rather than a reading list nobody finishes. Ask for a single article, chapter or channel, then come back for the next one once you have read it.
Is it better to ask my questions in class or bring them to you afterwards?
Why ask it
Some teachers want questions live because the whole room benefits, others are protecting the pace of the lesson. Settling this stops you either dominating the class or sitting silently on something you genuinely needed.
If I want to take this subject further next year, what should I be doing now?
Why ask it
Course sequences and prerequisites often need lining up a year ahead, and teachers know the real path better than the course catalog does. Ask what you should be able to do by then, not only which class to sign up for.
Would you be willing to write me a recommendation at some point, and what should I do between now and then?
Why ask it
Letters get written from concrete memories, so asking early tells you what this teacher would currently be able to say about you. It also leaves you months to give them something worth describing rather than a week.
Getting a straight answer out of a teacher
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to ask
Bring the work with you. A returned test, the assignment sheet, the page in the notes where you stalled: a teacher looking at the actual thing gives specific advice, and a teacher answering from memory gives general advice. Come with one question rather than seven, show what you already tried, and take notes while they answer, which changes how much detail you get. If the answer runs long, ask if you can come back tomorrow with what you have done.
When to catch them
- Not in the two minutes before a lesson starts. That is setup time and you will get a rushed answer.
- The end of a lesson works if your question is small and specific. Anything larger needs a booked slot.
- Ask for feedback within a few days of getting work back, while the teacher still remembers your paper.
- For anything about grades, retakes or next year's courses, go early in the term. The same request in the last two weeks reads as damage control.
If you have to email
- Put the class and the topic in the subject line so it does not get buried.
- Keep it to three sentences: what you are working on, where you got stuck, what you have tried.
- Ask one question. Emails with four questions get one answered.
- Do not expect a same-night reply, and never resend the same email the next morning.
- Anything requiring a real explanation belongs in person. Email is for logistics and short clarifications.
What annoys teachers
Asking for the answer rather than the method
Almost every teacher will help with a problem you have attempted and almost none will do one you have not started. Showing a wrong attempt gets you more time than showing a blank page.
Arguing rather than asking
Opening with 'this grade is unfair' turns the conversation into a defense of the mark. Ask where the marks went and what the piece needed instead. If you still think there is an error, point at one specific question and ask them to look again.
Only ever asking what is on the test
It is a reasonable question once. As a student's only question all term it tells the teacher exactly how much of the subject they care about, and it affects how much extra help gets offered later.
Vanishing after the advice
Teachers keep investing in students who come back having done the thing. One follow-up, even a sentence saying you tried the method and it helped, changes how much time you get next time you ask.