Here are some of the best questions for a student survey about academic support, plus practical tips on designing an effective survey. At Specific, we make it easy to build surveys like this in seconds using our AI-powered generator.

Best open-ended questions for student survey about academic support

Open-ended questions help us get specific, actionable feedback directly from students—exactly what you need when identifying what academic support really works (and what doesn’t). While these questions require more effort to answer (and sometimes face higher nonresponse rates[1]), the insights you gain are far richer and grounded in real experience. They’re ideal when you want detailed, nuanced responses, or when exploring areas you might not have thought of yourself. In fact, qualitative data from open responses tends to be more specific and helpful for improving course quality and academic services than generic ratings alone[2][3].

1. What types of academic help have you found most useful this semester? Please explain why.

2. Describe a time when you struggled academically. What support did you seek (if any), and how could it have been improved?

3. What resources or services do you wish were available but currently aren’t?

4. How effective do you find tutoring or office hours in helping you understand challenging material?

5. What, if anything, would you change about how academic support is provided at your institution?

6. Are there obstacles that make it difficult for you to access academic support? Please describe them.

7. Who do you typically turn to first for academic help, and why?

8. What one thing could your school or teachers do to better support your academic success?

9. Do you feel comfortable asking for academic support? Why or why not?

10. Can you share a positive or negative experience you’ve had with academic support this year?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student survey about academic support

Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you want to quantify and categorize experiences, or get a high-level sense of trends. They’re especially useful at the start of a survey—students can quickly select an option, making it easier to open up in followups. These types of questions can lead to higher completion rates because they lower the barrier to responding, even in longer surveys. Here are some examples:

Question: Which type of academic support have you used most this semester?

• Tutoring center

• Instructor office hours

• Peer study groups

• Online resources (videos, forums, etc.)

• Other

Question: How satisfied are you with the academic support you’ve received?

• Very satisfied

• Somewhat satisfied

• Neutral

• Somewhat dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: How easy is it for you to access academic support services?

• Very easy

• Somewhat easy

• Somewhat difficult

• Very difficult

When to follow up with “why?” Using a followup “why?” after a multiple-choice answer helps you move from generic trends to deep insights. For instance, if a student selects “Peer study groups,” a followup like “Why do you prefer study groups over other options?” can reveal what’s unique or especially effective about that choice—and uncover weaknesses in your other offerings.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Including “Other” lets you avoid missing out on solutions, experiences, or tools you hadn’t anticipated. Always add a followup prompt (“Please specify”)—these responses often deliver unexpected insights and can even spark new support initiatives.

NPS questions in academic support surveys

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is all about measuring loyalty and advocacy: “How likely are you to recommend academic support services at your institution to a fellow student?” It’s a universal, powerful metric—allowing you to benchmark against other schools and track improvements over time. In the context of academic support, an NPS question quickly highlights overall satisfaction, and when coupled with a probing follow-up (“Why did you choose that score?”), you get an instant readout of both quantitative and qualitative sentiment. Ready-made NPS survey templates tailored for students regarding academic support are just a click away with our NPS survey generator for students.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are essential for depth—but who has time to write, track, and send them individually? Automated followups (like those in Specific’s AI conversational surveys) keep the conversation going in real-time, drawing out stories, motivations, and context that simple surveys miss. Studies show that follow-up strategies can boost survey completion rates by up to 24%[4]. Our AI-driven approach means you get richer, more nuanced data—without all the manual back-and-forth.

• Student: “I sometimes go to office hours but not always.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what makes you decide whether or not to go? Is anything holding you back?”

How many followups to ask? Generally, two or three well-targeted followups are enough to get to the core of an issue—longer threads can lead to fatigue, so control depth and allow the respondent to skip further questions once the info you want is clear. (Specific has options to set this up automatically.)

This makes it a conversational survey—the back-and-forth doesn’t just extract data; it feels like a helpful, relevant conversation that adapts as you go.

AI survey response analysis is easy: With so much rich, unstructured data, traditional analysis would be overwhelming—thankfully, AI-powered platforms like Specific make it easy to analyze student survey responses instantly and spot themes with a click.

Try generating a survey now and see how automated followups can transform your feedback process.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other AI) for better student survey questions

If you’re using an AI like ChatGPT to generate questions, start with a simple prompt, like:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for student survey about academic support.

You’ll get better results by giving more context about who you are, what you care about, and your goals. For example:

I am an academic advisor at a mid-sized university, and I want to understand how effectively our support services help undergraduate STEM students. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a student survey about academic support, focusing on accessibility, effectiveness, and areas for improvement.

After the AI generates questions, it’s super helpful to organize them by theme:

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

From those categories, decide which area you want to explore further, then ask:

Generate 10 questions for categories “accessibility of academic support” and “effectiveness of support resources.”

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is a modern approach that uses AI to simulate a natural conversation with students, instead of presenting a static form. Unlike old-fashioned methods, these surveys use smart, adaptive followups—creating a two-way dialogue where students feel heard and are more likely to share honest, detailed feedback. The advantages are clear when you compare methods:

Why use AI for student surveys? Because it improves completion rates, makes feedback more actionable, and unlocks deeper insight—often in less time. When you create an AI survey example for student academic support, you’re giving both students and admins a smoother, less frustrating feedback process. Specific takes this further: you can create AI-powered surveys from scratch and edit them easily in our AI survey editor. The end result is a best-in-class conversational survey experience—better questions, richer insights, and feedback that feels more like a chat than a chore. For practical steps on setup and strategy, see our guide to creating student surveys about academic support.

See this academic support survey example now

Experience a conversational AI survey that adapts to each student, uncovers deeper insights, and is ready to launch in minutes—see the difference for yourself and start collecting feedback that really drives improvement.