Assessments are an integral component of the students’ learning journey and are widely recognised across pedagogy as the most important element of a course from the students’ perspective; students want to know how they are being assessed and how to excel in their assessments.  

In order to aid successful student engagement with module learning outcomes, and thus the successful completion of summative assessments, this paper will examine the pedagogical benefits of utilising formative assessments in our teaching by sharing some findings collected following a recent focus group discussion on formatives, and their importance, which was undertaken with some of our finalists in the university’s law school.  

The paper will not only demonstrate the recognised benefits of formatives from the student perspective in preparing them for their summative assessments across all modules in the programme, but will also outline some advice from our law students on the best way to incorporate formative assessments into our teaching to ensure these learning tools are being engaged with, and thus achieving their purpose, in practice.