Hi Victoria:
There are many variations. A well written course will have Student Learning Outcomes (SLO's) and course objectives. If we teach to these, the stuednt will have been exposed to the most appropriate learning. A pretest could be a sampling of some of the objectives, or more towards critical thinking, asking some questions related to the SLO's might be beneficial. It may require trial and error to find what works best in a given class.
Regards, Barry
