The paper considers the role of formative assessment of critical reading skills within the framework of distance education in conditions of emergency remote teaching English as a foreign language. A model of descriptors for assessment of critical reading skills at 4 levels of language competence and 3 levels of university education has been developed and tested on undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in Economics, IT and the Humanities in Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics. The model has been tested and conclusions have been made about the effectiveness of formative assessment as a supplementary/helpful tool for the development of critical reading skills in emergency learning conditions of COVID pandemic.