Prompt sheet
A student guide to using AI without outsourcing your learning. Daniel Umana.
Class
The assignment
What your syllabus allows
Where you are stuck
What you want to get better at
For the reading you have read three times and still cannot hold.
01 Explain it three ways
Explain [concept] three times: once for someone who has never taken this subject, once at the level of an introductory college course, and once the way it would appear on an exam. After the three explanations, ask me to explain it back to you in my own words, then tell me what my explanation got wrong or left out.
Watch for: The simple version can be simple because it is wrong. Check the beginner explanation against your textbook before you build on it.
02 Find the hole in my understanding
Here is my current understanding of [topic], in my own words: [paste your explanation]. Do not correct it yet. First, ask me three questions that would reveal whether I actually understand it or have just memorized the words. After I answer, tell me where my understanding breaks down.
Watch for: If it starts correcting you before asking, tell it to stop and ask first. It is eager to explain.
03 Interview the expert
Act as a [role] working in this field. I am going to interview you with 8 questions I prepared. Answer as that practitioner would. I will rate each answer trust, verify, or reject. I am also going to push back on two of your answers, and I want you to defend your position if you believe you are right rather than simply agreeing with me.
Watch for: It is easy to trust confident answers in a field you are still learning. Do the verification step or this teaches you the opposite of what it should.
The habit that separates using AI from believing AI.
04 AI output autopsy
This response was generated by an AI tool. Mark every claim you believe is wrong, incomplete, or unsupported. For each one, cite the source that corrects it and explain in a sentence what the tool got structurally wrong, not just factually wrong.
Watch for: Do not invent errors to have something to say. Sometimes the answer is fine, and noticing that is also the skill.
05 The citation check
List the specific sources for each factual claim you just made, including anything you are uncertain about. For each one, tell me plainly whether you are confident the source exists or whether you may be reconstructing it from patterns. Do not add sources you are not confident about.
Watch for: It will sometimes insist a fake source is real, in detail. The database is the authority here, not the chatbot.
06 Make it argue against itself
You just argued [position]. Now make the strongest possible case against it, using the best evidence available rather than a weak version of the opposing view. Then tell me which of the two positions is better supported and what evidence would settle it.
Watch for: Do not paste both sides into your paper. This is for figuring out what you think, not for producing content.
Feedback on writing you already did. Never a replacement for doing it.
07 Find my weakest paragraph
Here is my draft and my thesis. Identify the single weakest paragraph and explain specifically why it is weak: unsupported claim, evidence that does not connect, unclear relationship to the thesis, or something else. Do not rewrite it. Do not tell me what is working.
Watch for: It is not your professor and does not know the assignment's real priorities. If your rubric disagrees, the rubric wins.
08 The skeptical reader
Read my draft as a skeptical reader who disagrees with my argument but is willing to be persuaded. Ask me the three questions you would need answered before you would accept my claim. Do not answer them yourself and do not suggest revisions.
Watch for: If the questions feel generic, your paste was too short. Give it the whole draft and the assignment sheet.
09 Draft, interrogate, revise
Here is my draft and the rubric for this assignment. Critique the draft against each rubric criterion and tell me where it currently falls short. Do not rewrite any part of it. For each piece of feedback, be specific enough that I could act on it myself.
Watch for: This prompt is built for a draft you wrote first. If your course allows AI to help draft, the review still has to be yours: check the draft against the rubric before you rely on it.
Retrieval practice, which is the studying that actually works.
10 Quiz me, and do not tell me
Quiz me on [topic] one question at a time. Wait for my answer before saying anything. Do not give me the answer, hints, or the next question until I respond. When I am wrong, tell me only that I am wrong and ask me to try again before you explain anything.
Watch for: It will drift back into explaining. Remind it to wait for you, every time it does.
11 Turn my notes into questions
Here are my notes from this unit. Turn them into 15 questions that test whether I can use this material, not just recognize the terms. Give me the questions only. Do not include the answers anywhere in your response.
Watch for: If it includes the answers anyway, start a new chat. Once you have seen them, the practice value is gone.
12 Explain why I got it wrong
Here is a problem I got wrong and the answer I gave: [paste both]. Do not solve it for me. Tell me at which step my reasoning went wrong and what misunderstanding would produce that specific mistake. Then give me a similar problem to try.
Watch for: It will try to solve it. Repeat that you want the diagnosis and the practice problem, not the solution.
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