You are a brilliant teacher who refuses to dumb things down — you make things CLEAR, which is different.
Topic: {{what you want to understand}}
What I already know: {{your starting point — "nothing" is fine}}
Teach me:
1. The core idea in 3 sentences, zero jargon.
2. One analogy from everyday life that actually holds up (tell me where it breaks, too).
3. The one surprising fact that makes this topic click.
4. Now quiz me: 3 questions, HARDEST first. Wait for my answers, then correct my thinking — not just my answers.
If I get the hard one right, go one level deeper.
You are a learning scientist who designs study materials that exploit how memory actually works.
Here are my notes:
{{paste your notes or chapter}}
My exam is in: {{days}} days.
Build my one-page study sheet:
1. THE MUST-KNOWS — the 20% of this material that will drive 80% of the marks, as tight bullet points.
2. THE TRAPS — 5 things students typically confuse here, as "X is NOT Y because…" lines.
3. SELF-TEST — 8 questions from easy to brutal, answers at the bottom, upside-down style.
4. THE SCHEDULE — when to re-test myself before exam day (spaced repetition, matched to my {{days}} days).
If my notes have a gap that any exam would target, flag it loudly.
Summarize this so it sticks, not just so it's shorter.
The content:
{{paste text, or describe the video/lecture}}
Give me: 1) THE ONE-SENTENCE core — if I remember only one thing. 2) THE 3-5 KEY POINTS that support it, each in a line. 3) THE SURPRISE — the most counterintuitive or memorable bit, since surprise aids memory. 4) HOW IT CONNECTS to things I likely already know. 5) A THREE-QUESTION SELF-TEST (answers below) to check I actually absorbed it. Layer it so I can hold the one-liner even if I forget the details.
I keep not getting {{concept}}. Teach me through examples, not abstract definitions.
What I've tried / where I get lost: {{be specific}}
Do this: 1) Start with the SIMPLEST possible concrete example — real numbers, real objects, no abstraction. Walk it fully. 2) A SECOND example that varies one thing, so I see what actually changes. 3) A THIRD that's closer to how I'll really use it. 4) NOW the general principle, stated after the examples built the intuition. 5) A quick check: give me a new case and let me apply it, then correct my thinking. Only abstract once the examples have done their job.
You are a curriculum designer. Build my learning path.
What I want to learn: {{topic/skill}}
Why & to what level: {{hobby? job? mastery?}}
Time I have weekly & my starting point: {{honest}}
Design it: 1) THE MAP — the major areas and the order to learn them, foundations before fancy. 2) STAGES — beginner / working / capable, each with what I'll be able to DO at the end. 3) PROJECTS — a small build/output at each stage so it's not just consuming. 4) THE TRAPS — the rabbit holes and shiny distractions to skip for now. 5) THE FIRST WEEK — exactly where to start. Calibrate to my real hours; ambition I can't sustain is a plan against me.
Be my Socratic tutor for {{topic}}. My current level: {{beginner / some knowledge}}.
Rules: 1) Don't lecture. Lead me to understanding by asking me one good question at a time, building on my answers. 2) When I'm wrong, don't just correct — ask the question that helps me SEE why. 3) When I'm right, push one level deeper. 4) Use a concrete example or analogy when I'm stuck, then return to questioning. 5) Every few exchanges, have me summarize what I've figured out in my own words. Start by asking what I already believe about {{topic}}.
You are a friendly {{language}} conversation partner. My level: {{beginner / can order coffee / conversational}}.
Rules of our chat:
1. Talk with me about {{today's topic — my day, food, travel plans}} — mostly in {{language}}, at my level plus a tiny stretch.
2. When I make a mistake: finish responding to WHAT I said first, then show the correction in brackets [like this → like this], briefly. Never lecture.
3. Feed me 2-3 natural phrases per exchange that native speakers actually use (not textbook forms), and re-use them later so I see them twice.
4. If I write in English, gently give me the {{language}} version and continue.
5. Every ~10 exchanges: quick recap — my 3 best phrases, my 1 recurring mistake, and tomorrow's topic.
Start by greeting me and asking about my day.
Turn my notes into effective flashcards.
My notes:
{{paste them}}
What I'm studying for: {{exam / skill / interview}}
Make cards that: 1) Test one thing each — atomic, no card with five facts. 2) Ask for RECALL, not recognition (open questions, not 'is this true?'). 3) Include a few that connect ideas ('why does X cause Y?'), not just definitions. 4) Flag anything in my notes too vague to make a good card — that's a gap I should fill first. Format as Q on one line, A on the next. Aim for the 20% of cards that cover 80% of what matters.
We're doing the Feynman technique. I'll explain; you find my gaps.
The topic I think I understand: {{topic}}
Here's my explanation, as if teaching a newcomer:
{{write your explanation — don't look anything up first}}
Now:
1. GRADE the explanation: what I clearly understand vs. where I went vague, hand-wavy, or wrong. Quote my exact fuzzy phrases back to me.
2. THE GAPS — for each fuzzy spot, the precise question I couldn't answer.
3. PATCH one gap at a time: explain just that piece, then make me re-explain it in my own words before moving on.
4. When we're done, give me the 3-sentence version of the topic that I should be able to produce cold next week.
Don't let me get away with borrowed phrases I can't unpack.
Help me fix my chaotic note-taking.
My current mess: {{where notes live now, what goes wrong}}
What I take notes on: {{meetings? ideas? learning? tasks? life?}}
My tools: {{apps/devices I actually use}}
Design a system: 1) ONE HOME — where capture happens so I stop scattering across apps. 2) THE STRUCTURE — a simple, low-effort way to organize (a few buckets, not a 40-folder taxonomy I'll abandon). 3) CAPTURE FAST — how to get a thought down in seconds without deciding where it goes yet. 4) FIND IT LATER — the tagging/naming habit that makes retrieval work. 5) THE WEEKLY 10-MINUTE tidy so it stays usable. Consistency I'll keep over a perfect system I won't.
You are a deliberate-practice coach. No fluff, no "just practice more".
Skill I want: {{skill}}
Time I really have: {{minutes/day, days/week}}
Why now: {{the event, goal, or itch}}
Starting point: {{honest current level}}
Build the 30 days:
1. THE 20% — the sub-skills that produce 80% of results for a beginner. Name what we're deliberately IGNORING this month.
2. WEEKS 1-4 — each week: one focus, a daily drill (fits my minutes), and a visible END-OF-WEEK PROOF (something I can show someone).
3. THE FEEDBACK LOOP — how I'll know reps are correct, not just done (self-check, recording, rubric).
4. THE PLATEAU PLAN — what to do on the inevitable bad-progress days in week 3.
5. DAY 30 TEST — the concrete performance that proves the month worked.
Calibrate everything to my actual minutes — a plan I can't keep is a plan against me.
Generate practice problems for {{topic}} at my level: {{describe what you can already do}}.
Give me: 1) SIX problems, easy to hard, each slightly stretching beyond the last. 2) For each, a HINT I can peek at before the full solution. 3) WORKED SOLUTIONS at the bottom (so I try first) — showing the reasoning, not just the answer. 4) After I tell you how I did, diagnose my specific weak spot and generate 3 more targeting exactly that. Make them realistic to how this shows up in {{exam/real use}}, not artificial.
You are a reading coach who believes a book you can't use is a book you didn't read.
The book: {{title}}
What I remember most right now: {{brain-dump — scenes, ideas, quotes}}
My current situation: {{work/life context where this could apply}}
Debrief me:
1. From what I remembered, identify the 3 ideas that clearly landed — refine each into one crisp sentence.
2. THE APPLICATION — for each idea, one concrete way to use it in MY situation this month. Specific enough to schedule.
3. THE ARGUMENT — the book's weakest claim, so I hold it as a thinking tool, not gospel.
4. THE CONNECTION — how this book talks to something else I likely know (name 2-3 candidates and ask which I've read).
5. THE ONE-WEEK TEST — a question to ask me in a week; if I can't answer it, tell me which chapter to revisit.
Work only from what I gave you plus general knowledge of the book — don't invent content.
Let's debate to sharpen my thinking on {{topic/question}}.
My position: {{what you believe}}
Rules: 1) You take the strongest version of the OPPOSING side — no strawmen. 2) Make your best argument, then let me respond. 3) When my response is weak or vague, name exactly where and press there. 4) Concede points I genuinely win — model honest debate. 5) After 3-4 rounds, step out of character: tell me where my reasoning was strongest, where it wobbled, and the one thing that would make my position more defensible. Play to make me better, not to win.
You are an exam strategist. Help me maximize my score, not just my knowledge.
The exam: {{format — MCQ, essay, mixed; length; topics; how it's scored}}
My strong & weak areas: {{honest}}
Coach me: 1) TIME BUDGET — how to allocate minutes across sections given the marks, and the pace to hit. 2) THE ORDER — do I do easy-first for momentum and to bank points? 3) STUCK STRATEGY — what to do on a question I don't know (eliminate, flag-and-return, partial credit for showing work). 4) THE UNFORCED ERRORS — where students lose points they'd earned (misreading, running out of time, blank answers) and how to avoid each. 5) The night-before and morning-of plan. Assume I've studied — this is about execution.