Prompts for studying that make things stick

The prompt that works

Explain photosynthesis in three levels: 1) one paragraph a 12-year-old would understand, using an analogy from everyday life, 2) the exam-level explanation with correct terminology and where each step happens, 3) the two things students most commonly get wrong about it. Then ask me three questions to check I actually understood, one at a time, and correct my answers.

The prompt that works

Turn my notes below into flashcards following spaced-repetition best practices: one atomic fact per card, questions that force recall rather than recognition, no yes/no questions, cloze deletions for definitions and lists. Format as Question | Answer, one per line, so I can import them into Anki. Flag any part of my notes that is too vague to make a card from — that is where my understanding has gaps.

The prompt that works

Act as my economics examiner. Based on the syllabus topics below, run a mock oral exam: ask me one question at a time, mixing definitions, applications and one curveball that combines two topics. After each answer, grade it out of 10, show what a full-marks answer includes, and note the topic on my weak list. After eight questions, give me the weak list ranked by priority with what to review for each.

The prompt that works

Build a two-week study plan for the exam described below. Constraints: [hours available per day, topics, current confidence per topic 1-5]. Rules: hardest topics get morning slots and come back twice (spaced repetition), every third session starts with 15 minutes of recall from earlier topics, each session has one concrete deliverable (solved problems, summary sheet, mock questions), and the last two days are only practice exams and review — no new material.

The prompt that works

Grade the essay below as a strict examiner using this rubric: thesis clarity, argument logic, evidence quality, structure, and writing mechanics — each scored out of 10 with the single sentence from my essay that justifies the score. Then: the three highest-impact improvements ranked, a rewritten version of my weakest paragraph showing the standard to aim for, and the grade it would get now versus after the fixes.