Forty prompts to play with, and two pages on using AI like a pro

Explain [topic] to me three times: first as if I am ten years old, then as a university student, then as an expert. After each one, ask me a single question to check that I understood before you go on.

Make it yours: use the topic of your next exam, and answer the check questions honestly.

I have 20 minutes a day for the next two weeks to learn [skill or topic]. I already know [what you know]. Make a day-by-day plan with one small task per day, each one building on the last, and tell me how to test myself on day 14.

Make it yours: after day 3, paste what you did and ask it to adjust the rest of the plan.

Ask me ten questions about [chapter or topic], one at a time. Wait for my answer each time, tell me whether I was right, and explain the ones I get wrong in two lines. At the end, list the three ideas I should revise first.

Make it yours: add "make the questions harder each time I get one right".

Here are my notes: [paste your notes]. Turn them into 15 question-and-answer flashcards, hardest first. For the five hardest, add a one-line memory trick, and tell me which three cards cover the most marks.

Make it yours: ask for the cards as a table you can paste into a flashcard app.

Here is one line from my CV: [paste the line]. Rewrite it in three stronger versions that start with an action verb and include a number or a result. Keep each under 20 words, and tell me which one a recruiter would stop on.

Make it yours: paste the whole CV and ask for the five weakest lines first.

You are the hiring manager for a [job title] role at a [kind of company] in Pakistan. Ask me one interview question at a time. Wait for my answer, then give honest feedback and a better version of my answer before the next question. Start with "tell me about yourself".

Make it yours: add "be tough, and include one question I would not expect".

Here is a job advertisement: [paste it]. List the five skills they really want, in order of importance. My background in two lines: [your degree, your experience]. Tell me which skills I already have, which I can show with a small project, and which I should be honest about.

Make it yours: follow up with "write the cover letter's first paragraph from that".

Write a LinkedIn "About" section for me in 120 words, in the first person, warm but professional, no buzzwords. Facts: [degree and field], [two things you have done], [what you want next]. End with one line about what I enjoy outside work.

Make it yours: ask for a headline under 80 characters to go with it.

Rewrite this email so it is clear, polite and half as long, but keep my tone and do not add phrases I would not use: [paste the email]. Then show me the three changes that mattered most and why.

Make it yours: add who it is for ("my professor", "a client who is late paying").

Write a 200-word [essay, post or statement] on [topic] for [audience]. Then critique your own draft as a strict teacher would, in five bullet points. Then give me a second draft that fixes every point.

Make it yours: paste your own draft instead and let it critique that.

Here is my paragraph: [paste it]. Read it as a tired person on a phone at 11 pm. Which sentence would they skip, and where would they stop reading? Rewrite it so every sentence earns its place, and keep it under [number] words.

Make it yours: works on captions, assignment introductions and WhatsApp announcements.

Translate this into [Urdu or Sindhi], keeping the meaning rather than the words, in the register a [teacher, friend, official] would use: [paste the text]. Then point out two places where a literal translation would have sounded wrong and explain why.

Make it yours: go the other way and ask it to check your English translation of a Sindhi line.

I am deciding between [option A] and [option B]. Describe an ordinary Tuesday one year into each choice, in detail: morning, work, money, people, evening. Then name the one risk in each that I am most likely to be underestimating.

Make it yours: add your real constraints: family, savings, the city you must stay in.

I believe [your opinion]. Make the strongest possible case against it, with the best evidence and the most reasonable version of the opposing view, not a weak one. Then tell me which of my original reasons survive and which do not.

Make it yours: try it on a decision you have already made and see if you still agree with yourself.

I am about to [your plan]. Imagine it is six months from now and it failed badly. Write the short story of why it failed, with the three most likely causes. Then turn each cause into one thing I can do this week to prevent it.

Make it yours: run the opposite too: "imagine it went better than expected, why?"

Compare [the options] on [the criteria that matter to you]. Make a table, score every cell from 1 to 5 with one line of reasoning each, total the scores, and then tell me which criterion I should probably weigh more heavily than I think.

Make it yours: ask "what question would change the result?" and answer it.

I got this error while [what you were doing]: [paste the error]. Explain in plain words what went wrong, the most likely cause in my case, and the smallest change that fixes it. Then tell me how to check that the fix worked.

Make it yours: add "and how do I avoid this class of error next time?"

Review this code as a senior engineer would before merging: [paste the code]. First say what is good. Then bugs, then readability, then one refactor you would insist on. Show the refactored version and explain the trade-off.

Make it yours: add the language and the framework, and whether it runs in production.

Design a weekend project that teaches me [skill, for example Docker or REST APIs] using [language or tool]. Give me the folder structure, five steps in order with what each step teaches, what "done" looks like, and one stretch goal for Sunday night.

Make it yours: ask for a README you could put on GitHub when it is finished.

Here is a function: [paste it]. Write unit tests for the normal case, two edge cases and one failure case, in [test framework]. Then tell me which single test would have caught a bug the fastest, and what input the function probably handles badly.

Make it yours: run the tests, paste the failures, and ask it to fix the function, not the tests.

Write a 300-word short story set in [a place in Pakistan] that uses these three words: [word one], [word two], [word three]. Give it one real character with a small want, and end with a line that changes how the opening reads.

Make it yours: ask for the same story told by a different character.

Write a prompt for an AI image tool. The subject is [subject], the style is [style, for example watercolour or film photo], the time of day is [time], the mood is [mood]. Give me the prompt, then two variations that change only the lighting, and one that changes only the camera angle.

Make it yours: paste the prompt into an image tool and bring the result back for a second round.

Write a short poem in [English, Urdu or Sindhi] about [topic] in the form of a [ghazal, haiku, sonnet or free verse]. Keep the rhyme natural, no forced words. Afterwards, tell me the one image you are proudest of and one line you would cut.

Make it yours: give it a first line of your own and ask it to continue.

I am starting [a project, shop, channel or app] for [who it is for]. Give me 20 names: five plain, five playful, five in Urdu or Sindhi, five that would work as a web address. Mark the three you would actually choose and say why in one line each.

Make it yours: ask for a one-line tagline for each of the three finalists.

My monthly income is Rs [amount]. My fixed costs are [rent, transport, phone, and so on]. Build a simple monthly budget as a table with a realistic savings target, and point out the one expense that people in my situation most often cut without feeling it.

Make it yours: add a goal ("a laptop by June") and ask what has to change.

I have [the ingredients in your kitchen] and 30 minutes. Suggest two dishes, step by step, using the spices a Pakistani kitchen usually has. Say how many people each serves and which one is easier for a beginner.

Make it yours: add "one of them should be something my family has not tried".

Plan a three-day trip to [place] for [number] people, travelling from [city], on a total budget of Rs [amount]. Day by day, with where to stay, how to get around, the one thing not to miss, and the one common tourist trap to avoid. Mark anything I must book in advance.

Make it yours: ask for a packing list for that season and place.

Here is a [bill, form or official letter]: [paste the text or describe it]. Explain each part in plain words, tell me exactly what I have to do and by when, and flag anything that looks wrong or unusual. Do not guess at fees; tell me where to check them.

Make it yours: ask for the explanation in Urdu for someone at home.

Here is my IELTS Writing Task 2 essay on the question "[the question]": [paste the essay]. Score it on the four official criteria with one reason each. Then rewrite only the weakest paragraph to a band 7 level and explain each change you made.

Make it yours: ask for three linking phrases you overuse and their replacements.

Give me an IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue card about [topic]. I will type my two-minute answer. Then mark my vocabulary, grammar and fluency out of 9 with one reason each, and give me five better phrases I could have used, with an example sentence for each.

Make it yours: use voice input if your assistant has it, and answer out loud.

Every day I will send you three sentences I wrote in English. Correct them, explain only the single most important mistake in one line, and give me a version that sounds natural. Keep a running list of my repeated mistakes and show it to me every Friday.

Make it yours: send sentences from real messages you wrote that day.

Teach me the word [word]: its meaning, three example sentences from everyday life, two words it is often confused with and how they differ, and one sentence in [Urdu or Sindhi] that anchors it in my memory.

Make it yours: ask it to quiz you on this week's words every Sunday.

I want to [the habit, for example walk every day or read before bed]. I failed before because [the honest reason]. Make a four-week plan that starts embarrassingly small, grows a little each week, and tells me exactly what to do on the day I miss.

Make it yours: ask it to write the reminder message you will set on your phone.

Make a 20-minute workout I can do in a small room with no equipment, for a [beginner or intermediate], three times a week. Include a two-minute warm-up, the exercises with counts, and what to swap if my [knees, back or shoulders] hurt. Check with a doctor is understood; keep it simple.

Make it yours: ask for a week-4 version that is a little harder.

Plan my next 60 minutes. The task is [the task], I keep getting distracted by [the thing], and I have already wasted [how long]. Break the hour into blocks, tell me what to do with my phone, and give me one sentence to write down when the hour ends.

Make it yours: come back after the hour and report; ask for the next one.

I feel [stuck, anxious or low] about [the situation]. Do not give me a list of tips yet. Ask me three questions, one at a time, that help me see what is really bothering me. Then summarise what you heard in my own words, and only then suggest one small step.

Make it yours: an assistant is not a doctor or a counsellor; if it is heavy, talk to a person you trust too.

Give me a riddle. Let me guess up to three times, with a small hint after each wrong guess. Then reveal the answer and explain how the riddle was built. Keep going with a new riddle until I say stop, and make each one a little harder than the last.

Make it yours: ask for riddles about your own subject: chemistry, cricket, Kubernetes.

Think of a famous person, place or thing from Pakistan and do not tell me what it is. I will ask yes-or-no questions to guess it. Answer honestly, keep count of my questions, and tell me when I have used all twenty. If I guess right, tell me how close my questions were.

Make it yours: swap roles: you think of something and let it guess.

You are a visitor from the year 2100 who has just arrived in [your city]. Describe what has changed and what has stayed the same, then let me interview you. Stay in character, be specific, and admit when something is just your guess.

Make it yours: try a visitor from 1947 instead.

Run a short text adventure where I am a [role] in [a setting]. Give me three choices at every step, keep each turn under 80 words, and make something surprising happen on turn five. Keep score of what I have found. Begin.

Make it yours: play it in Urdu or Sindhi, and ask it to correct your replies gently.