ChatGPT for Beginners (Part 6)

How do I use ChatGPT for learning? What is a custom GPT and how do I use it? How do I make my own ChatGPT prompts?

Author

Sabrina Ramonov
November 09, 2024

This is part 6 of my free course, ChatGPT for Beginners.

Remember, you’re welcome to repurpose all my free content for your AI consulting, education, or workshops! If you have any questions on this, hit reply 🙂 

In this post...

How do I use ChatGPT for learning?

Master student

One of my favorites ways to use ChatGPT is to learn new subjects.

I love using the master student prompt.

You tell ChatGPT it's the master of a subject, and you’re the student.

It starts by explaining the topic at a high level, quizzes you, analyzes your response, and adapts its teaching based on whether you grasped the material.

This back-and-forth creates a highly personalized and interactive learning experience. You can explore a subject as deeply as you want, spend hours exploring curious tangents, ChatGPT guiding you at each step.

24/7 accessibility.

Infinite patience.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and be skeptical, push ChatGPT to fully explain!

Here’s the prompt. Replace the [SUBJECT] placeholder with what you want to learn: 

You are a master of [SUBJECT], tasked with teaching a student until they achieve mastery. Your goal is to explain the subject, quiz the student, analyze their responses, provide clarification, and ask follow-up questions until the student demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topic.

Begin by providing a clear and concise explanation of the subject. Your explanation should cover the key concepts and fundamental principles of the topic. Use analogies or examples where appropriate to enhance understanding.

After your initial explanation, pose a quiz question to the student to assess their comprehension. The question should be challenging enough to test their understanding but not so difficult as to discourage them.

Then, analyze the student's response carefully. Consider the following:

1. Accuracy of the answer
2. Depth of understanding demonstrated
3. Any misconceptions or gaps in knowledge

Based on your analysis, provide feedback to the student. Your feedback should:

1. Acknowledge correct aspects of their response
2. Gently point out any errors or misconceptions
3. Offer additional explanation or clarification on areas where the student seems to struggle

Then, ask a follow-up question to further probe the student's understanding or address any areas of weakness identified in their previous response. This question should be more specific or advanced than the initial quiz question, building upon the concepts already discussed.

Continue this process of analyzing responses, providing feedback, and asking follow-up questions until you believe the student has achieved mastery of the subject. You may need to cycle through multiple rounds of questions and answers.

Throughout the interaction:
1. Maintain a supportive and encouraging tone
2. Adapt your teaching style based on the student's responses
3. Provide real-world examples or applications of the concepts when relevant
4. Break down complex ideas into smaller, more manageable parts if the student is struggling

When you believe the student has demonstrated mastery of the subject, conclude the lesson by summarizing the key points covered and congratulating the student on their progress.

Begin the lesson by providing your initial explanation of the subject.

In my Youtube video, you can see how ChatGPT recognizes part of my answer that’s correct. Then, ChatGPT provides additional context and information to help me understand why another part of my answer was incorrect.

Flashcards

Another way to use ChatGPT for learning is by creating flashcards.

Tell ChatGPT to generate a structured Q&A format, breaking down information into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

You can import the flashcard questions into a free tool like Anki. 

I want you to help me create a set of flashcards for learning and retaining information on [TOPIC]. Organize the flashcards in a Q&A format, with each card having a question on one side and the answer on the other. Here’s what I’m looking for:

# Content Scope

- Cover the main concepts, key terms, essential facts, and any core principles related to [specific topic]. If there are subtopics, create cards for each to ensure a comprehensive overview.
- Include examples, case studies, and common applications where relevant. For complex ideas, break them down into simpler parts across multiple cards.

# Difficulty Levels

Divide the flashcards into levels of difficulty:

- Basic Cards for foundational facts and definitions.
- Intermediate Cards to introduce relationships between concepts, principles, and real-world applications.
- Advanced Cards for more in-depth questions that require critical thinking or synthesis, such as ‘Why’ and ‘How’ questions.

# Format and Language

- Use clear, straightforward language to make the information easy to understand.
- For advanced cards, include keywords or clues to help trigger memory without giving away the answer.

# Extra Information

- If a question is complex, provide hints or additional context.
- Include mnemonic devices, analogies, or simple diagrams where helpful.
- Highlight any commonly confused concepts with clarifications or comparative examples.

# Review and Reinforcement

- For any challenging terms, include follow-up cards that rephrase the concept or explain it from a different angle.
- For terms with multiple definitions or applications, add separate cards for each.

# Retention Techniques

- Structure the questions to encourage spaced repetition.
- Suggest grouping certain cards into clusters based on common themes for easier review.

In my Youtube video, I also show you how to import your study materials (PDF, text, etc) so that ChatGPT creates flashcards tailored to your upcoming exam.

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You MUST use your custom referral link. Log into sabrina.dev > Profile > Referrals.

What is a custom GPT and how do I use it?

Custom GPTs are a tailored version of ChatGPT designed for specific tasks.

Custom GPT creators can enhance ChatGPT’s capabilities by uploading instructions or documents (PDFs, JSON, etc) that help you accomplish specific tasks more effectively.

Start by clicking on Explore GPTs in the upper left sidebar.

Here, you'll find a massive library of them!

Popular examples include image generators, writing assistants, and productivity tools. Each custom GPT usually has predefined templates for common tasks.

For instance, I selected Canva GPT.

It allows you to generate graphics for social media. After creating a design, click on it, opening it in Canva where you can make final edits before publishing on social media.

Another custom GPT is Consensus, which specializes in research-backed information.

It drafted a blog post supported by academic research, citing papers throughout.

I also tried an Astrology custom GPT to explain my love life based on the stars 🌟 

Most importantly:

There are thousands of specialized custom GPTs you can try for free!

Custom GPTs expand the functionality of AI and cater to a wide range of use cases.

All are free to install and play around with, while some offer advanced functionality only if choose to subscribe to 3rd party apps.

ChatGPT also launched a beta feature, as shown below:

Simply mention a @customGPT to add it directly into your conversation!

How do I make my own ChatGPT prompts?

Making effective ChatGPT prompts feels daunting when you’re starting out.

The good news is that ChatGPT can do the heavy lifting.

Although my free prompts library attracts thousands of visitors per month, I believe learning how to create your own prompts is massively useful.

In my prompts library, if you can’t find what you need, you can submit a custom prompt request. You submit a Google Form with your email and details about your use case.

This triggers a series of workflow automations to formulate your custom prompt, publish it in my prompts library, and push the file to github!

Here’s the exact ChatGPT prompt I use in my workflow automation to generate very detailed custom prompts for other people:

You will be given a request for a ChatGPT prompt. Your task is to analyze this request, extract the relevant information, and create a high-quality prompt that addresses all the sub-tasks within the request. Follow these steps carefully:

1. Read the following request.

2. Silently analyze the request and identify all relevant sub-tasks that need to be addressed in the ChatGPT prompt.

3. Silently extract only the essential information needed to create effective ChatGPT prompts. Discard any irrelevant details or context that doesn't directly contribute to the prompt's purpose. Discard demographic information and personally sensitive information, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, political beliefs, and religious beliefs.

4. Using the extracted information and identified sub-tasks, create a high-quality ChatGPT prompt that addresses all the necessary components. The prompt should be clear, concise, and specific. The prompt should be very detailed, using prompt engineering best practices. It should guide ChatGPT to provide a comprehensive response that covers all identified sub-tasks.

5. Your final output should be the ChatGPT prompt. Use bullet points, where appropriate, to improve readability. Do not output any intermediate steps - thoughts, notes, etc.

6. Append this sentence to the end of your ChatGPT prompt: "Ask me clarifying questions until you are 95% confident you can complete the task successfully. Take a deep breath and take it step by step. Remember to search the internet to retrieve up-to-date information."

Remember to focus only on the relevant aspects of the request and create a prompt that efficiently address all identified sub-tasks. Take a deep breath and take it step by step.

# INPUT

<request>
Create a business plan for a new AI app called Blotato that helps content creators and entrepreneurs grow on multiple social media platforms at the same time.
</request>

Simply input your use case, context, information, etc. in the XML tag <request>.

In the example above, I tell ChatGPT to craft a prompt for writing a business plan.

Then, open a new ChatGPT conversation and use the new prompt.

You’ll notice ChatGPT begins by asking clarifying questions. Answer them first, then ChatGPT will produce a detailed business plan according to your generated prompt.

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