Asking effective questions to AI
Formulate clear requests with context and ask for reasoning instead of ready-made answers.
Prerequisites
- BAI's invented answersrequired
Intuition
The answer is rarely better than the question. Compare:
- «Tell me about photosynthesis» → a generic text.
- «I need to explain photosynthesis to a colleague without a biology background. Explain it in three steps using an everyday analogy, max 100 words.» → something you can actually use.
A good question has context (who you are, what it is for), purpose (what the answer should achieve), and format (length, list, language level).
And if you want to learn: ask for reasoning and hints, not the solution. «Explain how I should think» gives you something that sticks.
Interactive
Rewrite the questions:
| Weak | Better |
|---|---|
| «Help with maths» | «I am stuck on equations with x on both sides. Show an example step by step, then give me a similar one to solve myself.» |
| «Write a poem» | «Write a four-line poem about autumn, for a colleague, with rhymes.» |
| «Is this right?» | «Here is my solution: … Point out the first step that is wrong without solving the rest.» |
Test both versions on an AI. Which one gave you something you could use?
Mastery means
- Formulates a request with context, purpose, and desired format
- Asks for reasoning and hints instead of ready-made answers when the goal is to learn
Sign in to do the exercises and build your mastery up.
Sources
- Skolverket — About AI in school (in Swedish) — Skolverket's open terms
- OpenAI — Prompt engineering guide — documentation, free to read