Unit 4 of 5

ChatGPT

The most flexible study tutor you have, once you set it up properly and make it question you back.

about 15 minutes

By the end of this unit you can

Set custom instructions so answers fit your level
Organise a semester with Projects and memory
Run Socratic tutoring and Feynman-style self-testing
Generate flashcards and a spaced-repetition schedule

The core idea

Stop asking for answers. Ask to be examined.

Most students use ChatGPT as an answer machine, and then wonder why nothing sticks. The research on learning is blunt about this: you remember what you retrieve, not what you read. ChatGPT is unusually good at forcing retrieval, but only if you tell it to withhold answers.

Default instruction for every study chat

"Do not give me the answer until I have attempted it. Ask me one question at a time."

Set up once

Custom instructions and Projects

1
Fill in custom instructions
Tell it your level, your course, your language preference and how you want answers formatted. It applies to every chat, forever.
2
Create a Project per module
Projects keep files and chats for one subject together, with their own instructions. Upload the syllabus and readings there once.
3
Give each chat one job
One chat for flashcards, one for essay feedback, one for problem sets. Mixed chats produce muddled context.
4
Correct it out loud
When it misjudges your level, say so ('too basic, I already know Bayes' theorem'). It adjusts for the rest of the session.

Custom instructions for a student

About me: I am a [year] student in [programme] at [institution], studying in [English/Malay]. My strongest subjects are [x]; I struggle with [y].

How I want you to respond:
- Explain with a concrete example before the formal definition.
- Use short paragraphs and bold the key term the first time it appears.
- When I ask about coursework, coach me: ask questions, give hints, and never write submittable text for me.
- Flag when something you say is uncertain or contested.
- If my question is vague, ask me one clarifying question before answering.

Technique 1

Socratic tutoring

The tutor that refuses to tell you

Be my Socratic tutor for [topic]. Rules:
1. Start by asking what I already know about it.
2. Then ask one question at a time, each slightly harder than the last.
3. Never give me the answer. If I'm wrong, ask a question that exposes the flaw in my reasoning.
4. If I'm stuck twice, give a hint only, never the answer.
5. After 8 questions, summarise what I clearly understand and what I need to review.

Feynman technique check

I will explain [concept] in my own words. Your job: find every gap, vague phrase and wrong assumption in my explanation, as a strict examiner would.
Rate my explanation out of 10 for accuracy and out of 10 for clarity, list exactly what is missing, then ask me two follow-up questions I could not answer with a memorised definition.

My explanation: [type it from memory, no notes]

If you cannot write the explanation without notes, you have found your revision topic.

Technique 2

Feedback on your own writing

Asking for feedback is in the green zone. Asking for rewritten paragraphs is not. Word your prompt so the tool cannot cross that line for you.

Marker-style feedback, no rewriting

Here is my draft and the marking rubric.
Act as the marker. For each rubric criterion give: the band you would place me in, the specific sentence or paragraph that justifies it, and one instruction for how I could improve it myself.
Do NOT rewrite any of my sentences and do not produce replacement text. Feedback only.

Rubric: [paste]
Draft: [paste]

Stress-test my argument

Here is my thesis and main argument: [paste].
Play the harshest reasonable critic in my field. Give me: the three strongest counter-arguments, the weakest link in my logic, one piece of evidence that would undermine me, and what a marker would most likely write in the margin.

Technique 3

Flashcards and spaced repetition

Anki-ready flashcards

From the material below, create 25 flashcards as a CSV with two columns: Front, Back.
Rules: one fact per card; questions must be answerable in under 15 seconds; no yes/no questions; include 5 cards that require applying the idea, not just recalling it.
Wrap the whole thing in a code block so I can copy it into Anki.

Material: [paste notes or upload file]

Build a revision schedule

My exam for [subject] is on [date]. Today is [date]. I can study [x] hours on weekdays and [y] on weekends.
Here are my topics and how confident I feel about each (1-5): [list].
Build a spaced-repetition revision plan: weakest topics first and repeated more often, each topic revisited at increasing intervals, with one full past-paper attempt per week and the final three days reserved for review only.
Output as a week-by-week table.

Voice mode as a study partner

Use voice mode to explain a topic out loud while walking, and ask it to interrupt whenever you say something imprecise. Speaking exposes shaky understanding far faster than reading.

Reminder

The honesty check

Everything in this unit keeps the thinking with you. The moment you paste a generated paragraph into an assignment, you have swapped a study tool for a misconduct case, and you have skipped the part that would have earned you the mark anyway.