# Andy Matuschak - How to Write Good Prompts: Using Spaced Repetition to Create Understanding (Highlights)  ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/42608811) **Source**:: #from/readwise #from/reader **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Andy Matuschak]] **Full Title**:: How to Write Good Prompts: Using Spaced Repetition to Create Understanding **Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles **Category Icon**:: 📰 **Document Tags**:: #favorite **URL**:: [andymatuschak.org](https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/) **Host**:: [[andymatuschak.org]] **Highlighted**:: [[2024-07-25]] **Created**:: [[2024-07-27]] ## Highlights - Retrieval practice prompts should be **focused.** A question or answer involving too much detail will dull your concentration and stimulate incomplete retrievals, leaving some bulbs unlit. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kvkq6e89hxk3d8cmc4meqz)) ^750033431 - Retrieval practice prompts should be **precise** about what they’re asking for. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kvkzfcsh8vj6bn3zwe86fh)) ^750033760 - Retrieval practice prompts should produce **consistent** answers, lighting the same bulbs each time you perform the task. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kw44en593hjfx3jq66vsgs)) ^750034434 - Retrieval practice prompts should be **tractable**. To avoid interference-driven churn and recurring annoyance in your review sessions, you should strive to write prompts which you can almost always answer correctly. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kw7cbm5nhayp1gc9ztwdek)) ^750034695 - Retrieval practice prompts should be **effortful**. It’s important that the prompt actually involves retrieving the answer from memory. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kw7hnsc2v367cecf2pvj4q)) ^750034699 - A prompt like this offers a hook to connect the fact to other ideas you may pick up in later cooking adventures. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwb755rgwpwera25f8ras3)) ^750034930 - One good strategy is to create a set of questions which require you to fill in a missing element of the list ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwepxvv50k68vfbv2xpcg2)) ^750035926 Anki Cloze (**see**:: [ankiweb.net](https://docs.ankiweb.net/editing.html?highlight=cloze)) - rompts seem to carry a per-unit “price,” so people naturally try to write fewer questions which cover more ground. But that’s counter-productive. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwk81zbswt1kv8j445v1hr)) ^750036398 - When you write coarser prompts in smaller quantity, you’re not reducing the amount you have to learn. You’re just making the material harder to review. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwkpgn9f16xw521nh1f58f)) ^750036445 - So if you’re writing prompts for a subject that’s already quite familiar, you should use fewer prompts—not because it’s always safe to write coarser questions for familiar topics, but because there’s less marginal knowledge you need to capture. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwmca9eyr00n5r28x9sagd)) ^750036586 - In some sense, procedures are lists. So we can start by using the cloze-deletion method we used for the ingredient list ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwncsrbaf4kqwhtp9xrtj1)) ^750036653 - The point of those prompts isn’t really to “know” those answers intellectually. It’s to cue certain ideas, which in turn may prompt new thoughts or create new behaviors. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwsxfrma7rdvcvjnvfct31)) ^750037026 Inspiring questions - It’s often helpful to phrase salience prompts around contexts where those ideas might be meaningful in your life. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwv8qbngb8fyw4jckq5k3f)) ^750037144 - Say you’re reading an article that seems interesting. Try setting yourself an accessible goal: on your first pass, aim to write a small number of prompts (say, 5-10) about whatever seems most important, meaningful, or useful. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwwbcamrrp1wb7hng2qj5s)) ^750037217 - But if you have a rich text which you’re trying to internalize thoroughly, it’s often valuable to make multiple passes, even in the first reading session. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwy07ts8je9zkh1vsbfmsa)) ^750037276 - *Discourage pattern matching.* If you write a long question with unusual words or cues, you might eventually memorize the *shape* of that question and learn its corresponding answer—not because you’re really thinking about the knowledge involved, but through a mechanical pattern association. Cloze deletions seem particularly susceptible to this problem, especially when created by copying and editing passages from texts. This is best avoided by keeping questions short and simple. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kx08h9h4rrqqagjn9kmzyn)) ^750037332 - *Avoid binary prompts.* Questions which ask for a yes/no or this/that answer tend to require little effort and produce shallow understanding. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kwzz14yvxphv6mr2sq1ate)) ^750037327 - Problems may become apparent only upon review, and sometimes only once a prompt’s repetition interval has grown to many months. Prompt-writing involves long feedback loops. So just as it’s important to write prompts incrementally over time, it’s also important to revise prompts incrementally over time, as you notice problems and opportunities. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kx1dwn60x9axc3ppgynrcc)) ^750037365 - In your review sessions, be alert to feeling an internal “sigh” at a prompt. Often you’ll think: “oh, jeez, this prompt—I can never remember the answer.” Or “whenever this prompt comes up, I know the answer, but I don’t really understand what it means.” Listen for those reactions and use them to drive your revision. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j3kx1w9fygtrdcfwfcrzbfp0)) ^750037383