Module 1 Exercises — 5 hands-on prompting challenges
Two kinds of practice. The quick skill checks have one right answer, so you can grade yourself instantly. The real-work challenges are where the value is — run them on your own material.
Quick skill checks
One right answer each — paste Claude's output and grade yourself instantly.
Hand it the source, then verify
Paste the notes below into Claude and ask for the total approved budget. Then enter the dollar figure Claude gives you — and sanity-check it yourself before you trust it.
Budget meeting notes: - Marketing requested $3,200 for ads. - Design needs $1,750 for new design software. - Ops asked for $920 in supplies. We approved every request except Ops.
Demand the exact format
Ask Claude to convert the contact line below into JSON with exactly the keys name, email, and role. Paste Claude's JSON output here.
Jane Okafor, jane@acme.io, Head of Product
Hold it to a hard constraint
Ask Claude to write a tagline for an independent bookshop in EXACTLY six words. Paste the tagline you get.
Take it to your real work
No single right answer — this is where the value is. Use your own material.
The bad → good rewrite (on your real work)
Pick a task you actually need done today. Write the lazy one-line version first ("write me an email"). Then rebuild it with all four parts: task + context + format + constraints — who it's for, the background, the shape you want, and the limits. Send both and compare.
Win: The rebuilt version is something you could use with only light edits.
Push back, then fact-check
Take any answer from today and iterate: "make it shorter," "more formal," "show your reasoning," "try again but…". Then pick one factual claim it made and verify it yourself — remember the knowledge cutoff means it can be confidently wrong about anything recent.
Win: You improved an answer in 3 follow-ups or fewer, and caught — or confirmed — at least one fact.