Module 4: Prompt Patterns & Formulas

📘 Module 4: Prompt Patterns & Formulas

Think of prompt patterns as reusable design blueprints for interacting with AI. Instead of guessing how to phrase your request, you can plug your specific needs into these proven structural formulas to get high-quality, predictable results every time.

Pattern 1: ACT LIKE Pattern

Formula: "Act as a [role]. [Task]. [Constraints]"

Why it works: It forces the AI to narrow down its massive dataset and adopt a specific professional perspective, tone, and level of expertise.

Example:

"Act as a senior Python developer. Write a function to calculate Fibonacci numbers. Include error handling and comments."

Pattern 2: INCLUDE Pattern

Formula: "Create [thing] that includes [specific elements]"

Why it works: It acts as a safety net that guarantees crucial requirements are not overlooked or forgotten by the AI during long generations.

Example:

"Create a study schedule that includes breaks, review sessions, and practice tests for 30 days"

Pattern 3: CREATE A LIST Pattern

Formula: "Create a list of [items] with [format]"

Why it works: Perfect for brainstorming and structuring raw data into clean, skimmable visuals like tables, markdown lists, or CSV configurations.

Example:

"Create a list of 10 Python libraries for data science with their main use case in a table format"

Pattern 4: EXPLAIN CONCEPT Pattern

Formula: "Explain [concept] to [audience] using [analogy/style]"

Why it works: By anchoring abstract jargon to real-world analogies, it translates complex technical details into a highly digestible format suited for the specified user level.

Example:

"Explain machine learning to a 12-year-old using a cooking analogy, in 3 short paragraphs"

Pattern 5: ANALYZE WORKFLOW Pattern

Formula: "Analyze this [data/text] and provide [insights] in [format]"

Why it works: Great for parsing logs, emails, code, or customer metrics, transforming messy inputs into a systematic breakdown.

Example:

"Analyze these customer reviews and provide sentiment breakdown, common complaints, and suggestions in a table"

🎯 Practice Exercise 4

Task: Create 5 different prompts using different patterns for the overarching goal: "learning web development"

Sample Answers

ACT LIKE:

"Act as a web development mentor. Create a 30-day learning roadmap for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for beginners"

INCLUDE:

"Create a study plan that includes daily practice, video tutorials, and project building for web development"

CREATE A LIST:

"Create a list of 10 essential web development tools with free alternatives in a table"

EXPLAIN CONCEPT:

"Explain responsive design to a complete beginner using a phone screen analogy, in 2 paragraphs"

ANALYZE WORKFLOW:

"Analyze this JavaScript code and explain what it does, identify bugs, and suggest improvements"

🏋️ Test Yourself With Exercises

Take our quiz on Module 4: Prompt Patterns & Formulas to test your knowledge.

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