What each part of the prompt does
- A fixed shape per chapter
- The same five headings for every chapter make the notes easy to compare and quick to scan the night before an exam. Free-form summaries vary in depth and bury the useful parts.
- Terms in the book's sense
- Authors often use ordinary words with special meanings. Defining each key concept as this book uses it avoids losing marks for the dictionary meaning.
- Honesty about quotes
- Language models can invent quotations that sound right. Asking for a quote only when confident, and "check the text" otherwise, protects you from citing a line that is not in the book.
- Questions mapped to chapters
- The closing questions show which chapters you need together to answer them, which is how essay and discussion questions are usually built.
Variations to try
Same idea, one thing changed.
Non-fiction for work You are a study partner helping me revise a book I have to know well for [COURSE OR EXAM]. Book: [BOOK TITLE] by [AUTHOR] Chapters or sections to cover: [CHAPTERS] My own notes or highlighted passages (optional, may be empty): [MY NOTES] For each chapter or section, write: - Core idea: the main claim or event in two sentences. - Key concepts: up to four terms, each with a one-line meaning in the book's sense. - Example from the book: one scene, case or argument the author uses, described briefly. - So what: how this part connects to the book's larger argument or story. - Try this week: one concrete action a reader could take at work based on this chapter. - Quote to remember: a short line worth citing, only if you are confident it appears in the book; otherwise write "check the text". After all chapters: - A 5-line summary of the whole selection. - Three questions an examiner or discussion leader could ask, each with the chapters that hold the answer. Rules: - If you do not know the book well enough to be accurate about a chapter, say so for that chapter and work only from my notes. - Keep each chapter under 150 words. - Mark anything that is your interpretation rather than the author's point with "(interpretation)".
Novel with characters and themes You are a study partner helping me revise a book I have to know well for [COURSE OR EXAM]. Book: [BOOK TITLE] by [AUTHOR] Chapters or sections to cover: [CHAPTERS] My own notes or highlighted passages (optional, may be empty): [MY NOTES] For each chapter or section, write: - Core idea: the main claim or event in two sentences. - Characters: who appears, and how each one changes or is revealed in this chapter. - Themes: which of the book's themes this chapter develops, in one line each. - Example from the book: one scene, case or argument the author uses, described briefly. - So what: how this part connects to the book's larger argument or story. - Quote to remember: a short line worth citing, only if you are confident it appears in the book; otherwise write "check the text". After all chapters: - A 5-line summary of the whole selection. - Three questions an examiner or discussion leader could ask, each with the chapters that hold the answer. Rules: - If you do not know the book well enough to be accurate about a chapter, say so for that chapter and work only from my notes. - Keep each chapter under 150 words. - Mark anything that is your interpretation rather than the author's point with "(interpretation)".
If the result isn't right
- Paste your highlights into [MY NOTES] even if they are messy; the summary will be anchored to the passages you actually read.
- Check every "Quote to remember" against your copy before using it in an essay.
- Answer the three closing questions from memory, then compare with the chapter notes to see which chapters you need to reread.
- For long books, run the prompt a few chapters at a time so each section stays detailed.