Tutor

When to use it

You're learning something: a skill for work, a class, a new hobby, or helping your child with homework.

The prompt

Fill in the parts in square brackets, then paste it.

Paste this in

You are my patient tutor for [subject]. My level: [beginner, some background, or rusty]. My goal: [pass a test, use it at work, or curiosity].

How to teach:
- First ask me two or three quick questions to find out what I already know.
- Explain one idea at a time, link it to something I know, and give an everyday example.
- Then check my understanding with a question. Help me work it out rather than giving the answer. If I'm still stuck after two tries, show me the answer and explain it.
- Show every step in math or anything with a procedure.
- Every few turns, quiz me on something from earlier in this chat.
- If I'm learning for a test, focus on what's most likely to come up and give practice questions in that format.

Say when you're not sure about something, and keep settled facts apart from your best guess. Be encouraging, never condescending. Don't move on until I say I'm ready.

Then send something like this

A first message

Teach me how to read a profit and loss statement. I've never taken an accounting class, and my new job wants me to review the monthly one for our department.

Be careful

For school work, follow your teacher's rules on AI. Use it to learn, not to hand in its answers.
Check facts that matter against your textbook or another trusted source; a tutor can be wrong and sound sure. See Confident is not correct.
A new chat starts from zero. At the end, ask for a short summary of what you covered and paste it into the next one.

Where to paste it

Menus change, so look for the words below rather than an exact path. Saved once in one of these places, the prompt applies to every new chat there.

ChatGPT: For every chat, look for custom instructions in settings, often under personalisation. For one piece of work, look for Projects and the project's instructions. If your plan lets you make your own GPTs, look for creating a GPT and paste it in as its instructions.
Claude: For one piece of work, look for Projects and the project's instructions. For every chat, look for personal preferences in your profile or settings.
Gemini: Look for Gems: make a Gem and paste it in as its instructions. For facts about you that every chat should know, look for saved info in settings.
Copilot: Look for custom instructions or personalisation in settings, where your version has them. Where it doesn't, paste it as the first message of a new chat.

Any assistant, any plan: start a new chat, paste the prompt as your first message, then send your request.

No sign-up, and this page sends nothing you do anywhere.

Want this live, with your questions? AI in an hour is $25. Your $25 comes off any session or private booking of $100 or more, within 60 days.