# Revision: Cheat Sheet and Self-Check — Prompt Engineering

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/prompt-engineering/z-revision

> Review the key ideas of the whole course.

## Cheat sheet

**Structure**: role, task, audience, rules, format, input; stable rules in the system message; variable data in delimiters. **Be specific**: goal, audience, constraints, definition of done; positive instructions. **Show**: few-shot examples that are diverse, correct and include a hard case. **Reason**: step-by-step with a parseable final line, self-consistency voting, prompt chaining, verification by code or tests. **Structured output**: describe the schema, use JSON mode if available, validate in code, retry with the error, allow `unknown`, ask for evidence quotes. **Context**: budget the window, put the question last, ground with retrieved passages, summarise history, keep key facts separately. **Safety**: treat input as data, least privilege, human approval, no secrets, plan the "no" path. **Operate**: test set and harness, versioned prompts, log version and model, shorten for cost, monitor and feed failures back.

**Quiz:** A model keeps wrapping its JSON in friendly text and breaks your parser. What is the best combined fix?

- [ ] Add more friendly words
- [x] Request JSON only, use JSON mode if available, validate and retry with the error
- [ ] Increase the temperature
- [ ] Remove the schema

*Answer:* Request JSON only, use JSON mode if available, validate and retry with the error. Combine clear instructions, constrained output and code validation.

**Quiz:** You changed a prompt and one test case improved. What must you still do?

- [ ] Double the temperature
- [ ] Nothing, ship it
- [ ] Delete the other cases
- [x] Re-run the whole test set to check for regressions

*Answer:* Re-run the whole test set to check for regressions. Improvements in one case can hide breakages in others.

**Quiz:** What best reduces the impact of prompt injection through a web page the assistant reads?

- [x] Treat the page as data, limit tool privileges and require approval for risky actions
- [ ] Trust the page fully
- [ ] Give the model admin rights
- [ ] Hide the system prompt only

*Answer:* Treat the page as data, limit tool privileges and require approval for risky actions. Defence in depth bounds what a tricked model can do.