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Convert business-day deadlines to dates with a holiday

  • For Accountants
  • You practice Giving the right context
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Beginner

About this exercise

You're publishing the November close calendar. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting "BD1:", "BD3:", "BD5:", "BD7:" and "BD10:", each with the weekday and date in December 2026. Business day 1 is the first business day of December. Weekends and the company holiday are not business days. Under 60 words. No bullets or numbering. Write each date without the year.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Counting the holiday. The AI makes BD5 Dec 7. Try: Say: "Skip weekends and the Dec 7 holiday."
  • Wrong weekdays. The AI gives the wrong weekday for a date. Try: Add: "Dec 1 is a Tuesday; format like BD1: Tue Dec 1."
  • Referencing last year. The AI mentions last year's calendar. Try: Add: "Do not mention last year's calendar."
  • Markdown extras. The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note. Try: Say: "Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits. Try: Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each line short.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the five lines
  • Gives the format
  • Skips the holiday
  • Bans last year
  • Caps length

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