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Clean up a messy club sign-up list

Practice: Asking for a format you can use. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

You're secretary of the Robotics Club, and the sign-up form export is a mess. The activities office wants the final roster as one numbered line per member in the form 'Last, First - Grade', sorted A to Z by last name, plain text, under 70 words, nothing else. Remove duplicates, use the newer grade when someone signed up twice, and leave out anyone who asked to be removed.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Just saying "clean this up". The AI guesses what clean means, often a table with emails and every row it found. Try: Spell out the rules: "Remove duplicates, use the newer grade, drop anyone who asked off."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total and it often lands 20% over. Try: Limit what each line holds: "names and grades only, no header, no notes."
  • Missing the group chat. The AI treats the form as the truth and skips the chat where Priya quit and Sam fixed his grade. Try: Add: "Apply the changes people asked for in the group chat."
  • Not giving the exact format. AI keeps the names as typed and sorts by first name, which isn't what the office asked for. Try: Show one line: "Brooks, Ethan - 11", sorted A to Z by last name.
  • Getting a markdown table. AI loves tables with bold headers, which turn into symbols when you paste them into an email form. Try: Add: "Plain text, one numbered line per person, nothing else."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Shows the line format
  • Says how to sort
  • Removes duplicates
  • Applies the chat changes
  • Asks for plain text

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