Let AI Teach Me · Self-check

Have AI change one condition and test me again

One original plus three variants: watch where a memorized sequence loses its footing. After this page you can have it write a changed-condition problem and solve it yourself first.

Last time it took ten minutes. This time you followed the same steps for half an hour, and the clothes still smell.

Last Sunday afternoon you washed three cotton T-shirts and caught a damp smell. You ran the four steps you had just learned: a drum self-clean, half a load, hang them the moment they're done, then smell again. The second load was fine. You saved the sequence in your notes.

This weekend you're washing one puffy down jacket. Open the door and there's the same smell. You judge at once: same problem, same steps. The self-clean ran 80 minutes. Next you're supposed to cut the load in half — but this one piece already fills the drum. Taking half out means not washing it.

You still walk all four steps, then wash once more. Two hours later the jacket still smells, and step two in your notes can't even run. Same “it smells after washing.” Why did a sequence that worked last time snap in the middle?

On the original, everyday clothes could split into two loads, a sunny day could dry them, and you could smell the result the same day — those conditions were already set. You only practiced what to do after reading the prompt. In real life you have to spot the conditions, and check whether what each step depends on has changed. The hard part moved earlier.

Ask “my down jacket smells, what do I do?” and it hands you a new sequence. You still can't see why the old one failed. A better ask: have it lay out what each step depends on, change one condition at a time, and let you judge which step still holds. You drilled the second half — the moves. You haven't drilled the first half — reading conditions.

First find which one condition the two problems moved
The original you got rightThree cotton T-shirts smell after washing. You can cut the load to half a drum and wash again.
This time's changed-condition problemOne down jacket smells after washing. That one piece already packs the drum.

The problem only moved whether you can still cut the load. What does step two actually depend on? Why does the old move lose its footing the moment that changes? Below we walk the original, then swap each of three kinds of condition.

Try it · watch where the steps lose their footing
Clothes smell after washing. What do you check first
Pick which condition this problem is testing
Change only one condition each time, then run the same sequence again.
1 · Clean the drum first
2 · Then cut the load in half
3 · Hang them the moment they're done
4 · Smell once more to check
The four moves you memorized
Play the original first, and see why all four moves can run.
What condition this move depends on
After play, this side says whether the current condition still supports the move.
Play the original, then switch one condition, and watch where the sequence loses its footing.
Why the four problems break at different placesAll four reuse the same sequence. A different condition is swapped each time, so the break lands in a different place.
Which stretch actually needs more practiceSpot what moved, check which step depends on it, then decide how to change the move.
Teaching sketch: the four prompts and verdicts are simplified demo text.
When you got the original right, which step did you skip

The original already told you these were everyday clothes, and assumed the load could still be cut. Run step two and you get a result. What you practiced is handling after the conditions are given. Nobody asked you to judge “can this load still be reduced?”

Swap in a down jacket and the problem takes that default away. The math didn't get harder. The move itself didn't get more complex. You stop because you never had to say when the move applies. Real life tests whether you can read the conditions first. Only then do the steps get a turn.

Paste a problem you just got right like this

Send the next three sentences in order. The first makes hidden conditions show. The second moves only one condition. The third keeps the answer in your hands. Swap the brackets for your own problem and solution.

Copy the whole block
  1. List what each step depends on firstHere is an original I just got right, and my solution: [paste both]. List, step by step, which conditions in the problem each step depends on. Analyze those first. No new problem yet.
  2. Change only one condition into a variantChange only one of those conditions. Keep the rest. Give me the new prompt first, no answer. Let me judge from which step the old solution loses its footing, and say why.
  3. Wait until I've rewritten the step, then give feedbackAfter I answer, first point out which condition I missed or misread, then ask how I should change that step. Wait till I write it. Then give a reference solution.

If the original is long, paste the prompt, your steps, and the final answer. What the AI is checking is the link between steps and conditions.

The key in sentence two is “keep the other conditions unchanged.” Change three things at once and a wrong answer won't tell you which one you missed. Move one, and the broken step maps to that condition.

Another half-sentence matters just as much: “let me judge from which step the old solution loses its footing.” It hands the work back to you, and forces the first half you usually skip. If the AI dumps a reference solution, you just copy a new flow.

After one variant, leave these three lines

You don't need a long write-up. Three lines are enough: spot the condition, find the impact, change the step.

  1. Which condition changed:Everyday clothes became one down jacket packing the drum.
  2. Where the old solution fails:Step two needs a load you can still reduce.
  3. What the next step has to solve:When you can't cut the load, how water and detergent still get through the fill.

If you can write the three lines, you've already seen the conditions under the steps. Fine if line three isn't solved yet — it at least parks the problem in the right place. For generating many problem types, see have it write new problems. For writing a prediction before the answer, see predict it first.

Solving the original is walking steps. Reading conditions is how you change them.