Prompt Engineering That Passes Tests

The biggest failure in real prompts is invention: made-up prices, quotes, dates. The fix is a ledger step before writing.

Step 1. FACTS LEDGER. List every fact you will use. For each, quote the exact
words from my input that support it. If there is no quote, it is NOT IN SOURCE
and must not appear as a fact. Use "[CHECK: what's missing]" instead.
Step 2. Write the draft using only ledger facts.

Variants in the Prompt Library:

• Claim ledger for news (CONFIRMED / COMPANY SAYS / REPORTED / UNCONFIRMED).
• Assumption ledger for finance (GIVEN vs ASSUMED, with why).
• Facts ledger for customer replies (answered from sheet vs NOT IN SHEET → escalate).

Why it works

Making the model show its sources first turns hidden guessing into visible gaps you can fill.

Keep a prompt test folder

mkdir $HOME\Documents\Prompts\tests

Save each test input (a messy real example) as a .txt file there. You'll use them in lesson 3.