Diagnose exactly which concept you're missing, not just that you're stuck
Being stuck is rarely one problem — find the specific one.
- Use it for
- Anyone stuck on a problem who can't articulate exactly why.
Being stuck on a problem and being confused about a concept feel the same from the inside — "I don't get this" — but they're different problems requiring different fixes. Sometimes you're missing one specific prerequisite idea; sometimes you understand the concept fine and made an arithmetic or procedural slip; sometimes the problem itself is testing something you were never taught. Getting the answer explained doesn't tell you which one happened, so the same confusion resurfaces on the next problem.
This prompt asks for the diagnosis before the explanation.
When not to use this
If you just need the answer right now with no time to actually learn from it (an exam in ten minutes), this is the wrong tool — get the direct answer instead. This is for when getting unstuck for real, not just for this one problem, is what you actually want.
Did this work?
You can name the specific misunderstanding causing you to get stuck — not just get the one problem solved, but know what to watch for next time it comes up.
Tested on claude-opus-5. Evidence status is draft; it moves to battle-tested only on recorded runs, never by hand.