Figure out if you actually understand this or just recognize it
Nodding along to an explanation and being able to reproduce it from scratch are very different levels of understanding.
- Use it for
- Anyone studying who suspects they understand something better than they actually do.
Recognizing an explanation as familiar and correct feels like understanding, but it's a much weaker test than being able to reproduce or apply it without the explanation in front of you — this gap is exactly what causes surprise failures on exams for material that felt understood while studying. This prompt tests for real understanding instead of recognition.
When not to use this
If you're still in the early phase of first encountering a concept, this test is premature — study it enough to attempt an explanation first, then come back to check it.
Did this work?
You know specifically whether you can explain the concept from scratch and apply it to something new, not just recognize it as familiar and correct when you see it.
Tested on claude-opus-5. Evidence status is draft; it moves to battle-tested only on recorded runs, never by hand.