Use zero-shot prompts for quick wins

Best-fit scenarios

• You need quick definitions, comparisons, or checklists during revision.
• Time is tight and you don’t have examples ready to guide Copilot.
• You’re validating basic knowledge before diving into deeper study.

Sample prompts

• “Summarise the CompTIA A+ steps for replacing a laptop Wi-Fi card in five bullet points.”
• “Explain the difference between POP3 and IMAP email protocols to a junior help-desk analyst.”
• “List three quick checks to troubleshoot a desktop that powers on but shows no display.”
• “Provide a table comparing WPA2 and WPA3 security features with one sentence each.”

Workshop: get the answer you need

1. Pick a topic you have to revise today—hardware, networking, or security.
2. Write a single, specific question using the template from 2.1 (task, context, format).
3. Review the response. Does it cover every bullet you expected? If not, add a constraint and rerun.
4. Save the prompt and result in your notes so you can compare it with one-shot and few-shot versions later.

Next steps