A Recall-Question Prompt for a Highlight You Might Forget

Forgetting a book is often a missing attempt to recall it. Ask one question, then open the passage.

Make one recall question from this highlight. Don't show the answer yet.

Hide one key word in this highlight and ask me to fill it in. After I answer, tell me whether it matches, and quote the original sentence.

Using this highlight, ask me why the author says it. Hold the answer until I have written, then point to the half-sentence I missed.

Why this helps

Trying to recall beats rereading for longer-term memory (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x). That study compared a test with rereading. It is not a promise about an app. If you want questions about a book, start from one highlight, one question at a time.

Use it in EasyReadAI

Highlight one passage and ask. You can also customize the prompt: open Settings → Reply style and paste "Make one recall question from this highlight. Don't show the answer yet." Later questions start with a question. One highlight at a time.

To see an old line again, open Review. Asking is Ask AI. For the habit of forgetting, see how to remember what you read. To export a chapter, use EPUB to text.

Where this came from

Rewritten from the "ask first, hold the answer" prompts on activerecalling and Readever. The second and third prompts were written for this page.

More prompts: the collection.