Authoring Assignments

Writing Effective AI Tutor Questions

How educators can write question prompts and answer criteria that guide reliable AI feedback.

Last updated July 1, 2026

Personify works best when assignment prompts and answer criteria are specific. The answer criteria should tell the AI what counts as a good response and what feedback should emphasize.

General Pattern

For questions with a determinate answer, use this structure:

The correct answer is: [insert correct answer]

Here are additional facts about the question:
[insert explanation, steps, or evaluation criteria]

Reasoning Questions

For problems where reasoning matters, say exactly what a complete answer must include.

For the student response to be fully correct, it must do two things:
1. Give the correct final answer.
2. Explain the reasoning used to arrive at that answer.

Here are the steps to figure this out:
[insert steps]

Multiple Choice Questions

Include the correct option and explain why each option is correct or incorrect.

The correct answer is: C.

Answer A is incorrect because: [explanation]
Answer B is incorrect because: [explanation]
Answer C is correct because: [explanation]
Answer D is incorrect because: [explanation]

Reading Assignments

For reading assignments, include the passage or source context in the prompt and put the interpretive guidance in the answer criteria.

Ask a focused question about the passage.
State the core idea students should identify.
Add examples or background facts the AI should use when guiding students.

Test Before Sharing

Preview the assignment and test multiple responses: a correct answer, a partially correct answer, and an incorrect answer. If feedback is too vague, make the answer criteria more specific.