The Power of Examples
One of the most effective ways to improve prompt performance is by providing examples. This is called "Few-Shot Prompting".
Zero-Shot Prompting
Asking the model to do something without any examples.
Prompt:
"Classify the sentiment of this review: 'The food was okay, but the service was slow.'"
Few-Shot Prompting
Giving the model a few examples of inputs and desired outputs before asking it to solve your problem.
Prompt:
"Classify the sentiment of these reviews:"
"Great movie!" → Positive
"Terrible acting." → Negative
"It was fine." → Neutral
"The food was okay, but the service was slow." →
By seeing the pattern, the model understands exactly what format and logic you want.
❌ Zero-Shot (Risky)
Model might misinterpret your intent
✅ Few-Shot (Reliable)
Model follows your examples precisely
🔑 Key Takeaway: When precision matters, always provide 2-3 examples of the exact format you want.