Email about a grade
Work & EmailWritingStudy
Frames a grade query as asking how an item was handled, using only facts you can point to.
Fill the blanks and it copies as you filled it
Write an email asking about a grade. - Course and professor: - What I want checked: - Evidence I can point to: - Frame it as asking how that item was handled, not as asking for a higher grade - Facts only, plainly, and include one line allowing that I may have it wrong - A one-line subject and a body of three paragraphs or fewer
0 of 3 blanks filled · anything left blank copies with its brackets
Setting a length means cutting padding, not writing stiffly. For writing that needs to be roundabout — a personal statement, an email to a professor — add a line about tone. The paper also reports that specifying a length shorter than the task needs backfires, because it drives follow-up questions (a 34% increase in 11% of scenarios).
What this prompt does
Compared with asking the same thing without the length and format lines.estimate
Estimated output tokens
1,400
Asked loosely
700
This prompt
Energy (Wh)
1.215
Asked loosely
1.215
This prompt
Token counts are estimated from character counts, not measured. Energy uses the per-band figures measured by Jegham et al. 2025 as published.
A shorter answer, but the same energy band. The measurements are per band, and this much does not cross one.
Reported backfire — Specifying output lengthSpecifying a length longer than needed backfires (a 34% increase in 11% of scenarios)
Where these figures come from
We read the prompt to see whether it carries that instruction. The percentages below are published figures for the rule itself, not a measurement of what this prompt saves.
Specifying output length
38.7%mean reduction · 95% CI 29.7–47.7%
Podder et al. 2026 BP#5 · 18 use cases / 57 prompts
by modelGPT-4o 35%Command R+ 49%Mistral-7B 32%
Reduced in every scenario. No backfire reported