How to use ChatGPT: a beginner’s guide and 15 ready-to-use prompts

ChatGPT is OpenAI’s AI assistant. It answers questions, writes text, translates, explains code and builds plans. It is available in Uzbekistan and Central Asia, and the core features are free. Here is everything you need to start from scratch.

Getting started

• Go to chatgpt.com or download the official “ChatGPT” app from the App Store or Google Play (the developer is OpenAI).
• Sign up with Google, Apple or an email address.
• Type your question in the box at the bottom. You can write in Uzbek, Russian, English and many other languages.

Be careful: “free ChatGPT bots” on Telegram and unknown apps are usually unofficial — they show ads, collect your data or ask for money. Stick to the official website and app.

How to ask good questions

The quality of the answer depends on your prompt. A good prompt has four parts:

• **Role:** “You are an experienced marketer…”
• **Task:** “…come up with 5 Instagram post ideas…”
• **Context:** “…for a small coffee shop in Tashkent whose audience is students…”
• **Format:** “…2 sentences each, with emoji, as a table.”

If you don’t like the answer, keep the conversation going: “make it shorter”, “more formal”, “add examples”. ChatGPT remembers what you said earlier in the chat.

15 ready-to-use prompts

**For studying:** - “Explain photosynthesis as if to a 10-year-old.” - “Check my IELTS Writing Task 2 essay, point out the mistakes and estimate a band score: [text].” - “Create 10 quiz questions on this topic with answers at the end: [topic].” - “Make a daily plan to improve my spoken English in 30 days.” - “Summarize this text into 5 key points: [text].”

**For work:** - “Write a résumé and cover letter for this job: [job post], my experience: [experience].” - “Write a polite but firm email to a client about a late payment.” - “Outline a 10-minute presentation for tomorrow’s meeting: [topic].” - “Write an Excel formula that extracts the month name from dates in column A.” - “Translate this email into Uzbek and Russian in a natural tone: [text].”

**For business and everyday life:** - “Write a product description for my online store: [product], benefits: [list].” - “Create a monthly Instagram content plan for a small business.” - “My monthly income is [amount]. Suggest a simple budget table to plan my spending.” - “What can I cook with what’s in my fridge: [list].” - “Plan a 3-day trip to Samarkand: what to see and rough costs.”

What to watch out for

• **ChatGPT can be wrong.** Double-check numbers, dates, legal and medical answers with other sources.
• **Don’t share sensitive data:** card numbers, passwords, passport details or company secrets.
• **Don’t submit answers as your own:** use ChatGPT as an assistant — rework the text and make sure you understand it.

The bottom line

Using ChatGPT well starts with a clear role, task, context and format. Try one of the 15 prompts above right now and adapt it to your needs — within a week it will become part of your daily routine.