ChatGPT Guide
ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational AI that can help with writing, coding, analysis, and creative tasks. This guide will teach you how to use it effectively.
Getting Started
1. Create an Account
- Visit chat.openai.com
- Click "Sign up" and create an account with email or Google
- Verify your email address
- Start chatting immediately with the free GPT-3.5 model
2. Choose Your Model
- GPT-3.5: Free, fast, good for most tasks
- GPT-4o: Multimodal, faster, and free for limited use
- GPT-5.1: The latest frontier model with advanced reasoning, deeper understanding, and near-instant responses (Plus users)
Writing Effective Prompts
The key to getting great results from ChatGPT is writing clear, specific prompts.
Basic Structure
// Example prompt structure
[Role] + [Task] + [Context] + [Format]
Examples of Good Prompts
Good Prompt
"Act as a professional email writer. Help me write a follow-up email to a client who hasn't responded in 2 weeks. Keep it polite, brief (under 100 words), and include a clear call-to-action."
Weak Prompt
"Write an email to a client"
Advanced Techniques
1. Chain of Thought Prompting
Ask ChatGPT to think step-by-step for complex problems:
"Let's solve this math problem step by step. Show your reasoning at each stage."
2. Few-Shot Learning
Provide examples of what you want:
"Convert these sentences to past tense:
Present: I go to school
Past: I went to school
Present: She eats breakfast
Past: She ate breakfast
Now convert: He runs every morning"
3. Role Assignment
Tell ChatGPT to act as an expert:
"Act as a senior software engineer reviewing code. Point out potential bugs and suggest improvements."
Common Use Cases
Writing & Content
- Draft emails, reports, and articles
- Brainstorm ideas and outlines
- Improve grammar and style
- Summarize long documents
- Translate between languages
Coding & Development
- Write code snippets in any language
- Debug and fix errors
- Explain complex code
- Generate SQL queries
- Create regex patterns
Learning & Research
- Explain difficult concepts simply
- Generate practice questions
- Create study guides
- Compare and contrast topics
Business & Productivity
- Analyze data and spot trends
- Create presentations outlines
- Draft business plans
- Generate meeting agendas
Pro Tips
- Be conversational: Talk to ChatGPT like a colleague. Ask follow-up questions and refine responses.
- Use custom instructions: Set preferences in Settings to customize all responses (tone, format, etc.)
- Regenerate responses: If you don't like an answer, click "Regenerate" for a different take.
- Edit your messages: Click the edit icon on your prompts to refine them without restarting.
- Use plugins (GPT-4 only): Browse web, analyze data, create images, and more with plugins.
- Share conversations: Use the share button to create public links to interesting chats.
Limitations & Best Practices
Important to Know
- Knowledge cutoff is recent (varies by model, GPT-5.1 is most current)
- Can still make factual errors, though GPT-5.1 has reduced hallucination rates
- No access to real-time internet without browsing tool enabled
- Cannot remember between separate conversations (unless Memory is on)
- May refuse inappropriate or harmful requests
Always verify: critical facts, code for production, medical/legal advice, and financial data.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | GPT-3.5, GPT-4o (limited), standard speed |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20/month | Access to GPT-5.1, GPT-4o, DALL-E 3, data analysis, and early features |
| ChatGPT Team | $25/user/month | Everything in Plus + higher message caps, admin console, data privacy |
Additional Resources
Ready to try ChatGPT?
Head over to their website and start experimenting with prompts.