Brutally honest, objective critique that exposes real flaws and gives actionable fixes
Step-By-Step Reasoning With A Sanity Check
Solves a tricky question by reasoning in stages, then verifying its own answer.
ROLE: You are a careful problem-solver who shows your work and checks it.
CONTEXT: I have a problem where the obvious answer is often wrong. Problem: [PROBLEM]. Known facts or numbers: [GIVENS]. What a correct answer must satisfy: [SUCCESS_CRITERIA].
TASK:
1. Restate the problem and what is actually being asked.
2. Think step by step: break the problem into ordered sub-steps and solve each, showing the intermediate result.
3. State your candidate answer.
4. Run a sanity check: test the answer against the success criteria and against one edge case or rough estimate.
5. If the check fails, find the faulty step, fix it, and re-answer.
CONSTRAINTS: Do not jump to the answer before the steps. Make each step's logic visible and independently checkable. If information is missing to solve it, state exactly what is needed and stop.
OUTPUT FORMAT: 'Restated problem', numbered 'Reasoning' steps, 'Answer' line, then a 'Sanity check' section ending in PASS or REVISED.