The four levels

The four levels of the course, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert: what you can do at each step, the success criterion and the associated badge.

By QDNA · Published on September 9, 2026 · Updated on September 17, 2026

A level is validated when, for each of its lessons, the quiz is passed and the proof of mastery is submitted. A badge is then issued. You choose the order of lessons within a level freely.

Level 1

Beginner

“I say clearly what I want”

What the level contains

6 lessons · 90 min of reading in total

What you can do

State a goal in one sentence with a precise action verb. Say for whom and for what. Specify the expected format and length. Paste or attach the text to process instead of describing it. Proofread the answer before using it.

Success criterion

Out of ten prompts in the portfolio, at least eight contain the four ingredients, and at least seven produce a usable output after at most one follow-up.

1. 1Lesson 1 · Beginner · 15 min

   Copilot Chat: what is included in your Microsoft 365

   What Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat includes without a paid licence: web chat, attached files, images, Pages, agents, and what it cannot see of your organisation.FrameCheckTo do
2. 2Lesson 2 · Beginner · 15 min

   How a generative AI answers, and why it can be wrong

   What a generative AI does when it answers: it predicts plausible words rather than looking up facts. Where errors come from and how to limit them.CheckTo do
3. 3Lesson 3 · Beginner · 15 min

   Writing a good prompt: the four ingredients

   The four ingredients of a good Copilot prompt: goal, context, expectations, source. Before and after on a real case, guided exercise, quiz and proof of mastery.FrameTo do
4. 4Lesson 4 · Beginner · 15 min

   Your first useful conversation: summarise, rephrase, translate

   Summarise, rephrase, translate a text you provide: the three safe tasks in Copilot Chat, with the follow-up that improves the answer without starting over.SteerTo do
5. 5Lesson 5 · Beginner · 15 min

   Checking an answer: sources, figures, dates

   Three checks before using a Copilot Chat answer: open the cited sources, cross-check every figure, date every piece of information.CheckTo do
6. 6Lesson 6 · Beginner · 15 min

   Before you paste a text: personal and confidential data

   What Copilot Chat does with your prompts: no training, but logging and audit. One rule to decide what to paste, and how to anonymise.CheckTo do

Level 2

Intermediate

“I give the model what it needs to do well”

What the level contains

7 lessons · 115 min of reading in total

What you can do

Attach the right files and say what to do with them. Provide one or two examples of the expected result. State positive constraints and "if... then" rules. Put the source at the end of the prompt. Iterate by changing one thing at a time. Tell the model what to do when information is missing.

Success criterion

On the same case, two versions of the prompt are produced and the difference in output is documented; at least three techniques of the level are visible in the final version; the example format is respected on three tries.

1. 7Lesson 7 · Intermediate · 15 min

   Iterating: the first answer is a draft

   Iterating a prompt in Copilot Chat: the first answer is a draft. Precise follow-up, critique of the answer, before and after example, exercise and quiz.SteerTo do
2. 8Lesson 8 · Intermediate · 15 min

   Attaching a Word, PDF or Excel file and asking the right questions

   Attach a Word, PDF or Excel file to Copilot Chat and ask the right questions: accepted formats, limits, prompt before and after, exercise and quiz.FrameTo do
3. 9Lesson 9 · Intermediate · 15 min

   Web on or off: when Copilot should search

   Switching web search on or off in Copilot Chat: when the web helps, when it hurts, how to demand verifiable dates and URLs. Example, exercise and quiz.CheckTo do
4. 10Lesson 10 · Intermediate · 15 min

   Giving examples and a role to set the style

   Give Copilot Chat examples and a role to set the style: what a role changes, what it does not, prompt before and after, exercise and quiz.FrameTo do
5. 11Lesson 11 · Intermediate · 15 min

   Comparing two answers with a grid

   Compare two Copilot Chat answers with a four-criteria grid: accuracy, relevance, format, sources. Method, example, exercise and quiz.CheckTo do
6. 12Lesson 12 · Intermediate · 20 min

   Hallucination hunt: an exercise on a doctored output

   Hallucination hunt: a doctored Copilot output with four planted errors to spot, their correction, the verification method, exercise and quiz.CheckTo do
7. 13Lesson 13 · Intermediate · 20 min

   Writing meeting minutes from the Teams transcript

   Transcribe a Teams meeting, download the .docx transcript, attach it to Copilot Chat and get checkable minutes, an action table and a follow-up email.FrameTo do

Level 3

Advanced

“I make it reason and I make it verify”

What the level contains

6 lessons · 115 min of reading in total

What you can do

Break a complex task into steps or chained prompts. Ask for verbatim quotations before analysis. Require a "what I did not find" section. Analyse a data file with an explicit calculation plan. Write a review grid and apply it. Produce an iterated deliverable in Pages.

Success criterion

On a case of three documents, the synthesis links every statement to a verifiable quotation; a peer checks five statements at random and finds none false; the "not found" section is present and accurate.

1. 14Lesson 14 · Advanced · 20 min

   Breaking a task down into three chained prompts

   Break a complex task down into three chained prompts in Copilot Chat: plan, production, review, with human validation between each step.SteerTo do
2. 15Lesson 15 · Advanced · 20 min

   Analysing an Excel table with the built-in Python interpreter

   Analyse an attached Excel table in Copilot Chat with the built-in Python interpreter: prepared file, closed question, stated method, cross-checked result.FrameTo do
3. 16Lesson 16 · Advanced · 20 min

   Pages and Notebooks: keeping and sharing your work

   Copilot Pages and Notebooks in Copilot Chat: keep a piece of work, gather the sources of a recurring task, share with your team, and know the limits.SteerTo do
4. 17Lesson 17 · Advanced · 15 min

   Generating a presentation visual: rights and labels

   Generate a presentation visual with Copilot Chat: a five-part image prompt, an unpublished quota, no real people, and the mandatory AI label.CheckTo do
5. 18Lesson 18 · Advanced · 20 min

   Building your team's prompt library

   Build your team's prompt library: one card per prompt with variables, a sample output, known limits and an owner, stored in a shared Page.FrameTo do
6. 19Lesson 19 · Advanced · 20 min

   Writing an evaluation grid and having Copilot apply it

   Write an evaluation grid of observable criteria, have Copilot Chat apply it in a separate conversation, then correct and measure the gap.CheckTo do

Level 4

Expert

“I design prompts that others reuse”

What the level contains

6 lessons · 120 min of reading in total

What you can do

Maintain a library of versioned prompts. Write meta-prompts. Build a simple agent with instructions, sources and examples. Run an A/B test on a small set of cases. Document the risks and train peers. Know when not to use an AI.

Success criterion

A prompt or an agent is adopted by at least two colleagues; the associated test set scores at least 8 out of 10; the library sheet has a version, a date, a use case, a sample output, known limits and an owner.

1. 20Lesson 20 · Expert · 20 min

   Asking Copilot to improve your prompt

   The meta-prompt: have Copilot Chat rewrite your prompt block by block, with a reason for every change, then decide what you keep.SteerTo do
2. 21Lesson 21 · Expert · 20 min

   Creating a simple agent with the agent builder

   Create a declarative agent in Copilot Chat with the agent builder: role, scope, refusals, format and examples, free as long as it does not read SharePoint.FrameTo do
3. 22Lesson 22 · Expert · 20 min

   Evaluating a prompt on a set of ten cases

   Measure a prompt instead of feeling it: ten cases with an expected answer, three runs, one rule changed at a time, and a compared score.CheckTo do
4. 23Lesson 23 · Expert · 20 min

   Sycophancy, prompt injection, drift: the failure modes

   Three failure modes to counter in Copilot Chat: the sycophancy that agrees with you, the injection hidden in a file, the drift of long conversations.CheckTo do
5. 24Lesson 24 · Expert · 20 min

   Training your colleagues: a one-hour workshop ready to run

   A one-hour workshop on Copilot Chat, ready to run: cold attempt, demonstration, exercise in pairs, teaching a colleague, proof to take away.SteerTo do
6. 25Lesson 25 · Expert · 20 min

   Writing your team's AI usage policy

   A ten-article template for a Copilot Chat usage policy: data, sources, proofreading, transparency, and the training required by Article 4 of the AI Act.FrameTo do