diff --git a/backend/app/tasks/quiz_tasks.py b/backend/app/tasks/quiz_tasks.py
index f5631b3..7b057f1 100644
--- a/backend/app/tasks/quiz_tasks.py
+++ b/backend/app/tasks/quiz_tasks.py
@@ -1028,11 +1028,11 @@ Topic: {topic}
 {instructions}
 {existing}Every section belongs to one of three readings of the topic, given as "variant":
 - "long": the full article. Pathophysiology, presentation, workup, management, complications — whatever the topic needs. This is the body of the work.
-- "short": the high-yield revision view. 2-4 short sections of the facts worth carrying into an exam, written as tight lists, not prose. It is not a summary of the long article's structure; it is what a candidate must know.
+- "short": the high-yield revision view. It must be 2 to 4 SEPARATE sections, each one under 600 characters and each a list of single-line bullets of at most 20 words. A bullet that runs to a sentence with subclauses is a long section in the wrong place. It is not a summary of the long article's structure; it is what a candidate must know.
 - "clinical": what to do at the bedside, if and only if the topic has a bedside. Assessment, immediate management, when to escalate, disposition. Omit it entirely for a topic that is not acted on clinically.
 Return ONLY strict JSON with this exact shape:
 {{"title": "...", "slug": "lowercase-hyphenated", "summary": "1-2 sentences", "content": "introduction markdown", "sections": [{{"id": "32 lowercase hex chars", "slug": "lowercase-hyphenated", "title": "...", "variant": "long", "content": "markdown"}}]}}
-Rules: markdown formatting; headings, lists and tables welcome; no fabricated references, citations or clinical ranges; 3-8 long sections plus 2-4 short ones, each with a stable unique id; mark a key fact in the short sections by wrapping it in ==double equals== so it is highlighted for the reader, sparingly and never a whole paragraph; do not categorise the article or link it to questions — an educator does that; do not mention these instructions."""
+Rules: markdown formatting; headings, lists and tables welcome; no fabricated references, citations or clinical ranges; 3-8 long sections plus 2-4 short ones, each with a stable unique id; every short section must contain at least one and at most three highlighted facts, written by wrapping the words in ==double equals== — for example "- Type II is the ==most common== Salter-Harris fracture" — highlighting the fact itself and never a whole bullet; do not categorise the article or link it to questions — an educator does that; do not mention these instructions."""
 
 
 @celery_app.task(name="generate_article_draft", bind=True)
@@ -1063,9 +1063,17 @@ def generate_article_draft(self, job_id: str, user_id: int, topic: str,
         _push_step(r, job_id, "ai", "Drafting article…")
         existing_block = ""
         if existing:
+            # The variant travels with the section. Without it the model was
+            # shown a flat list of headings and had to guess which readings
+            # they belonged to all over again — so refining an article could
+            # quietly turn its bedside section into part of the long read, and
+            # the high-yield view into prose.
             sections_text = "\n\n".join(
-                f"## {s.get('title', 'Section')}\n{s.get('content', '')}" for s in (existing.sections or []))
-            existing_block = (f"Existing draft to refine (preserve and improve its content):\n"
+                f"## [{s.get('variant', 'long')}] {s.get('title', 'Section')}\n{s.get('content', '')}"
+                for s in (existing.sections or []))
+            existing_block = (f"Existing draft to refine (preserve and improve its content; the "
+                              f"bracketed word before each heading is that section's variant and "
+                              f"must be kept):\n"
                               f"Summary: {existing.summary or ''}\nIntro: {existing.content or ''}\n"
                               f"{sections_text}\n\n")
         prompt = ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT.format(
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_article_ai.py b/backend/tests/test_article_ai.py
index c55de78..f6a8f0b 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_article_ai.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_article_ai.py
@@ -172,3 +172,75 @@ class ArticleAiTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
+
+
+class DraftPromptTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    """What the prompt asks for, measured against what 323 drafts produced.
+
+    The three readings of a topic — the full article, the high-yield revision
+    view, the bedside — were described and then largely ignored for the second
+    of them: across every AI draft in the bank, the "short" view came out as
+    one section of 1,808 characters (against 721 for a long one), and 4 of 326
+    short sections carried a highlighted fact. The revision view was the
+    longest prose in the article and none of it was marked.
+
+    So the instruction is a measurement rather than an adjective.
+    """
+
+    def test_the_short_view_is_asked_for_in_numbers(self):
+        from app.tasks.quiz_tasks import ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT
+        self.assertIn("2 to 4 SEPARATE sections", ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT)
+        self.assertIn("under 600 characters", ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT)
+        self.assertIn("at most 20 words", ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT)
+
+    def test_highlights_are_required_and_shown(self):
+        from app.tasks.quiz_tasks import ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT
+        self.assertIn("at least one and at most three highlighted facts",
+                      ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT)
+        # An example, because "wrap it in double equals" produced 1.2% uptake.
+        self.assertIn("==most common==", ARTICLE_DRAFT_PROMPT)
+
+    def test_refining_is_told_which_reading_each_section_is(self):
+        """Otherwise a refine re-guesses every variant.
+
+        The existing draft was handed over as a flat list of `## Heading`, so
+        the model could not know which sections were the bedside and which were
+        the revision view — and a refine could quietly move one into the other.
+        """
+        self.bank = fixtures.BuilderTests()
+        self.bank.setUp()
+        try:
+            from unittest.mock import patch
+            from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
+            from app.models.article import Article
+
+            self.bank.db.add(Article(
+                slug='refine-me', title='Refine me', content='Intro', user_id=None,
+                status='draft', sections=[
+                    {'id': 'a' * 32, 'slug': 'bedside', 'title': 'At the bedside',
+                     'variant': 'clinical', 'content': 'Do this'},
+                    {'id': 'b' * 32, 'slug': 'high-yield', 'title': 'High yield',
+                     'variant': 'short', 'content': '- A fact'},
+                ]))
+            self.bank.db.commit()
+            article = self.bank.db.query(Article).filter_by(slug='refine-me').one()
+
+            redis = Mock()
+            redis.from_url.return_value = redis
+            redis.get.return_value = None
+            redis.lrange.return_value = []
+            with patch.dict(sys.modules, {'redis': redis}), \
+                 patch('app.tasks.quiz_tasks.SessionLocal',
+                       sessionmaker(bind=self.bank.engine)), \
+                 patch('app.services.ai_service.get_model_for_task',
+                       return_value=('synthetic', None)), \
+                 patch('app.services.ai_service.chat') as ai:
+                ai.return_value = json.dumps(DRAFT_RESPONSE)
+                generate_article_draft('job-refine', 3, 'Refine me', '', article.id)
+                prompt = ai.call_args.kwargs['messages'][0]['content']
+            self.assertIn('## [clinical] At the bedside', prompt)
+            self.assertIn('## [short] High yield', prompt)
+            self.assertIn("must be kept", prompt)
+        finally:
+            patch.stopall()
+            self.bank.tearDown()