Academy · Life admin · Forms and Applications, Your Facts Only · FA-01

FA-01 · Forms and Applications, Your Facts Only

Stop Check, Pick One Form

Sort your form green or red, then write its deadline and where it officially came from — before you type a word.

10 min Needs: First Chat 1–2 + stop cards, Message Outcome: one green form, deadline and source on paper

Who this is for

Someone with one real, low-stakes form due, or one job they plan to apply to themselves, who can list their own dates and facts on paper. Checking every line feels like a lot right now? Do Message and Paper first — there's no rush.

Stops, not practice — use a person or the agency

Do not type any of this into a chat, and do not practice on it either:

  • benefits — SNAP, Medicaid, unemployment, Social Security, or disability
  • tax returns
  • immigration
  • court, custody, or a legal release
  • medical or health forms
  • a rental application that asks for your SSN and income

Call the agency or the number on the form, a benefits navigator, legal aid, or free tax help (VITA) instead.

Sort the form: green or red

About 3 min

Green — OK to work on: a library card, a rec center or program signup, a field-trip permission slip (not medical, not a legal release), a volunteer signup, one job application you'll submit yourself.

Red: anything on the stops list above. If it's red, close this lesson and call the agency or a person instead.

Write the plan on paper

About 5 min · on paper, not in the chat

  1. Write Form: — what it is, in your own words.
  2. Write Deadline: — the real date, from the paper or the page itself.
  3. Write Where it came from: the website printed on the paper, or the organization's own site that you typed yourself — never a link a chat gave you.
Worked example — on paper, not in the chat

Form: Rec center youth basketball signup
Deadline: Oct 15
Where from: flyer in school folder → site printed on the flyer

Yours will look different. That's normal. Check it has the same three parts: form, deadline, and an official source you can point to.

Try this

Hold your form or job posting next to a blank sheet. Write the three lines above before you open any chat tab.

You should have: one green form named on paper, with a real deadline and a source you typed or found yourself — not a search result and not a chat's link.

Success check

  • My form is green, not on the stops list
  • I wrote the real deadline
  • I wrote where it officially came from — a source I typed or found myself

Stop line

If your form is red, close the chat and this lesson. Call the agency or the number on the form, a benefits navigator, legal aid, or free tax help (VITA). That's not a step backward — it's the right door.

Brake line: Nothing is typed into a chat yet. Paper can't leak.

Not sure if your form is green or red?

Ask a person before you type anything. A five-minute check beats an undone mistake on a real form.

Book free