Explain-back scores below 3 are not failures. They are diagnoses. Here is how to get the most from the workflow.
First: don't pick the concept you're most confident about. Pick the concept you're second-most confident about. That is where the interesting gap lives.
Second: don't paraphrase the textbook. Paraphrase yourself. Use your own analogies and examples. Haiku is looking for reasoning, not vocabulary.
Third: aim for a 4, not a 5. A 5 is 'could teach a peer.' A 4 is 'correct with minor imprecision.' Aiming for 5 makes you defensive; aiming for 4 makes you honest.
Fourth: revisit the concept in a week. Explain it back again. Watch the score climb (or, occasionally, drop). Both are useful data.
bookmark this and come back after your first week