diff --git a/src/utils/common.py b/src/utils/common.py
index 5d85396b..35d17c5b 100644
--- a/src/utils/common.py
+++ b/src/utils/common.py
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ def prepare_args(
     if training_args.do_train and (not training_args.fp16):
         logger.warning("We recommend enable fp16 mixed precision training.")
 
-    if data_args.prompt_template == "alpaca":
+    if data_args.prompt_template == "default":
         logger.warning("Please specify `prompt_template` if you are using other pre-trained models.")
 
     if training_args.local_rank != -1 and training_args.ddp_find_unused_parameters is None:
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ def prepare_infer_args() -> Tuple[ModelArguments, DataTrainingArguments, Finetun
     if model_args.quantization_bit is not None and finetuning_args.finetuning_type != "lora":
         raise ValueError("Quantization is only compatible with the LoRA method.")
 
-    if data_args.prompt_template == "alpaca":
+    if data_args.prompt_template == "default":
         logger.warning("Please specify `prompt_template` if you are using other pre-trained models.")
 
     return model_args, data_args, finetuning_args, generating_args
diff --git a/src/utils/config.py b/src/utils/config.py
index 7d121ad2..d7a6cc86 100644
--- a/src/utils/config.py
+++ b/src/utils/config.py
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ class DataTrainingArguments:
         metadata={"help": "Proportion of the dataset to include in the development set, should be between 0.0 and 1.0."}
     )
     prompt_template: Optional[str] = field(
-        default="alpaca",
+        default="default",
         metadata={"help": "Which template to use for constructing prompts in training and inference."}
     )
 
diff --git a/src/utils/template.py b/src/utils/template.py
index 1179a0c8..b4fadddb 100644
--- a/src/utils/template.py
+++ b/src/utils/template.py
@@ -20,6 +20,18 @@ class Template:
                 use_history=False
             )
 
+        elif self.name == "default":
+            r"""
+            Default template.
+            """
+            self._register_template(
+                prefix="A chat between a curious user and an artificial intelligence assistant. "
+                       "The assistant gives helpful, detailed, and polite answers to the user's questions.",
+                prompt="Human: {query}\nAssistant: ",
+                sep="\n",
+                use_history=True
+            )
+
         elif self.name == "alpaca":
             r"""
             Supports: https://huggingface.co/tatsu-lab/alpaca-7b-wdiff
@@ -27,7 +39,7 @@ class Template:
             """
             self._register_template(
                 prefix="Below is an instruction that describes a task. "
-                       "Write a response that appropriately completes the request.\n\n",
+                       "Write a response that appropriately completes the request.",
                 prompt="### Instruction:\n{query}\n\n### Response:\n",
                 sep="\n\n",
                 use_history=True
@@ -97,7 +109,7 @@ class Template:
             self._register_template(
                 prefix="A chat between a curious human and an artificial intelligence assistant. "
                        "The assistant gives helpful, detailed, and polite answers to the human's questions.",
-                prompt="Human: {query}\nAssistant: ",
+                prompt="Human: {query}###Assistant: ",
                 sep="###",
                 use_history=True
             )
@@ -124,7 +136,8 @@ class Template:
         self.use_history = use_history
 
     def _format_example(self, query: str, history: Optional[list] = None, prefix: Optional[str] = "") -> List[str]:
-        prefix = prefix if prefix else self.prefix
+        prefix = prefix if prefix else self.prefix # use prefix if provided
+        prefix = prefix + self.sep if prefix else "" # add separator for non-empty prefix
         history = history if (history and self.use_history) else []
         history = history + [(query, "<dummy>")]
         convs = []