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Product and Model Selection — practice exercise

Product and Model Selection — practice exercise

Difficulty: beginner · Estimated duration: 40–55 minutes

You will do this exercise in the Claude app (web, desktop or mobile). No code is involved. You make choices, try them, and keep a short record of what you chose and why. The scenario is invented for practice: you are a team coordinator in a mid-sized company. Features and models vary by plan and by your organization's settings (research, for example, is on paid plans); where something is not available to you, write down what you would do and why instead of running it.

StageWhat you practiseMinutes
1Choosing chat, project, web search, research or artifact12
2Telling the families apart; changing model and effort12
3Efficiency or capability first, and a small test set12
4Usage vs length limits; restarting and persisting context12

Stage 1 — Choose the feature

Skills: CCAOF-U3.T1.LO1.S1, CCAOF-U3.T1.LO1.S2, CCAOF-U3.T1.LO1.S3 Minutes: 12

  1. For each task, write the feature you would use and one sentence on why:
    • (a) Is the city's main library open on Sunday this week?
    • (b) Answering staff questions about the same travel policy, several times a week.
    • (c) A cited comparison of four venues' published accessibility information.
    • (d) A one-page event checklist the team will edit and reuse.
  2. Create a project called Team travel (any name will do). Paste this short policy into its knowledge as a text file, and add one project instruction: Answer as the team coordinator and quote the policy line you rely on.

Travel policy: Book trains at least 7 days ahead. Hotels up to the city rate need no approval; above it, your manager approves in writing. Keep receipts for 90 days.

  1. In two separate chats inside the project, ask two different questions about the policy. Note whether you had to paste the policy again.
  2. Ask Claude to turn the policy into a one-page checklist for new starters, as an artifact. Note whether it appears as an artifact, and who can see it.

Stage 2 — Compare models and effort

Skills: CCAOF-U3.T2.LO2.S1, CCAOF-U3.T2.LO2.S2, CCAOF-U3.T2.LO3.S2 Minutes: 12

  1. Write one line placing Haiku, Sonnet and Opus on the capability–speed–cost trade-off.
  2. Find the model selector in a chat and note which model is selected.
  3. Ask for a short reply to a routine question (for example, confirming a meeting room booking). Then, in the same chat, switch to a different available model, or change the effort level if the model offers one, and ask again. Record what changed, if anything.
  4. Ask a harder question that needs careful reasoning (for example, a rota for five people across seven days with two constraints each). Try it at the default setting, then with higher effort or thinking if your model offers them. Record any difference in depth and in how long it took.

Stage 3 — Plan and test a model choice

Skills: CCAOF-U3.T2.LO3.S1, CCAOF-U3.T2.LO3.S3 Minutes: 12

  1. For each task, write whether you would start efficiency first or capability first, and why: (a) tagging 2,000 short feedback comments by topic; (b) reviewing one complex supplier contract for risks before signature.
  2. For task (a), design a small test set: write five example comments and the topic you expect for each.
  3. Run your five comments with one prompt, and check the answers against your expected topics.
  4. Run the same five comments with a second configuration (a different available model, or a different effort level where offered), and write one sentence comparing the two runs.

Stage 4 — Manage limits and persist context

Skills: CCAOF-U3.T3.LO4.S1, CCAOF-U3.T3.LO4.S2, CCAOF-U3.T3.LO4.S3 Minutes: 12

  1. Classify each case and write the fix: (a) a single message is too long to send, even in a new chat; (b) you have used your allowance for now across all chats; (c) a conversation has grown so long that it hits its length limit.
  2. Take any conversation from Stage 1 or 2. Ask Claude to summarize the decisions made and the open questions in five bullets. Start a new chat and paste that summary as its first message. Note what carried over and what did not.
  3. Write which feature you would use for each need: (i) the same policy in every chat; (ii) Claude remembering that you prefer bullet-point summaries; (iii) finding a discussion from last month; (iv) a conversation you want kept out of memory and chat history.

Acceptance checks

  • Stage 1: four feature choices with reasons; a project in which a second chat answered without the policy being pasted again; a note on the checklist artifact and its visibility.
  • Stage 2: a correct one-line placement of the three families, and a record of what changed when you switched model or effort.
  • Stage 3: a justified starting strategy for each task, a five-item test set, and a comparison of two runs.
  • Stage 4: three cases classified with the right fix, a fresh chat started from a summary, and four persistence choices.

Reference solution

Stage 1. (a) Web search: one current fact. (b) A project: the same policy and instructions are needed in many chats, so they go in the project knowledge once. (c) Research: several sources and citations are needed; it is on paid plans, needs web search turned on and can use more of your limits. (d) An artifact: substantial, self-contained output the team will edit and reuse. In the project, both chats should answer from the policy without you pasting it again, because project knowledge is used across all of its chats — for example, “Hotels up to the city rate need no approval.” The checklist should appear as an artifact beside the chat if the code execution and file creation capability is on; artifacts start private to you, so only you can see it until you share it.

Stage 2. A good placement: of these three, Haiku is the fast, low-cost end, Sonnet balances speed and capability for everyday work, and Opus is the capability end (the lineup also includes other models). The chat shows which model is in use, and selecting it opens the selector; changes apply starting with Claude’s next response, in the same chat. For the routine question, a different model or lower effort may give a similar answer, faster or using less, or you may see little difference. For the rota, higher effort or thinking, where offered, may give a more careful answer that takes longer — the trade-off the guidance describes. If a setting was not available to you, your record should say what you would have expected and why.

Stage 3. (a) Efficiency first: high-volume, straightforward work, where a fast, low-cost model is often sufficient; upgrade only if the test shows a gap. (b) Capability first: a complex task where accuracy outweighs cost. A good test set has varied comments with clear expected topics, including one borderline case. Your comparison should rest on how many of the five each run got right, weighed against speed and usage, not on how the model is described.

Stage 4. (a) The message must be shortened: attach fewer or smaller files, summarize or extract the key sections, or split the content into chunks. (b) Usage limit: wait for the reset or, depending on your plan, add usage — a new chat does not help. (c) Length limit for the conversation: start a new chat with a summary, or use a project. In the fresh chat, the summary carries the decisions and open questions; details you left out do not carry over unless memory or chat search brings them in, depending on your settings. (i) Project knowledge; (ii) memory; (iii) chat search; (iv) an incognito chat, started outside a project.

Sources

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