Domain 4: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output (20%)
6 lessons, each ending with a practice scenario (Pro)
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- ✓4.1 — System Prompts with Explicit CriteriaVague instructions ("be conservative", "only report high-confidence findings") give the model no actionable decision boundary. Explicit categorical criteria define precisely what to flag and what to skip.Scenario: Pro
- ✓4.2 — Few-Shot PromptingFew-shot prompting puts a few worked examples (input + desired output + reasoning) in the prompt. It is the most effective technique for consistent, well-formatted output.Scenario: Pro
- ✓4.3 — Structured Output with Tool UseFor guaranteed schema-compliant output: tooluse with JSON schemas (eliminates syntax errors) prompt-based JSON (no structural guarantees).Scenario: Pro
- ✓4.4 — Validation, Retry, and Feedback LoopsSchema syntax errors (malformed JSON, wrong types) are eliminated by tooluse + schemas. Semantic validation errors (sums don’t match, values in wrong fields) need external validation logic and retry loops.Scenario: Pro
- ✓4.5 — Batch Processing StrategiesMessage Batches API: 50% cost savings, up to 24-hour window, no latency SLA, no multi-turn client tool calling within a single batch request, customid for correlation.Scenario: Pro
- ✓4.6 — Multi-Instance and Multi-Pass ReviewSame-session self-review retains the original reasoning chain and tends to confirm its own decisions. Use an independent instance (fresh session, no prior context) for review.Scenario: Pro
Domain recapQuick overview of all lessons
6 Task Statements / Lessons
4.1 System Prompts with Explicit Criteria
Write system prompts that contain measurable success criteria, role, constraints, and output format expectations.
4.2 Few-Shot Prompting
When and how to include examples; quality vs quantity of examples; placing examples in system vs user turns.
4.3 Structured Output with Tool Use
Prefer tool/function calling (or JSON schema mode) over free-text parsing for any data that must be machine-readable.
4.4 Validation, Retry, and Feedback Loops
Detect invalid output, feed the error back, and retry with corrective instructions.
Know when to escalate to a human.
4.5 Batch Processing Strategies
Handling many independent items efficiently (parallelism limits, cost control, failure isolation).
4.6 Multi-Instance and Multi-Pass Review
Using multiple Claude calls (or different models) for generation + critique + refinement pipelines.
Exam pattern: Questions often present a broken prompt and ask for the minimal change that fixes the failure mode.
Domain 5: Context management & reliability →