CCAO-F Using the Claude API Practice Question
A developer wants Claude to answer questions strictly from a provided internal policy document and to refuse when the answer is not present. The team must ensure the model treats the document as authoritative reference material rather than as instructions to follow. Which approach best achieves this?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that moving reference content into the system prompt makes the model more faithful, when it actually risks the document being followed as instructions.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Include the document in a user message wrapped in clear delimiters and instruct the model to answer only from that content and refuse otherwise.
Grounding requires that reference content stay in the data channel and be explicitly framed as material to consult, not instructions to obey. Placing the document in a delimited user message with a refusal directive achieves both goals. Promoting the document to the system prompt grants it instruction authority, and output-length or temperature settings do not affect how content is interpreted.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Raise max_tokens so the model can read the entire document before answering.
Why it's wrong here
max_tokens controls output length and does not influence how the model interprets or prioritizes input content. A larger cap cannot prevent the model from following embedded instructions in the document or from answering questions the document does not cover. It is unrelated to grounding and refusal behavior.
- ✗
Place the policy document inside the system prompt so it is treated as a higher-priority instruction.
Why it's wrong here
Putting untrusted reference content in the system prompt elevates it toward instruction-level authority, which is exactly what the team wants to avoid. If the document contains imperative-sounding text, the model may follow it as a directive. Reference material should be clearly delimited as data, not promoted into the instruction channel.
- ✓
Include the document in a user message wrapped in clear delimiters and instruct the model to answer only from that content and refuse otherwise.
Why this is correct
Placing the document in a user turn with explicit delimiters and pairing it with a refusal instruction keeps the content in the data channel. The model is told to treat the enclosed text as reference material and to decline when an answer is absent, satisfying both the grounding and refusal requirements.
- ✗
Set temperature to a high value so the model explores the document more thoroughly before responding.
Why it's wrong here
Higher temperature increases randomness, which makes answers less faithful to the source and more likely to drift or hallucinate. For strict document grounding, low temperature is preferable. Raising it actively undermines the goal of answering only from provided content and refusing when the answer is absent.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Anthropic exam blueprint
This CCAO-F practice question is part of Courseiva's free Anthropic certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CCAO-F exam.