CCDV-F Model Selection and Cost Management Practice Question
A developer is building a high-traffic legal research tool. Which TWO conditions must be met for a content block to successfully return a 'cache hit' and reduce the cost of an API call?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume that semantic similarity alone is enough for a cache hit, forgetting that prompt caching requires an exact bit-for-bit string match positioned precisely at the prefix of the prompt.
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
✓
The content must be identical, including all whitespace and formatting.
Prompt Caching is sensitive to the exact structure of the request. For a cache hit to occur, the content must be bit-for-bit identical to a previously cached version, and it must be positioned at the exact same location in the prompt (the prefix). Understanding these strict requirements prevents developers from accidentally breaking their cache and incurring unexpected costs due to minor formatting changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The content must be identical, including all whitespace and formatting.
Why this is correct
Anthropic's caching mechanism uses a cryptographic hash of the content. Even a single extra space or a different newline character will result in a different hash, causing a cache miss. Developers must ensure that the static part of their prompt is strictly consistent across all API requests to maintain savings.
- ✓
The cached block must be at the very beginning (prefix) of the prompt.
Why this is correct
Caching only works for the prefix of the message. If you have a static block but place a dynamic timestamp or user-specific ID before it, the cache will not be hit. The entire sequence from the start of the prompt up to the 'cache_control' point must be what was previously cached.
- ✗
The request must be made within 5 minutes of the previous request.
Why it's wrong here
While the cache is ephemeral and has a TTL (Time to Live), it is typically much longer than 5 minutes. The cache usually persists for 5 to 10 minutes and is refreshed every time it is hit. A 5-minute requirement is an inaccurate description of the underlying infrastructure's caching persistence logic.
- ✗
The 'max_tokens' parameter must be identical across both requests.
Why it's wrong here
The 'max_tokens' parameter is a control setting for the output generation and is not part of the input prefix that gets cached. You can change 'max_tokens', 'temperature', or other parameters between requests without affecting the ability to hit the cache for the input tokens themselves.
- ✗
The request must use the Claude 3 Opus model exclusively.
Why it's wrong here
Prompt Caching is available on Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, and Claude 3 Haiku. It is not an Opus-exclusive feature. In fact, many developers use it with Sonnet and Haiku to achieve even greater cost-efficiency in high-volume production environments where Opus would be cost-prohibitive.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CCDV-F question from scratch — 257 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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 CCDV-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 CCDV-F exam.