D1: Prompting and Task Execution, 14%
Prompting and Task Execution is the skill of writing clear requests for Claude and improving them. It covers business and technical tasks. It is worth 14% of the exam.
What the official description includes:
- Writing effective prompts for business and technical tasks.
- Breaking a complex request into smaller steps (task decomposition).
- Rewriting a prompt to get better output.
- Changing your approach to fit the task: analysis, research, drafting or brainstorming.
Key concept: task-type prompting strategies. A request for analysis reads differently from a request for brainstorming, and the exam expects you to know the difference.
D2: Output Evaluation and Validation, 21%
Output Evaluation and Validation is the skill of judging what Claude produces before you use it. It is the most heavily weighted domain, at 21% of the exam.
What the official description includes:
- Checking output for accuracy and completeness.
- Spotting hallucinations (made-up facts), inconsistencies and bias.
- Fact-checking and validation techniques.
- Deciding when a person must review the work or when more verification is needed.
- Editing, adapting and formatting output for its audience, including artifacts, inline text and structured data.
Key concepts:
- Evaluating output for accuracy and completeness.
- Identifying and validating AI output errors.
- Adapting outputs for the audience.
- Choosing output formats: artifacts or inline.
Why these two sit together
D1 is what you do before Claude answers. D2 is what you do after. A strong prompt lowers the number of errors, and a strong check catches the ones that remain. Together they are 35% of the exam.
A quick reading guide
| Domain | Weight | Ask yourself |
|---|---|---|
| D1 Prompting and Task Execution | 14% | Did I give Claude a clear task, in the right shape for that task type? |
| D2 Output Evaluation and Validation | 21% | Is this right, complete, fair and fit for this reader? Does a person need to check it? |
Related pages
- Next: Selection, workflows and configuration
- All domains: Exam guide
- Planning your hours: Plan my exam date
Practice these domains
Optional. This page and the planner are complete without it. Claude Architect Certification, run by the team behind this site, has a concept page for each topic above and warm-ups on each domain.
- D1 Prompting and Task Execution: Task type prompting strategies
- D2 Output Evaluation and Validation: Evaluating output accuracy completeness , Identifying and validating ai output errors , Adapting outputs for audience , Choosing output formats artifacts vs inline
- CCAO-F warm-ups