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Pillar 7 · Reference · Poster

Distractor Patterns.

The two test-taking traps that catch most candidates - decoded.

Read once, then re-read 24 hours before the exam.

Print on A4 portrait. Or save and pin to your wall.
CCA-F · CHEATSHEET 2 OF 3Distractor PatternsTwo patterns that decide most CCA-F questions.Read once. Re-read 24 hours before the exam.1Bigger model for a design problemDISTRACTOR PATTERN #1SIGNAL — WHEN THIS APPEARS
Answer offers a more capable model, more tokens, or higher temperature.
WHY YOU'LL FALL FOR IT
Tempting because Anthropic publishes capability tiers; brain reaches for the bigger number. The actual fault is design — tool descriptions, few-shot, decomposition.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
Read the question stem for design-quality words. If the agent is failing to USE its tools well, the fix is architecture, not capability.
EXAMPLE
"The agent ignores tool 7 of 22" → cap tools at 18, not switch to Opus.
2Prompt-tuned safety guardrailsDISTRACTOR PATTERN #2SIGNAL — WHEN THIS APPEARS
Answer says "add a system prompt rule that says NEVER do X".
WHY YOU'LL FALL FOR IT
Sounds reasonable for everything; works for some things; fails fatally for compliance, financial, security guarantees. Prompts land at ~70%; hooks land at ~100%.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
If the question carries words like "compliance", "finance", "PII", "audit", or any hard guarantee, the answer is a deterministic SDK hook (PreToolUse / PostToolUse), not a prompt.
EXAMPLE
"Block the agent from emailing PII" → PreToolUse hook, not a prompt rule.
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