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CCAO-F · Domain 1 of 7 · 4 lessons · about 74 min
Domain 1: Prompting and Task Execution
How to brief Claude so the first answer is close to right: a good prompt, splitting big requests, iterating, and prompting by task type. 14% of CCAO-F.
This domain is 14% of CCAO-F, about 8 of the 60 questions. It is also the domain every other one assumes. Checking an output (Domain 2) starts with knowing what you asked for; troubleshooting (Domain 7) is mostly finding what the prompt left out.
The vocabulary is small. A prompt is everything you give Claude for one request: the task, the background, the material to work from and the shape you want back. Context is the part Claude cannot know unless you say it: your company, your audience, your rules. Task decomposition is splitting a big request into smaller steps you can check one at a time. Iteration is improving a prompt on purpose, based on what was wrong with the last answer.
The recurring test is the same throughout: is the problem the wording, or the missing information? A vague answer is almost always the result of a vague brief, so the right fix adds what Claude was not told: the audience, the source, the constraint, what good looks like. Options that change the model, polish the tone or ask Claude to "be more accurate" are usually the distractors.
What the exam guide tests
The official CCAO-F guide lists 4 objectives for this domain. Exam questions are written against them, and so are the lessons: each row says where it is covered.
| # | Objective | Lesson |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Create effective prompts for business and technical tasks | 1.1 |
| 1.2 | Apply task decomposition techniques to structure complex requests | 1.2 |
| 1.3 | Iterate prompts to improve output quality | 1.3 |
| 1.4 | Adapt prompting strategies based on task type (analysis, research, drafting, brainstorming) | 1.4 |
Lessons
- 1.1 The building blocks of an effective promptWhy a one-line request gets a generic answer, the six parts of a good brief, and how the same brief works for a customer notice and a spreadsheet formula.18 min
- 1.2 Breaking a complex request into steps you can checkWhy one big prompt hides its mistakes, how to split complex work into stages you can check, and when a task is simple enough to ask for in one go.18 min
- 1.3 Iterating on a prompt, one change at a timeWhy Claude's first answer is only a first draft, and how to improve a prompt on purpose: set criteria, name the defect, change one thing and retest.19 min
- 1.4 Prompting by task type: analysis, research, drafting and brainstormingWhy analysis, research, drafting and brainstorming each need a different prompt and a different test, and how to run them in order on one real project.19 min
Practice question
From the CCAO-F bank, tagged to this domain. Every answer option is explained. Nothing is stored, nothing to sign up for.
48 CCAO-F questions on this domain, free
The domain quiz in the question bank draws 10 random questions from the 48 tagged to Prompting and Task Execution, scores them and explains every option. Repeat it until the weak spots are gone, then sit the 60-question timed simulator.
Open the CCAO-F question bank → Start lesson 1.1 →
The question bank is free. It asks for an account only because the quiz engine has to store answers to score them and show which domains are weak. The questions on this page need nothing.