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CCDV-F · DOMAINS D5 + D6 + D8

CCDV-F Domains D5, D6 and D8: Models, Prompting and Tools

CCDV-F domains D5, D6 and D8 are Model Selection & Optimization, Prompt & Context Engineering, and Tools & MCPs. Together they make up 38.4% of the exam. They test how you choose a model, shape its input and output, and connect it to tools.

  • CCDV-F
  • 53 questions
  • 120 min
  • 720 to pass
  • $125 USD

Weight at a glance

Domain Weight
D5 Model Selection & Optimization 16.8%
D6 Prompt & Context Engineering 11.0%
D8 Tools & MCPs 10.6%
Combined 38.4%

D5 Model Selection & Optimization (16.8%)

D5 is the second-heaviest domain. It tests LLM fundamentals and the cost decisions that follow from them.

  • Fundamentals. Tokens, context windows, sampling and non-determinism.
  • Wrapping APIs. REST APIs and websockets, with SDKs.
  • Model choice. Opus, Sonnet or Haiku, judged on quality, latency and cost, including adaptive-thinking support.
  • Token and cost management. Budgeting, caching and cache checkpointing.

D6 Prompt & Context Engineering (11.0%)

D6 covers what goes into the context window and what comes back.

  • Context and memory management. Window management, preventing drift and bloat through tool-output pruning and compaction, and context isolation through subagents.
  • Prompt principles. Instruction clarity, few-shot placement, iterative refinement and input sanitization.
  • Output handling. Structured-output patterns, response validation and defensive parsing, plus skepticism toward confident-sounding output.

D8 Tools & MCPs (10.6%)

D8 is about the layer between the model and your systems.

  • Tool implementation. Function calling, tool description writing, error handling, and client-side compared with server-side tool patterns.
  • MCP server development. Authoring, deployment, resources, prompts, and stdio compared with socket transports.
  • Choosing the mechanism. Built-in tools, custom tools, Skills or MCPs for a given use case.

How the three connect

Each domain adjusts the same loop. D5 sets the model and the budget. D6 sets the input and checks the output. D8 sets what the model can call. A tool description is prompt text, and a tool result is context, so D6 and D8 questions often overlap.

Related pages

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 library and warm-ups for CCDV-F.