RAG & Data Pipelines · 60 to 90 minutes
Retrieve evidence for a follow-up question
Turn a follow-up message into a standalone retrieval query, keep access filters tied to the signed-in session on every turn, and decide which turns should not retrieve at all.
1.5 h
Used in interview rounds:
Technical Screen (Easy)1
Step 1: The question
Using the policy assistant session, explain why sending T2 to retrieval exactly as typed would fail, then write the standalone query you would retrieve with instead and say what happens to the original message. Say where the access filters on each retrieving turn come from, using T3 as your example. Name which of T3 to T7 should not trigger retrieval, what the assistant should do instead, and why. Finish with one way a rewrite can go wrong and how you would catch it.
Worked session: an employee-policy assistant
Suppose an internal policy assistant at a fictional company answers employees' questions from HR policy passages. The passages and figures are fictional.
Session facts (from the sign-in token and the HR record)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Tenant | tenant-a |
| Employee | E-417 |
| Region | North |
| Employment type | full-time |
Eligibility rule. A passage is eligible for an employee when its tenant matches, its region is the employee's region or all, and its audience is the employee's employment type or all. Regional documents are visible only to employees of that region.
Passages (all in tenant-a)
| ID | Passage (shortened) | Region | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | Parental leave after a birth: 60 working days of paid leave. | North | full-time |
| P2 | Parental leave for adoption: 60 working days of paid leave, starting from the date of placement. | North | full-time |
| P3 | Parental leave after a birth or adoption: 45 working days of paid leave. | South | full-time |
| P4 | Adoption fee reimbursement: agency fees are reimbursed up to a fixed cap. Claim them through an expense report. | all | all |
| P5 | Parental leave for part-time staff: leave is pro-rated by contracted hours. | North | part-time |
| P6 | Requesting leave: submit the leave request form in the HR portal at least 30 days before the start date. | all | all |
| P7 | Internal job postings: how to apply for an open role. | all | all |
| P8 | Laptop damage: the company pays for one accidental-damage repair per year. Report it to the IT service desk. | all | all |
Transcript (the assistant's replies after A2 are not shown)
| Turn | Speaker | Message |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | Employee | How many days of parental leave do I get? |
| A1 | Assistant | You get 60 working days of paid parental leave after a birth [P1]. |
| T2 | Employee | What about if I adopt? |
| A2 | Assistant | Adoption gives the same 60 working days of paid leave, starting from the date of placement [P2]. The company also reimburses adoption agency fees up to a fixed cap [P4]. |
| T3 | Employee | Do employees in the South region get the same number of days? |
| T4 | Employee | Put the adoption answer in two bullet points. |
| T5 | Employee | Thanks! |
| T6 | Employee | How do I apply for it? |
| T7 | Employee | Never mind. My laptop screen cracked this morning. Who pays for the repair? |
Constraints
- Use only the session facts, passages, and transcript shown
- Keep the answer to about two minutes spoken
Deliverables
- Why T2 fails as typed, using the passages
- A standalone query for T2, and what happens to the original message
- Where the filters on each retrieving turn come from, with T3
- A decision and a reason for each of T3 to T7
- One rewrite fault and how to catch it
2
Step 2: Hints
Optional. Each hint gives a little more away.
3
Step 3: Your answer
Kept in this browser. Saving your score below keeps a copy with it.
0 / 5000
4
Step 4: Reference answer
5
Step 5: Score yourself
Score each dimension 0, 1, or 2, then save the score to your history. Readiness thresholds are editorial estimates.
Grades your written answer against this rubric with your own AI provider key from Settings. It is a second opinion: the score you save is still yours.
0 of 10 · Scored 0 of 5 dimensions
Ready at 8 of 10, with no 0 in Where the filters come from or Standalone query
Kept in this browser until you sign up, then it moves to your account.
Complete this level when, in about two minutes, you can explain with the passages why T2 fails as typed, write its standalone query, trace where each retrieving turn's filters come from, and give a decision with a reason for each of T3 to T7.
Your saved scores
Practice saves and mock interview answers on this question, newest first.
No saved scores yet. Score every dimension, then save.
6
Step 6: Follow-up questions
An interviewer may ask these next.
Why can't the latest message always be used as the retrieval query?
What is a standalone query?
Where do the access filters come from on the third turn of a conversation?
Name two kinds of message that should not trigger retrieval.
Name two ways a rewrite can go wrong.
7