Before upgrading to a bigger model, test thinking mode: 12 finance prompts compared

KhuyenTran16 · x · 2026-08-25

When a local model fails a simple task, the instinct is to reach for a bigger model. Khuyen Tran suggests the cheaper path first: let the same model reason longer.

Setup: twelve finance prompts run twice through the same model — thinking mode off vs on. Two task types: eight prompts requiring an intermediate calculation before answering, and four where the answer follows directly from the question. The article presents both results side by side so readers can judge whether the accuracy gain is worth the extra latency.

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