Zero pass rate blocks RL: use prompt hints then strip them for SFT distillation

xeophon · x · 2026-09-25

A short technical exchange on RL training: @fleetwood notes that if your pass rate is 0, you can't do RL, making distillation absolutely crucial. @xeophon adds a practical trick — give hints in the initial prompt to nudge the model, then remove them for SFT, and leverage the many open models available for distillation.

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