06. Module 08 Review — Advanced RAG

Focus: query transformation, HyDE, parent-child retrieval, fusion retrieval, reranking, filtering, and corrective loops.

Review loop

1. Skim the TOC in 02_explainer.md and mark any chapter that still feels fuzzy.
2. Re-answer the self-check questions in 01_weekly_plan.md without looking at notes.
3. Re-do the hardest prompts in 04_daily_recall.md from memory.
4. Sketch the failure-fix table from explainer §6.1 — at least 8 rows — without looking.
5. Review 05_hands_on_lab.md and note one retrieval win, one retry win, and one unresolved failure.
6. Re-read explainer §6.5-§6.6 before moving to Module 09.

Reflection

• Which upgrade gave the largest precision gain in your system?
• Which upgrade gave the largest recall gain?
• Where did the confidence gate help, and where did it just add latency?
• What should feel automatic before Module 09 begins?

Embedded checkpoint

Conceptual

1. Why is a raw user question often a poor retrieval query?
2. Rewrite vs expand vs decompose vs step-back — cleanly distinguish all four.
3. HyDE — what is embedded, and why can that help?
4. Parent-child retrieval — what problem does it solve?
5. Why does dense + sparse usually beat either alone?
6. Cross-encoder reranking — why is it expensive, and why is it worth it?
7. Metadata filtering — when is it essential, not optional?
8. MMR — what exact pathology does it prevent?
9. CRAG vs self-RAG — what is the shared idea?
10. What does the confidence gate inspect before it approves an answer?

Applied

1. Design an advanced RAG system for quarterly business reports with region filters.
2. Design another one for long policy documents with many near-duplicate sections.
3. If latency budget is tight, which advanced patterns would you keep first?
4. If exact product SKUs matter, how would you change the retrieval stack?
5. If the answer requires three hops, how would you decide between decomposition and iterative retrieval?

Foundation-gap audit for Module 09

Before starting Module 09, confirm you can explain: - advanced retrieval patterns - when to iterate / loop - self-evaluation as a control mechanism - retrieval as a tool-like action, not a fixed template

If any item feels shaky, revisit explainer chapters 4-5 and study material §7-§11.

Self-evaluation

Section	Score	/
Conceptual	__	20
Applied	__	10
Total	__	30

Completion gate

• [ ] All 6 explainer chapters read at least once
• [ ] Failure-fix table from §6.1 sketched from memory
• [ ] Weekly plan completed
• [ ] Assignment shipped with a corrective loop
• [ ] Daily-recall prompts answerable
• [ ] Ready to move to Module 09