Understand the retrieval pipeline
Collect documents, extract usable text, split it into meaningful units, index it, retrieve candidates, and provide selected context to the model. Each stage can lose information. An answer failure may begin with a document that never entered the index.
Keep source context intact
Preserve titles, dates, sections, units, and source identifiers. A sentence about an exception can be misleading without the rule it qualifies. Prefer authoritative sources and make the relevant evidence inspectable.
Check that evidence supports the claim
A citation is useful only if the cited passage actually supports the statement. When evidence is missing or conflicting, describe the gap instead of filling it with a guess. Distinguish the document publication date from the date the policy takes effect.
A worked example
Treat the passage as outdated, look for the current approved policy, and say if no current source is available. Do not present the expired policy as current just because its wording closely matches the query.
The point: Similarity is not authority or freshness.
Before you take the exam
Explain these concepts in your own words, work through a different example, and describe why the tempting alternatives fail. Use the references to go deeper.