Tutorials · Chapter C (3/4) · ~8 min
Reasoning models
Try it → see it → read → next
Some models spend extra compute **thinking stepwise** — great for hard logic, overkill for simple rewrites.
On paths: Student
Optional on: Professional
Try yourself
Playground
Reasoning vs fast model
Reasoning models cost more latency — use them when stepwise logic beats speed.
Multi-step budget word problem
Recap
What you just did
You sorted tasks into reasoning vs fast buckets — same eval mindset as benchmarks.
Read
When to reach for reasoning
- Multi-step math, planning, constraint puzzles
- When cheap models fail your golden eval set
Read
When to stay fast
- Classification, formatting, short drafts
- High-volume paths where [p95 latency](/reference/p95-latency) matters