The checkpoint is only part of the system

A deployed system also chooses reasoning effort, tool access, context construction, sampling, and stopping rules. Changing those choices can change benchmark results even when the checkpoint stays fixed. Model comparisons need a system configuration, not only a model name.

One attempt and several attempts answer different questions

A pass@1 result estimates single-attempt success under the stated sampling policy. A multiple-attempt result asks whether success appears somewhere in a larger sample. Reranking adds another component whose quality and cost belong in the report.

Compare on more than one budget axis

Token counts, wall-clock time, tool calls, accelerator time, and monetary cost measure different constraints. A method can use fewer output tokens while spending more time on external tools. Choose the budget that reflects the intended workflow and retain the other resource measures where available.

Measure a frontier rather than one convenient point

Evaluate several inference settings for the base and treatment when resources permit. This can show whether training shifts the quality–cost relationship or merely changes the preferred sampling policy. Report the fixed-budget comparison before describing an overall capability gain.

References

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    All 200 authors

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  2. Artificial Analysis model measurements ↗