# GPT-5.6 Sol clarification vs guess benchmark > Source: > Published: 2026-10-07 13:40:45+00:00 Question: When is it cheaper to ask one clarifying question than let the model guess? Model: GPT-5.6 Sol Reasoning effort: Low Tasks: 40 Ambiguity levels: 1 to 4 plausible choices Two strategies were compared: The model completes the task without the missing user preference. If the first answer is wrong, a simulated user correction is provided and the model gets a second API call. The system asks one deterministic clarification question first. The missing preference is then supplied before the model completes the task. Guess first: - First-pass success: 75% - Final success after correction: 100% - Rework rate: 25% - Average API calls/task: 1.25 - Average cost/task: $0.000771 - Median model latency: 1660 ms Clarify first: - Success: 100% - Average API calls/task: 1.00 - Average cost/task: $0.000543 - Median model latency: 1458 ms Clarification reduced API cost to successful completion by 29.5%. 1 choice: - Guess success: 100% - Clarification saving: 6.5% 2 choices: - Guess success: 80% - Clarification saving: 20.4% 3 choices: - Guess success: 70% - Clarification saving: 33.5% 4 choices: - Guess success: 50% - Clarification saving: 45.2% Clarification adds one user interaction. Human response time is not included in the latency numbers. latency figures are model/API latency only. This is a small synthetic benchmark.