Module 2 Exercises — Put Cowork to Work

The quick skill checks grade themselves and work in free Chat. The real-work challenges are where Module 2 lands — most put Cowork to work, so they need Claude Pro and the desktop app. (No Pro yet? Do the Project challenge in free Chat and come back to the rest.)

Quick skill checks

One right answer each — paste Claude's output and grade yourself instantly.

DecompositionAuto-graded

Structured analysis you can trust

Paste the three reviews below into Claude and ask how many are positive. Enter the number.

Three customer reviews:
1. "Honestly love it — fast, reliable, and worth every cent."
2. "Stopped syncing after a week. Support never replied. Frustrated."
3. "Does exactly what it promises. I'd recommend it to a friend."

How many are positive?

Files & extractionAuto-graded

Pull structure out of mess

Ask Claude to extract the message below into JSON with the keys title, date, and location. Paste the JSON.

hey can you add the all-hands to my calendar — it's the Q3 kickoff,
happening 14 August in the Lisbon office, starts 10am

Claude's JSON

Output templatesAuto-graded

Force a reusable template

Ask Claude to turn the standup notes below into a markdown table with the columns Task, Owner, and Due. Paste the table.

Action items from standup:
- Ana ships the login fix by Friday
- Ben reviews the API docs by Wednesday
- Priya drafts the launch email by next Monday

Claude's markdown table

Take it to your real work

No single right answer — this is where the value is. Use your own material.

Brief once, reuseSelf-check

Set up persistent context you'll actually use

Create a Project in Chat for a real area of your work. Write its instructions: who you are (2–3 sentences), your goal in this area, and your preferred tone and format. Have 3 conversations inside it and notice how it starts already "knowing you." (Free-tier friendly.) On Cowork? Do the same with a context.md in your working folder.

✅

Win: Every new chat (or Cowork task) starts briefed — no re-pasting your background.

Chat → CoworkSelf-check

Run your first real Cowork task

In the Claude desktop app, open Cowork and point it at a copy of a real folder (notes, documents, a spreadsheet). Give it a multi-step goal that's tedious by hand — e.g. "read everything here and write a one-page summary.md with decisions, action items (with owners), and open questions." Approve actions as it works, then review the files it made. (Needs Claude Pro + desktop app.)

✅

Win: Claude left real files on your computer that you'd actually use — and you copy-pasted nothing.

ConnectorsSelf-check

Let Cowork span your files and the web

Add one connector in the desktop app — Claude in Chrome is the most useful — then give Cowork a task that crosses your files and the browser, e.g. "pull the plans and prices from these three pricing pages into a comparison.md next to my own notes." Approve each action deliberately. (Needs Claude Pro + desktop app.)

✅

Win: One task reached across the web and your local files and left a finished file behind — no window-juggling.