Try Again, Don't Look Back: Blind Resampling Outperforms Self-Repair in Small Code Models
Self-repair - returning a failed program to the model together with its test output and asking for a correction - is a standard component of code agents, and is almost always evaluated against a baseline that does not retry at all. We argue that this comparison confounds the value of the feedback with the value of the extra attempt. Using a placebo-controlled design on MBPP+ at three model scales (1.5B, 3B, 7B), we compare four matched-budget retry conditions: blind resampling, a content-free failure notice, genuine execution feedback, and feedback augmented with verbal self-reflection. Blind resampling is the strongest condition below 7B, and remains statistically tied with the best cond...
| Authors | Yuvraj Verma |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.SE |
| Published | 28 July 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 28 July 2026 |
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