# Knowledge Check: Git Mental Model

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**1. Name the three areas a file passes through, in order.**

*Answer:* Working tree → staging area → repository (commit history).

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**2. What does `git add` actually do, in terms of this model?**

*Answer:* Moves a change from the working tree into the staging area — marking it as ready to
be included in the next commit.

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**3. If you edit three files but only `git add` one of them, what happens when you `git
commit`?**

*Answer:* Only the staged file is included in the new commit — the other two edited-but-unstaged
files remain as uncommitted changes in the working tree.

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**4. What is HEAD?**

*Answer:* Git's pointer to the commit you're currently looking at — almost always the tip of
whichever branch you have checked out.

## Instructor Notes

**Facilitation:** Question 3 is the single most important check in this module — if students
get this wrong, revisit the diagram before continuing to Module 3.

**Approximate timing:** 5 minutes.