GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra for CV writing

The verdict

GPT-5.5 wins, 95–91

Same 12 CV writing tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.5 took 4 tasks, GPT-5.6 Terra took 1, 7 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Do the hobbies earn their line?

A CV for a trainee veterinary nurse application ends with: 'Interests: socialising with friends, watching films, horse riding, gaming, volunteering at Blue Cross kennels every Sunday, baking.' Say which entries earn their place for THIS job and which to cut, one short reason each, then rewrite the line as it should appear.

GPT-5.510/10

- **Socialising with friends — Cut:** too generic; doesn’t add evidence for veterinary nursing.
- **Watching films — Cut:** passive hobby; not relevant to the role.
- **Horse riding — Keep:** shows regular animal contact and confidence around animals.
- **Gaming — Cut:** not relevant to animal care or the practice environment.
- **Volunteering at Blue Cross kennels every Sunday — Keep:** directly relevant; shows commitment, reliability and hands-on animal-care experience.
- **Baking — Cut:** pleasant hobby, but not useful evidence for this appl…

GPT-5.6 Terra8/10

**Keep**
- **Horse riding** — demonstrates regular animal handling and confidence around animals.
- **Volunteering at Blue Cross kennels every Sunday** — directly relevant animal-care experience and shows commitment; ideally this should also be detailed under *Volunteer Experience*.

**Cut**
- **Socialising with friends** — too generic and adds little to the application.
- **Watching films** — not relevant to veterinary nursing.
- **Gaming** — not relevant and unlikely to strengthen the CV.
- **Baking** — positive personal interest, but less us…

Task by task

Task	GPT-5.5	GPT-5.6 Terra
Profile that mirrors the ad	10	9
Untangle the dates	9	8
Duties into achievements	9	9
Thirty years onto two pages	10	10
Profile without the wallpaper	10	10
First CV, empty history	9	9
Back after eight years	9	10
Do the hobbies earn their line?	10	8
Fix the format	10	8
The Excel question	9	9
Strip the header	9	9
Refuse the invented job	10	10

Full receipts: GPT-5.5, GPT-5.6 Terra · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for CV writing: GPT-5.5 or GPT-5.6 Terra?

GPT-5.5 — it scored 95/100 against 91/100 on our 12-task CV writing suite, winning 4 tasks to 1 with 7 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published CV writing tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More CV writing head-to-heads: GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.5 · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5 · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Fable 5 vs GPT-5.5 · Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5.5 · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Luna

Full ranking: Best AI for CV writing · model pages: GPT-5.5, GPT-5.6 Terra