First Step Advantage: Importance of Starting Right in Multi-Step Reasoning

Large Language Models (LLMs) can solve complex reasoning tasks by generating rationales for their predictions. Distilling these capabilities into a smaller, compact model can facilitate the creation of specialized, cost-effective models tailored for specific tasks. However, smaller models often face challenges in complex reasoning tasks and often deviate from the correct reasoning path. We show that LLMs can guide smaller models and bring them back to the correct reasoning path only if they intervene at the right time. We show that smaller models fail to reason primarily due to their difficulty in initiating the process, and that guiding them in the right direction can lead to a performance gain of over 100%. We explore different model sizes and evaluate the benefits of providing guidance to improve reasoning in smaller models.