Reality Check confusion

I am a bit confused about the application of reality checks and what they "prove" in a dream.

For instance, the first time I had heard of reality checks someone suggested clapping so throughout the day I would clap, hear the clap, feel myself clapping and acknowledge I was awake. That night during a dream I realized I might be dreaming, clapped and had the visceral experience of clapping which led to me believing I was awake. Whenever I would do or see something strange I would resist and tell myself I had to be awake because the RC worked. I felt like I was questioning whether I was awake or dreaming too much in the dream and that just completely brought me out of it.

I interpret RCs to be something that convinces you you're awake and when they fail you realize you're dreaming. Any help would be great!

Reality checks work to convince you of both things, but there's only one outcome for the waking state and one for the dream state.

For instance if you pinch your nose and try to breathe, if you're dreaming you'll be able to breathe, but if you're awake, you obviously won't be able to. Clapping won't really work because you can feel tactile sensations, as well as hear audio within a dream. People get lucid dreams from suddenly becoming aware, and using a RC to make sure. That's the gist of it.