Explanation / Rationale

The five listed descriptions and the corresponding review process activities are:

1. This describes part of the ‘communication and analysis’ activity
2. This describes part of the ‘fixing and reporting’ activity
3. This describes part of the ‘individual review’ activity
4. This describes part of the ‘planning’ activity
5. This describes part of the ‘review initiation’ activity

The generic review process from ISO/IEC 20246, which is outlined in the syllabus, comprises the following activities in this logical order:

• Planning (4)
• Review initiation (5)
• Individual review (3)
• Communication and analysis (1)
• Fixing and reporting (2)

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is correct. The correct sequence of activities is: 4 – 5 – 3 – 1 – 2
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. Performing only black-box testing does not provide a measure of actual code coverage. White-box coverage measures provide an objective measurement of coverage and provide the necessary information to allow additional tests to be generated to increase this coverage, and subsequently increase confidence in the code
b) Is not correct. This statement is correct, but it has nothing to do with black-box testing
c) Is not correct. In general there are no subsumes relationships between white-box and black-box techniques
d) Is not correct. White-box techniques are used to design tests based on the test object itself, while black-box techniques are used to design tests based on the specification. Therefore, there is no relation between coverage items derived from these two types of techniques

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Test environment readiness is a resource availability criterion; hence it belongs to the entry criteria
b) Is not correct. This is a resource availability criterion; hence it belongs to the entry criteria
c) Is correct. Estimated defect density is a measure of diligence; hence it belongs to the exit criteria.
d) Is not correct. Requirements translated into a given format result in testable requirements; hence it belongs to the entry criteria
e) Is correct. Automation of regression tests is a completion criterion; hence it belongs to the exit criteria

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Risk monitoring is part of risk control, not risk analysis
b) Is not correct. Risk identification itself does not allow us to implement risk mitigation activities. The mitigating actions are defined during the risk control phase
c) Is correct. This is an example of how risk analysis influences the thoroughness and scope of testing
d) Is not correct. Coverage items are derived using test techniques, not through risk analysis

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. This acceptance criterion describes what rules or regulations the system must adhere to (in this case, the right to be forgotten). This is an example of a rule-oriented acceptance criterion
b) Is correct. This acceptance criterion describes an example scenario that must be realizable by the system. This is an example of a scenario-oriented acceptance criterion
c) Is not correct. This sentence looks more like a line of code that implements some business rule. Acceptance criteria should be written in collaboration with business representatives, and therefore should be written in language they understand. This sentence will most likely be unintelligible to these stakeholders
d) Is not correct. This acceptance criterion describes what rules or regulations the system must adhere to and how compliance will be ensured. Therefore, this is an example of a rule-oriented acceptance criterion, not a scenario-based acceptance criterion

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Usability testing is business facing testing that critiques the product (Q3)
b) Is not correct. Functional testing is business facing testing (Q2)
c) Is not correct. User acceptance testing is business facing testing that critiques the product (Q3)
d) Is correct. Component integration testing is technology facing testing that supports the team (guides the development) (Q1)

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Retrospectives are more useful for identifying improvement opportunities and have little importance for clients
b) Is not correct. Business representatives are not giving feedback about the product itself. Therefore, there is no financial gain to the organization
c) Is correct. Regularly conducted retrospectives, when appropriate follow up activities occur, are critical to continual improvement of development and testing
d) Is not correct. Courage and respect are values of Extreme Programming and are not closely related to retrospectives

Explanation / Rationale

There are 12 boundary values for the final result values: 0, 50, 51, 60, 61, 70, 71, 80, 81, 90, 91, and 100.
The test cases cover six of them (TC1 – 91, TC2 – 50, TC3 – 81, TC4 – 60, TC5 – 70 and TC7 – 51).
Therefore, the test cases cover 6/12 = 50%.
Thus:
a) Is correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The fact that the requirement about the system’s performance comes directly from the client and that the performance is important from the business point of view (i.e., high priority) does not make these tests functional, because they do not check “what” the system does, but “how” (i.e., how fast the orders are processed)
b) Is correct. This is an example of performance testing, a type of non-functional testing
c) Is not correct. From the scenario we do not know if interacting with the user interface is a part of the test conditions. But even if we did, the main test objective of these tests is to check the performance, not the usability
d) Is not correct. We do not need to know the internal structure of the code to perform the performance testing. One can execute performance efficiency tests without structural knowledge

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Exploratory testing uses test charters, not a list of possible defects/failures. Although exploratory testing can incorporate the use of other test techniques, in this case fault attack is the most likely option
b) Is correct. This is a list of possible failures. Fault attacks are a methodical approach to the implementation of error guessing and require the tester to create or acquire a list of possible errors, defects and failures, and to design tests that will identify defects associated with the errors, expose the defects, or cause the failures
c) Is not correct. The tester is using a checklist of items to support their testing. Both error guessing and checklist-based testing use such lists, however, the list here is of possible failures, not test conditions, and so the MOST PROBABLE test technique is fault attack, which focuses on errors, defects and failures
d) Is not correct. BVA is based on an analysis of boundary values of equivalence partitions. The above list does not mention equivalence partitions or their boundaries

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. To ensure successful reviews, it's important to secure management's support for the review process, however that does not mean that they should participate as reviewers
b) Is correct. To ensure successful reviews, it's important to break the work product into parts that are small enough to be reviewed in a reasonable timescale to prevent reviewers from losing focus during individual review or review meetings
c) Is not correct. To ensure successful reviews, it's important to clearly define objectives and measurable exit criteria, without evaluating participants
d) Is not correct. To ensure successful reviews, it's important to break down the review into smaller chunks to prevent reviewers from losing focus during individual review or review meetings. So you should not plan to cover one document per review

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The benefits of retrospectives include team bonding and learning from sharing issues, and better collaboration between developers and testers through reviewing and improving working practices. Calling out individuals who a team member may feel did not fully contribute to achieving quality as required by the whole-team approach will not contribute to this team bonding and collaboration
b) Is correct. During the retrospective, the group discusses what aspects of the project were successful and should be retained, as well as areas that could be improved, and how to do so
c) Is not correct. The benefits of retrospectives are based on increased effectiveness and efficiency through process improvements; they are not an opportunity to let off steam and criticize management and customers. Also, the results are recorded, usually in the test completion report, so anything said in the meeting could be read by other stakeholders
d) Is not correct. Retrospectives are meetings that are typically held at the end of an iteration where team members will focus on discussing quality-related issues that have occurred in the current iteration. They are not used for making plans or technical decisions for the next iteration; this would be done in the iteration planning meeting at the start of the next iteration

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. The test plan may include test data requirements (as part of the test approach), but not the detailed test data for test cases. Test data is part of the test cases, not the test plan. Also, it is usually impossible to define such data when the test plan is created, because it is not exactly known what the components will look like
b) Is not correct. One of the purposes of a test plan is to help ensure that the performed test activities will meet the established criteria, by including entry criteria and exit criteria. The code coverage criteria are an example of such criteria for the component test level
c) Is not correct. Documentation templates are typical content of a test plan. This helps to facilitate communication between the stakeholders by defining a standard way of communicating or reporting
d) Is not correct. One of the purposes of a test plan is to demonstrate that testing will adhere to the existing test policy and test strategy, or to explain why the testing will deviate from them. This is an example of explaining the deviation, regarding the test levels that will be (or will not be) followed

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. The whole team approach promotes robust communication and collaboration between the team members
b) Is not correct. While the whole team approach prioritizes collective accountability for quality, each individual team member is still equally accountable for quality
c) Is not correct. The whole team approach is about how the team works together, with the aim of higher quality deliverables, but it does not necessarily result in faster deployment to end users
d) Is not correct. When using the whole team approach, testers work with business representatives to create acceptance tests. There is no suggestion that the approach will reduce collaboration with external business users

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Although it is true that the tester can implement and execute detailed test cases based on the checklist, it does not explain how this would result in increased coverage
b) Is not correct. Checklist items should not be automated. But even if they are, the automated test scripts always execute the tests in the same way, which usually does not result in increased coverage
c) Is not correct. It is true that each checklist item should be tested separately and independently. But this impacts the test execution order and does not impact the achieved coverage, and so does not result in increased coverage
d) Is correct. If the checklists are high-level, some variability in the actual testing is likely to occur, resulting in potentially greater coverage but less repeatability. If two testers follow a checklist of high-level items, each of them may use different test data, test steps, etc. This way, one tester will probably cover some areas not covered by the other tester and this will result in increased coverage

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The book provides general guidance, and is not a formal requirements document, a specification, or a set of use cases, user stories, or business processes
b) Is not correct. While you could consider the list as a set of test charters, it more closely resembles the list of test conditions to be checked
c) Is correct. The list of user interface best practices is the list of test conditions to be systematically checked
d) Is not correct. The tests are not focused on failures that could occur, but rather on knowledge about what is important for the user, in terms of usability

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Estimating the test effort is part of test planning
b) Is correct. This is an example of defining test conditions which is a part of test analysis
c) Is not correct. Using test techniques to derive coverage items is a part of test design
d) Is not correct. Reporting defects found during dynamic testing is a part of test execution

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The miscalculation of bonuses is a failure by the system, not a defect
b) Is not correct. The system not suitably supporting disabled users is a failure which eventually results in a fine, but the fine itself is not a failure (it appears to be the correct functioning of the regulatory system)
c) Is correct. The error is made by the programmer and this mistake is caused by them working under severe time pressure, which is the root cause of the subsequent defect
d) Is not correct. The poor design of the user interface, which does not suitably address disabled users, is a design defect caused by the designer error. Thus the design of the user interface includes a design defect not a designer error

Explanation / Rationale

Risk assessment can use a quantitative or qualitative approach, or a mix of them. In the quantitative approach the risk level is calculated as the multiplication of risk likelihood and risk impact. So, Risk level = Risk likelihood * Risk impact
Then, Risk impact = Risk level / Risk likelihood.
In our case, Risk impact = $1,000 / 50% = $1,000 / 0.5 = $2,000.
Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

There are three equivalence partitions: {…, –2, –1}, {0, 1, 2}, {3, 4, …}.
For 2-value BVA all the boundary values for all the equivalence partitions must be covered.
The boundary values are –1 (for the “temperature too low” partition), 0, 2 (for the “temperature OK” partition) and 3 (for the “temperature too high” partition).

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is correct. The correct option is: –1, 0, 2, 3
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. The basic concept behind error guessing is that the tester tries to guess what errors may have been made by the developer and what defects may be in the test object based on past experience (and sometimes checklists)
b) Is not correct. Although a testers who used to be a developer may use their personal experience to help them when performing error guessing, the test technique is not based on prior knowledge of development
c) Is not correct. Error guessing is not a usability technique for guessing how users may fail to interact with the test object
d) Is not correct. Duplicating the development task has several flaws that make it impractical, such as the tester having equivalent skills to the developer and the time involved to perform the development. It is not error guessing

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. Checking that the sort function puts the elements of the list or array in ascending order is evaluating the functional correctness of the sort function, which is part of functional testing
b) Is not correct. Assessing whether the sort function meets its non-functional requirement to complete within one second is part of testing its performance efficiency, which is part of non-functional testing
c) Is not correct. Evaluating the ease with which the sort function can be modified from sorting ascending to sorting descending is testing its modifiability, a form of non-functional maintainability testing, which is part of non-functional testing
d) Is not correct. Assessing that the sort function still functions correctly when moved from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture is testing its adaptability, a form of portability testing, which is part of non-functional testing

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Traceability is the relationship between two or more work products, not between different versions of the same work product
b) Is not correct. Maintenance testing is about testing changes; it is not related closely to versioning
c) Is correct. To support testing, configuration management may involve the version control of all test items
d) Is not correct. Requirements engineering is the elicitation, documentation, and management of requirements; it is not closely related to test script versioning

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. This principle means that if the same tests are repeated over and over again, eventually these tests no longer find any new defects. This is probably why the tests all passed in this release as well
b) Is not correct. This principle says about the mistaken belief that just finding and fixing a large number of defects will ensure the success of a system
c) Is not correct. This principle says that a small number of components usually contain most of the defects
d) Is not correct. This principle states that testing all combinations of inputs and preconditions is not feasible

Explanation / Rationale

Because TC1 and TC3 failed in Execution 1 (i.e., test (1) and test (3)), test (4) and test (6) are confirmation tests.
Because TC2 and TC3 failed in Execution 2 (i.e., tests (5) and (6)), test (8) and test (9) are also confirmation tests.
TC2 passed in Execution 1 (i.e., test (2)), so test (5) is a regression test.
TC1 passed in the Execution 2 (i.e., test (4)), so test (7) is also a regression test.
Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. This is a new product. You probably do not have a checklist yet and test conditions might not be known due to missing requirements
b) Is not correct. This is a new product. You probably do not have enough information to make correct error guesses
c) Is correct. Exploratory testing is most useful when there are few known specifications and/or there is a pressing timeline for testing
d) Is not correct. Branch testing is time-consuming, and your management is asking about some test results now. Also, branch testing does not involve domain knowledge

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Practices involved in shift-left testing are aimed at implementing more testing activities in the early phases of the development life cycle, portraying the SDLC as moving from left to right. There is no such thing as the left-hand side of the test process
b) Is correct. Shift-left emphasizes the importance of starting testing earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Implementing shift-left testing necessitates additional training, and increased effort and costs during the early stages of the SDLC, nevertheless, overall savings should be higher
c) Is not correct. Although automated component tests and component integration tests for regression testing are generally valuable, the creation of these tests is normally the responsibility of the developers, and if a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) approach is followed, then these tests will have been submitted with the code. In some situations the tester may automate tests for regression testing, and sometimes even for component tests and component integration tests, however this is not part of a ‘shift-left’ approach which moves testing earlier in the SDLC
d) Is not correct. Training testers to perform tasks early in the SDLC would support a shift-left approach by emphasizing the importance of starting testing earlier in the SDLC. However, automating more test activities to be performed later in the SDLC is not part of a ‘shift-left’ approach

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The detection of additional high-severity defects would be a benefit of test automation, rather than a risk
b) Is not correct. The provision of measures that are too complicated for humans to derive themselves is normally considered to be a benefit of test automation
c) Is correct. If the test automation is incompatible with the development platform, then it will not be able to integrate them, and, for instance, pass test inputs to the test object and receive test results from the test object
d) Is not correct. Substantially reduced test execution times would normally be considered a benefit that is provided by test automation

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Most work products can be examined using some form of static testing, and a contract must be interpretable by humans and so could be reviewed, which is a form of static testing
b) Is not correct. Most work products can be examined using some form of static testing, and a test plan must be interpretable by humans and so could be reviewed, which is a form of static testing
c) Is correct. Most work products can be examined using some form of static testing; however it is not suitable for work products that are too complex for human interpretation and should not be analyzed by tools, and encrypted code is too complex for humans and if it is properly encrypted it will not be analyzable by most tools
d) Is not correct. Most work products can be examined using some form of static testing, and a test charter must be interpretable by humans and so could be reviewed, which is a form of static testing

Explanation / Rationale

We want to run test cases according to their priorities, but we also need to consider the dependencies.
If we only consider priorities, we want to first run TC 5 and TC 7 (highest priority), then TC 1, TC 3, and TC 4, and finally TC 2 and TC 6 (lowest priority).
However, in order to run TC 7, we need to first run TC 4.
In order to run TC 5, we need to run TC 4 and TC 2, but TC 2 is blocked by TC 1, which should be run prior to TC 2.
So, in order to run priority 1 test cases as early as possible, the first five test cases should be: TC 4 - TC 7 - TC 1 - TC 2 - TC 5.
Next, we need to run TC 3, because it has higher priority than TC 6.
Thus the full schedule will be TC 4 – TC 7 – TC 1 – TC 2 – TC 5 – TC 3 – TC 6.
So, the sixth test case will be TC 3.

Thus:
a) Is correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

The ‘exhaustive testing is impossible’ principle is concerned with the fact that it is not feasible to test every possible variation of test inputs in all different circumstances, except in trivial cases. Instead, testing utilizes test techniques, test case prioritization, and risk-based testing to sample from the set of possibilities and focus testing efforts.
a) Is not correct. The principle states that it is not feasible to test everything except in trivial cases. Testing everything would require testing every possible variation of test inputs in all different circumstances, which is generally infeasible as there will be a practically infinite number. Testing every possible specified output will not address this problem as the relationship between inputs and specified outputs can be different for each test object. Sometimes there may be a practically infinite number of possible specified outputs (e.g., when there are several variables representing real numbers), whereas at other times there may be just two specified outputs, such as with a single variable that can be either true or false
b) Is not correct. The principle states that it is not feasible to test every possible variation of test inputs in all different circumstances. This is because for non-trivial systems there is a practically infinite number. Therefore, in practice, documenting all possible test input variations would be impractical as it would take an infinite length of time
c) Is not correct. Starting testing as early as possible with reviews and other static testing approaches will not address the problem of there being too many possible test cases. The ‘early testing saves time and money’ principle is concerned with fixing defects early on to prevent the occurrence of subsequent defects in derived work products, thereby reducing costs and the likelihood of failures
d) Is correct. The use of equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis to generate test cases is one way to address the principle as these test techniques provide a systematic way to derive a finite subset of all possible test cases

Explanation / Rationale

“test” and “error” transitions cannot occur in one test case.
Neither can both “done” transitions.
This means we need at least three test cases to achieve transition coverage. For example:

TC1: test, done
TC2: run, error, done
TC3: run, pause, resume, pause, done

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is correct

Explanation / Rationale

i. Is true. Having domain knowledge is an important tester skill
ii. Is false. This is a task of the business analyst together with the business representative
iii. Is true. Being a good team player is an important skill
iv. Is false. Planning and organizing the work of the team is a task of the test manager or, mostly in an Agile software development project, the whole team and not just the tester
v. Is true. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills of testers

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Impediments to testing can be high level and business-related, so this is an important piece of information for business stakeholders
b) Is correct. Branch testing is a technical metric used by developers and technical testers. This information is of no interest to business representatives
c) Is not correct. Test progress is project related, so it may be useful for business representatives
d) Is not correct. Risks impact product quality, so it may be useful for business representatives

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. This is done by the testers
b) Is not correct. The product backlog is built and maintained by the product owner
c) Is not correct. This is done by the development team
d) Is not correct. This is a managerial role
e) Is correct. This is done by the testers

Explanation / Rationale

Some defect types that can only be detected by static testing, such as unreachable code, design patterns not implemented as desired and defects in non-executable work products. Some defect types that can be found by both static testing and dynamic testing, such as a programming defect that can be observed by a reviewer in a code review and which causes an observable failure during dynamic testing. And some defect types that can only be detected by dynamic testing, such as performance issues or memory issues that can only be observed when executing the code or system.

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

The average development effort is $900,000 and the average test effort is $90,000 (calculated from the four projects).
The average test-to-development effort ratio is 1:10 ($90,000 : $900,000), which means that historically, on average, the test effort is 10% of the development effort.
So if the development effort is estimated to be $800,000, the estimated test effort is estimated as:

10% * $800,000 = 0.1 * $800,000 = $80,000.

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

Given the following description of test analysis:
To identify the features that require testing, the test basis is analyzed and defined as test conditions, which are then prioritized along with related risks. The systematic identification of test conditions as coverage items often involves using test techniques both during test analysis and as part of the test design activity.
From the above description, it can be seen that test techniques are often used in the test analysis and test design activities. Boundary value analysis and equivalence partitioning are test techniques.
a) Is not correct. Test implementation is not likely to involve the use of test techniques as it is mostly concerned with assembling test cases into test procedures, while test techniques create test cases
b) Is correct. Test design is likely to involve the use of test techniques to create test cases from test conditions and coverage items
c) Is not correct. Test execution is not likely to involve the use of test techniques as it is mostly concerned with executing test procedures (and so test cases), while test techniques create test cases
d) Is not correct. Test monitoring is not likely to involve the use of test techniques. Test monitoring is mostly concerned with ongoing checks to ensure the plan is being followed, while test techniques create test cases
e) Is correct. Test analysis is likely to involve the use of test techniques to identify test conditions

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Coverage is always defined as the percentage of the covered elements. Therefore, it cannot exceed 100%
b) Is correct. If the statements executed by T1 and T2 were disjoint, the coverage of the test suite {T1, T2} would be 105%, which is impossible (see answer a). Therefore, at least 5% of executable statements must have been executed by both T1 and T2
c) Is not correct. Statement coverage does not tell us anything about the number of non-executable statements in the code
d) Is not correct. Even if a test suite achieves full statement coverage, this does not imply achieving full branch coverage

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Risk management consists of risk analysis and risk control. Neither of these activities supports the reassembly of the files that made up the release, because these activities deal with risks, not with configuration items
b) Is not correct. Test monitoring is concerned with gathering information about testing. This information is used to assess test progress and to measure whether the test exit criteria or the test tasks associated with the exit criteria are satisfied, such as meeting the targets for coverage of product risks, requirements, or other acceptance criteria. Test control uses the information from test monitoring to provide, in the form of control directives, guidance and the necessary corrective actions to achieve the most effective and efficient testing. None of these activities deal with the management of configuration items
c) Is not correct. The whole-team approach builds on the tester’s skill to work effectively in a team context and to contribute positively to the team goals. So, it focuses on team-related issues, not on configuration items
d) Is correct. Configuration management provides a discipline for identifying, controlling, and tracking work products. Configuration management keeps a record of changed configuration items when a new baseline is created. Using configuration management, it is possible to revert to a previous baseline in order to reproduce previous test results