Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Strong communication skills, active listening, and teamwork abilities enable a tester to interact effectively with all stakeholders, however a deep knowledge of a variety of computer games that allowed them to get on well with one developer is not an example of a generic skill useful to testers
b) Is correct. Domain knowledge that can be used to understand and communicate with end-users and business representatives is one of the generic skills required by testers. A tester with experience as a pilot would make them better able to appreciate the acceptance criteria for the helicopter control system
c) Is not correct. Although programming skills could be considered as technical knowledge which can increase efficiency when utilizing some test tools, it is unlikely that these skills would improve their communication with business analysts
d) Is not correct. Although thoroughness, attention to detail, curiosity, and a methodical approach to identifying hard-to-find defects are all useful generic skills for testers, it is doubtful they would be generating test cases prior to starting exploratory testing. This is because one of the main tenets of exploratory testing is that the test cases are generated during the testing, not scripted in advance

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is correct. This rule holds for all SDLC models

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 correct. Obtaining feedback from stakeholders early and often in the software development process can be highly beneficial. It facilitates early communication of potential quality issues, can prevent misunderstandings about requirements, and ensures that any changes in stakeholder requirements are understood and implemented sooner
b) Is not correct. The feedback is from stakeholders, and them providing feedback is unlikely to improve their understanding of their own user requirements
c) Is not correct. Obtaining feedback from stakeholders early and often in the software development process can be highly beneficial. It facilitates early communication of potential quality issues, can prevent misunderstandings about requirements, and ensures that any changes in stakeholder requirements are understood and implemented sooner. However, because changes in requirements can be understood and implemented sooner, it does not mean that unlimited changes to requirements are encouraged
d) Is not correct. The feedback is from stakeholders and does not cover communication to them. Communications to end users could include them being told about which requirements will not be implemented prior to release, but ideally this should not happen at all

Explanation / Rationale

Using the three-point estimation technique, the final estimate (E) is calculated as:

E = (a + 4*m + b) / 6,

where a is the most optimistic estimate, m is the most likely estimate, and b is the most pessimistic estimate.

Thus:
a) Is correct. In this case, the estimate for executing a single test case is:

E = (1h + 4*3h + 8h) / 6 = 3.5 hours

So, the total time needed for the tester to execute 4 test cases is:

3.5h * 4 = 14 hours

b) Is not correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The whole-team approach allows any team member with the requisite skills and knowledge to undertake any task, however that does not mean that team members can take on any role at any time. Typically, they only take on roles in which they are competent, and there is no suggestion that every team member can do every role
b) Is not correct. The whole-team approach applies to how a single team (typically in Agile software development) works; it does not cover how multiple teams are supposed to work on larger projects, and it does not suggest that only one ‘whole’ team is needed for a complete project
c) Is not correct. The whole-team approach does not expect every team member to be involved in every important decision. For instance, there is no need for the business representative (i.e. the Product Owner) to be involved in every technical decision that does not affect the business outcome and implementing such an approach would unnecessarily slow down the team’s progress
d) Is correct. By leveraging the diverse skill sets of each team member most effectively, the whole-team approach fosters superior team dynamics, promotes robust communication and collaboration, and generates a team synergy that benefits the entire project

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. Product quality metrics measure quality characteristics. Mean time to failure measures maturity, so it is a product quality metric
b) Is not correct. This is an example of a defect metric, not a product quality metric
c) Is not correct. This is an example of a coverage metric, not a product quality metric
d) Is not correct. This is an example of a defect metric, not a product quality metric

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. This is an example of a risk monitoring activity, not risk analysis
b) Is not correct. This is an example of an architectural decision, not related with testing
c) Is not correct. This is an example of performing a quantitative risk analysis and is not related to thoroughness or scope of testing
d) Is correct. This shows how risk analysis impacts the thoroughness of testing (i.e., the level of detail)

Explanation / Rationale

Branch testing is a white-box test technique in which the coverage items are branches. A branch is a transfer of control between two nodes in the control flow graph, which shows the possible sequences in which source code statements are executed in the test object. Each transfer of control can be either unconditional (i.e., straight-line code) or conditional (i.e., a decision outcome). Coverage is measured as the number of branches exercised by the test cases divided by the total number of branches, and is expressed as a percentage.
Thus:
a) Is not correct. A decision outcome is a conditional branch. For branch testing, X counts not only conditional, but also unconditional branches
b) Is not correct. Branch coverage counts not only conditional, but also unconditional branches
c) Is correct. Branch coverage is measured as the number of branches exercised by the test cases divided by the total number of branches, and is expressed as a percentage
d) Is not correct. Both X and Y count only conditional branches and do not take into account the unconditional branches

Explanation / Rationale

There are three equivalence partitions: {..., 10, 11}, {12}, and {13, 14, ...}.
The boundary values are 11, 12 and 13. In the three-point boundary value analysis for each boundary, we need to test the boundary and both its neighbors, so:

• for 11 we test 10, 11, 12

• for 12 we test 11, 12, 13

• for 13 we test 12, 13, 14

Altogether we need to test 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14

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

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. Feedback can improve the test process, but if one only wants to improve future projects, the feedback does not need to come early or frequently
b) Is not correct. Feedback is not used to prioritize requirements
c) Is not correct. The quality of changes can be measured in multiple ways
d) Is correct. Early and frequent feedback allows for the early communication of potential quality problems

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Quality control applies to all development activities, meaning that every software development activity has a corresponding test activity. However, here we are attempting to equate test levels with development levels, and, although we know what is meant by ‘test levels’, there is no common understanding of the term ‘ development level’
b) Is not correct. Every software development activity has a corresponding test activity; however test objectives are quite different. For instance, there might be a test objective of ensuring that a test object adheres to a contractual requirement that a certain type of testing must be performed before delivery. In this case there is no reason for there to be a corresponding development objective
c) Is not correct. Quality control applies to all development activities, meaning that every software development activity has a corresponding test activity. However, the same symmetry does not apply to testing and user activities. For instance, for some systems it is difficult to even identify the end users. Also, some test activities are focused on developers (e.g., testing for ease of maintainability), which has no user aspect to it
d) Is correct. Quality control applies to all development activities, meaning that every software development activity has a corresponding test activity

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Testing quadrants have nothing to do with describing the relationships between test levels
b) Is not correct. Testing quadrants cannot help in assessing any type of coverage
c) Is correct. Testing quadrants allow managers and other stakeholders to understand the relationships between test types, the activities they support (team support or product critique), and the viewpoint they are focused on (business- or technology-facing)
d) Is not correct. Testing quadrants is not a psychological model

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. In the whole-team approach, testers play a vital role by sharing their testing expertise with the team and guiding product development. They collaborate with other team members to achieve the desired quality levels and work with business representatives to create acceptance tests. Testers also partner with developers to determine the optimal test strategy and automation approaches
b) Is correct. By leveraging the diverse skill sets of each team member most effectively, the whole-team approach fosters superior team dynamics, promotes robust communication and collaboration, and generates a synergistic effect that benefits the entire project
c) Is not correct. The whole-team approach allows any team member with the requisite skills and knowledge to undertake any task, thus specialist team members are not an advantage of this approach
d) Is not correct. There is no specific guidance on the optimum size of teams using the whole-team approach, and there is no suggestion that larger teams are better

Explanation / Rationale

In the three-point estimation technique:

E = (optimistic + 4*most likely + pessimistic)/6

E = (2+(4*11)+14)/6 = 10

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

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. This sequence of five events covers 4 different valid transitions (both “NotAvailable” events correspond to the same transition between S1 and S3). This test case covers 4 out of 7 valid transitions
b) Is correct. This sequence of five events covers 5 different transitions (the first “Available” event corresponds to a transition between S1 and S2, and the second “Available” event corresponds to a transition between S3 and S2, so two different transitions are covered). This test case covers 5 out of 7 valid transitions and achieves the highest valid transitions coverage
c) Is not correct. This sequence of five events covers 3 different transitions (both “Available” events correspond to the same transition from S1 to S2; both “ChangeRoom” events correspond to the same transition from S2 to S1). This test case covers 3 out of 7 valid transitions
d) Is not correct. This sequence of five events does not represent a feasible test case, because after “Cancel” the system ends up in the End state and no further valid transitions can be executed

Explanation / Rationale
a) Is not correct. Retrospectives are used to capture lessons learned and to improve the development and testing process, not to document the acceptance criteria
b) Is correct. This is the standard way to document acceptance criteria
c) Is not correct. Verbal communication does not allow to physically document the acceptance criteria as part of a user story (”card” aspect in the 3C’s model)
d) Is not correct. Acceptance criteria are related to a user story, not a test plan. Also, acceptance criteria are the conditions that have to be fulfilled to decide if the user story is complete. Risks are not such conditions

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. For a complex configuration item (e.g., a test environment), CM records the items it consists of, their relationships, and versions
b) Is not correct. CM tools do not execute test cases and do not calculate coverage
c) Is not correct. A CM tool is not a license management tool
d) Is not correct. CM tools do not generate test data

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Validating that documented requirements are met is incorrect as validation is concerned with meeting user requirements and expectations, while verification is concerned with meeting specified requirements, so this would be correct if we replaced ‘validating’ with ‘verifying’
b) Is correct. Causing failures and identifying defects is probably the most common objective of dynamic testing
c) Is not correct. Initiating errors and identifying root causes is incorrect because testers do not initiate errors, they try to cause failures. Errors are typically made by developers (and cannot really be initiated) and result in defects, which testers attempt to identify either directly through static testing or indirectly through failures with dynamic testing. Identifying root causes is useful but is part of debugging, which is a separate activity to testing
d) Is not correct. Verifying the test object meets user expectations is incorrect as verification is concerned with checking specified (documented) requirements are met, while validation is concerned with meeting user requirements and expectations, so this would be correct if we replaced ‘verifying’ with ‘validating’

Explanation / Rationale

Test TC 001 must come first, followed by TC 002, to satisfy dependencies. Afterwards, TC 003 to satisfy priority and then TC 004, followed by TC 005.
Thus:
a) Is correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is not correct
d) Is not correct

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. This test case is related to acceptance criteria 2 and 3, because we check if we can set price range (acceptance criterion 2) and if the results update dynamically after adjusting the price range filter (acceptance criterion 3)
b) Is not correct. This test case is not related to any of the acceptance criteria. It checks if the filter dynamically sets the default minimum and maximum price range, and not that a customer can do it
c) Is not correct. This test case is not related to any of the acceptance criteria. It checks the currency exchange feature, which is not discussed in this user story
d) Is not correct. This test case is not related to any of the acceptance criteria. It checks the application’s compatibility with different browsers, which is not discussed in this user story

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. In this case one test case is still needed since there is at least one (unconditional) branch to be covered
b) Is not correct. Covering only unconditional branches does not imply covering all conditional branches
c) Is not correct. 100% branch coverage implies 100% statement coverage, not otherwise. For example, for an IF decision without the ELSE, one test is enough to achieve 100% statement coverage, but it only achieves 50% branch coverage
d) Is correct. Each decision outcome corresponds to a conditional branch, so 100% branch coverage implies 100% decision coverage

Explanation / Rationale

Exploratory testing is useful when there are few or inadequate specifications or there is significant time pressure on the testing. Exploratory testing is also useful to complement other more formal test techniques. Exploratory testing will be more effective if the tester is experienced, has domain knowledge and has a high degree of essential skills, like analytical skills, curiosity and creativeness.

Thus:
a) Is correct. Exploratory testing is useful when there are few or inadequate specifications or there is significant time pressure on the testing
b) Is not correct. Exploratory testing is not a black-box test technique
c) Is not correct. Exploratory testing is useful when the specifications are poorly written
d) Is not correct. Programming skills have nothing to do with exploratory testing in principle
e) Is correct. Exploratory testing will be more effective if the tester is experienced, has domain knowledge and has a high degree of essential skills, like analytical skills, curiosity and creativeness

Explanation / Rationale

Error guessing is about anticipating the errors, defects and failures based on the tester’s knowledge.
a) Is not correct. This is an example of anticipating the developer’s error
b) Is not correct. This is an example of anticipating the defect
c) Is correct. This is an example of a potential root cause of a defect, which is neither an error, defect nor failure, and difficult for the tester to anticipate
d) Is not correct. This is an example of anticipating a failure, perhaps based on experience of previous systems in this application domain

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Checklists should contain test conditions to be verified. This is an example of an error, not a test condition; even if the tester was able to deduce some potential test conditions from the examples of errors, this error description is too general
b) Is not correct. Checklists should not contain items that are better suited as exit criteria. This is an example of an exit criterion
c) Is not correct. Checklists should not contain items that are too general. This is a very general item, which practically describes the goal of testing
d) Is correct. This is an example of a test condition that can be checked by a human

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 not correct. Scope creep is an example of a project risk related to technical issues
b) Is correct. Poor architecture is an example of a product risk since it refers to a product characteristic
c) Is not correct. Cost-cutting is an example of a project risk, related to organizational issues
d) Is not correct. Poor tool support is an example of a project risk related to technical issues
e) Is correct. Response time too long is an example of a product risk since it refers to a product characteristic

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 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

Considering each of the listed roles:

1. Scribe (or Recorder) - responsible for gathering feedback from reviewers and documenting review information, such as decisions made, and any new anomalies identified during the review meeting. (Records review information, such as decisions and new anomalies found during the review meeting - B)
2. Review Leader - responsible for overseeing the review process, such as selecting the review team members, scheduling review meetings, and ensuring that the review is completed successfully.
(Takes overall responsibility for the review such as organizing when and where the review will take place - D)
3. Facilitator (or Moderator) - responsible for ensuring that the review meetings run effectively, including managing time, mediating discussions, and creating a safe environment where everyone can voice their opinions freely. (Ensures the effective running of review meetings and the setting up of a safe review environment - A)
4. Manager - responsible for deciding what needs to be reviewed and allocating resources, such as staff and time, for the review. (Decides what is to be reviewed and provides resources, such as staff and time for the review - C)

Thus:
a) Is not correct
b) Is not correct
c) Is correct. The correct match is: 1B, 2D, 3A, 4C
d) Is not correc

Explanation / Rationale

Let us refer to the transitions with E1, …, E5 as in the picture. The variable N denotes the number of elements currently stored. Each “Add” event increases it by 1, and each “Remove” event decreases it by 1. Notice, that when the “Add” event occurs while being in the NOT FULL state, the state changes to FULL only if N=2. If N<2, the system stays in the NOT FULL state. If N=0, no “Remove” action is possible. Similarly, if N=3, no “Add” action is possible.

Test a) can be written as E1, E3, E3, E2, E4 (so covers 4 out of 5 valid transitions, achieving 80% valid transitions coverage).
Test b) is infeasible, because after the first three “Add” actions the system is in the FULL state and there is no valid transition going from FULL triggered by the “Add” event. After the first three transitions only 60% of valid transitions coverage is achieved.
Test c) can be written as E1, E2, E4, E5, E3 (so covers 5 out of 5 valid transitions, achieving 100% valid transitions coverage).
Test d) can be written as E1, E2, E4, E5, E4 (so covers 4 out of 5 valid transitions, achieving 80% valid transitions coverage).

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

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The feedback is from stakeholders (e.g., business representative, end user), not from developers, so this feedback is not likely to inform managers which developers are more or less productive
b) Is not correct. Early and frequent feedback from stakeholders is not used by project managers to prioritize how they interact with the different stakeholders
c) Is correct. Obtaining feedback from stakeholders early and often in the software development process can be highly beneficial as it facilitates early communication of potential quality issues, can prevent misunderstandings about requirements, and ensures that any changes in stakeholder requirements are understood and implemented sooner
d) Is not correct. Early and frequent feedback can prevent the development of a product that does not meet stakeholder needs, and results in costly rework and missed deadlines, so, ideally there should be no delay. Also, the feedback is from stakeholders (not to them), which includes the end users, so the end users providing feedback will not aid the end users’ understanding

Explanation / Rationale

The equivalence partitions are: {…, 99, 100}, {101, 102, …, 198, 199}, {200, 201, …}.
Thus, there are 4 boundary values, which are: 100, 101, 199 and 200.
In 2-value BVA, for each boundary value there are two coverage items (the boundary value and its closest neighbor belonging to the adjacent partition). As the closest neighbors are also boundary values in the adjacent partition, then there are just four coverage items.

Thus:
a) Is not correct. Only 100 and 200 are valid coverage items for 2-value BVA, so we achieve 50% coverage
b) Is not correct. Only 100 and 200 are valid coverage items for 2-value BVA, so we achieve 50% coverage
c) Is not correct. Only 100 and 101 are valid coverage items for 2-value BVA, so we achieve 50% coverage
d) Is correct. 101, 199 and 200 are valid coverage items for 2-value BVA, so we achieve 75% coverage

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. Priorities for user stories are determined by the business representative together with the development team
b) Is not correct. Testers focus on both functional and non-functional aspects of the system to be tested
c) Is correct. According to the syllabus, this is one of the ways testers add value to iteration and release planning
d) Is not correct. Early test design is not part of release planning. Early test design does not automatically guarantee the release of quality software

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is correct. Each test level has specific and distinct test objectives as a different form of test object (e.g., single component, complete system) is tested at each test level and overlapping test objectives would lead to unnecessary duplication
b) Is not correct. Test analysis and design for a given test level should start during the corresponding development phase to facilitate early testing (e.g., acceptance test analysis and design should begin during requirements analysis). Test implementation will generally start later, and test execution will start during the test level
c) Is not correct. Test design for a given test level should start during the corresponding development phase to facilitate early testing, however test design (e.g., test case generation) needs to be based on an agreed test basis, not an early draft, otherwise significant test effort may be wasted on creating test cases for a design that later changes
d) Is not correct. Quality control applies to all development activities, meaning that every software development activity has a corresponding test activity. However, the same symmetry does not apply to dynamic and static testing. There are some static testing activities (e.g., static analysis) for which there is no obvious corresponding dynamic testing activity

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. While the sentence is true, it does not provide much value for the developer
b) Is correct. From the test results it seems that the system ignores duplicates and sorts the list disregarding the repetitions. This is probably the cause of failures in TC3, TC4, TC5. Such information may help the developer to find the defect and fix it more efficiently
c) Is not correct. The system does not fail in sorting negative numbers. The problem is rather in disregarding duplicates
d) Is not correct. The test cases TC3, TC4 and TC5 fail, but we aren’t aware that the test cases have any defects

Explanation / Rationale

a) Is not correct. The paragraph contains information on test levels and exit criteria, which are part of the test approach
b) Is not correct. The paragraph contains information on test levels and exit criteria, which are part of the test approach
c) Is not correct. The paragraph contains information on test levels and exit criteria, which are part of the test approach
d) Is correct. The paragraph contains information on test levels and exit criteria, which are part of the test approach

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 organization’s marketing team is unlikely to perform much testing (although in some organizations they may be involved with acceptance testing), so their average level of experience (most of which would be in marketing) is not likely to impact how testing is performed for a given test object
b) Is not correct. The level of knowledge of users that a new system is being built for them is unlikely to affect how testing is performed. Any user involvement that could affect how testing is performed is more likely to be as a result of decisions made by the testers, customer and project manager
c) Is correct. The number of years’ experience of the members of the performance testing team will help to determine the capabilities and knowledge (e.g., of different tools and defect types) that the team members will apply when they are testing
d) Is not correct. The organizational structure of the different end users (who may be varied) will change between users. So, it may not even be known when the application is being tested, and the end user’s organizational structure can thus have little effect on how the testing is performed