ISTQB Practice Test 3: 40 Questions with Answers

Correct answer: B. The level of risk and the regulatory requirements the product is subject to

1.4.2 lists business domain factors - criticality of the test object, identified risks, market needs and specific legal regulations - among the contextual factors that determine how testing is carried out.

Correct answer: D. The defect has not yet propagated into design, code and other derived work products

A defect corrected in a requirement affects only that requirement. Once it has been designed, coded and tested against, correcting it means reworking everything derived from it.

Correct answer: A. Testing is a major form of quality control

1.2.2 states that testing is a major form of quality control, alongside others such as formal methods, simulation and prototyping.

Correct answer: C. Reproduction of the failure, diagnosis to find the defect, and fixing the defect

Section 1.1.2 states that when dynamic testing triggers a failure, the typical debugging process involves reproduction of a failure, diagnosis (finding the defect), and fixing the defect.

Correct answer: A. Testers ensure users' needs are considered throughout the lifecycle

Section 1.2.1 states that testing provides users with indirect representation, because testers ensure their understanding of users needs is considered throughout the development lifecycle. The alternative, involving a representative set of users in the project, is not usually possible because of high costs and the lack of availability of suitable users.

Correct answer: A. Test implementation work products

Section 1.4.3 lists test environment items among the test implementation work products, and gives stubs, drivers, simulators and service virtualizations as examples.

Correct answer: C. So that the tester can understand and communicate with end users and business representatives

Section 1.5.1 lists domain knowledge as a skill particularly relevant for testers, so as to be able to understand and to communicate with end users and business representatives.

Correct answer: D. The work product being tested, the test level, risks, the SDLC being followed, and business factors such as time to market

Section 1.1.1 states that test objectives can vary depending upon the context, which includes the work product being tested, the test level, risks, the SDLC being followed, and factors related to the business context such as corporate structure, competitive considerations or time to market.

Correct answer: C. White-box testing derives tests from the internal structure of the component; black-box from its specification

The basis for deriving tests is the distinction, and it holds at every test level, not only at component level.

Correct answer: C. Reviewing requirements and user stories before implementation begins | D. Writing automated component tests alongside the code

Static testing of work products is a shift-left practice: defects are found before any code exists.

Testing at the component level as the code is written moves defect detection earlier than a later test level would.

Correct answer: A. Maintenance testing triggered by retirement, including testing of data archiving and of restore and retrieval procedures

Retirement is one of the three named triggers for maintenance testing. Where long retention periods apply, testing covers data archiving and the restore and retrieval procedures used during the archiving period.

Correct answer: A. A timeout when the system exchanges data with an external service

Section 2.2.1 states that system integration testing focuses on testing the interfaces of the system under test and other systems and external services, which is exactly where this defect appears.

Correct answer: D. It may add training, effort or cost earlier in the process, but is expected to save effort or cost later

Section 2.1.5 states that shift left might result in extra training, effort and/or costs earlier in the process but is expected to save efforts and/or costs later in the process.

Correct answer: A. The test basis and the responsibilities for performing the testing

Section 2.2.1 lists the attributes that distinguish test levels: test object, test objectives, test basis, defects and failures, and approach and responsibilities.

Correct answer: A. Many non-functional tests are derived from functional tests, checking that a non-functional constraint is satisfied while the function is performed

Section 2.2.2 states that many non-functional tests are derived from functional tests as they use the same functional tests but check that, while performing the function, a non-functional constraint is satisfied, for example that a function performs within a specified time.

Correct answer: D. Safety

Section 2.2.2 lists the ISO/IEC 25010 non-functional quality characteristics as performance efficiency, compatibility, usability, reliability, security, maintainability, portability and safety.

Correct answer: A. A technical review is led by a facilitator and performed by technical peers, while a walkthrough is led by the author

Both types can detect anomalies, so the difference lies in who runs the session and who takes part. A walkthrough is led by the author of the work product, whereas a technical review is led by a moderator and carried out by technically qualified reviewers, aiming at consensus and decisions on a technical problem.

Correct answer: A. They can detect coding standard violations and control or data flow anomalies without executing the code

Static analysis tools inspect source code directly, which is how they find unreachable code, unused variables and standard violations.

Correct answer: B. Using the review to evaluate the performance of the author

Evaluating participants must never be an objective of a review; doing so discourages honesty and undermines the review.

Correct answer: A. An ambiguity in the requirement, found earliest by static testing

"Quickly" is not measurable, so the requirement is untestable. Only examining the work product can reveal this, and it can be done before any code exists.

Correct answer: B. Review leader or scribe

In an inspection the author cannot act as the review leader or the scribe, which preserves the objectivity the most formal review type depends on.

Correct answer: D. Fixing and reporting

Defects are corrected during fixing and reporting, and the exit criteria for the review are evaluated at that point.

Correct answer: B. Two

New-Paid-Shipped-New-Cancelled covers four transitions, and New-Paid-Cancelled covers the fifth. One test case may traverse several transitions, so five transitions do not require five test cases.

Correct answer: C. 100% branch coverage guarantees 100% statement coverage, but not the reverse

Branch coverage subsumes statement coverage: exercising every branch necessarily executes every statement, while the reverse does not hold.

Correct answer: C. 60%

Coverage is the number of coverage items exercised divided by the total, expressed as a percentage: 3 of 5 partitions is 60%.

Correct answer: C. Scenario-oriented

Scenario-oriented acceptance criteria are written as scenarios, commonly in the Given / When / Then form, which maps readily onto test cases.

Correct answer: A. 75%

Statement coverage is executed statements divided by total executable statements: 15 of 20 is 75%.

Correct answer: D. A debriefing between the tester and interested stakeholders

The session is usually followed by a debriefing that discusses the results of the session with stakeholders.

Correct answer: B. An item that can be checked automatically

Checklists should not contain items that can be checked automatically, items better suited as entry or exit criteria, or items that are too general.

Correct answer: B. How the application has worked in the past | C. The types of errors developers tend to make and the defects that result

Prior behaviour of the application under test is one of the named sources of knowledge for error guessing.

Error guessing draws on knowledge of the mistakes developers commonly make and what defects follow from them.

Correct answer: D. Frequently changed code

Defects cluster, and frequently changed code carries the highest risk of newly introduced defects.

Correct answer: A. Version control

Configuration management uniquely identifies and version-controls testware so tests can be reproduced against a known version.

Correct answer: C. Testing based on highest risks

Risk-based testing uses product risk analysis to decide what to test, how deeply, and in what order.

Correct answer: B. Predict effort/resources

Test estimation predicts the effort and resources testing will require, informing the plan and the schedule.

Correct answer: B. Risk identification and risk assessment

Product risk analysis consists of risk identification, which generates a comprehensive list of risks, and risk assessment, which categorises them and determines likelihood, impact and priority.

Correct answer: B. Entry criteria define what must be in place before an activity can start; exit criteria define what must be true before it can be considered complete

The two bracket a test activity: one governs readiness to begin, the other readiness to stop.

Correct answer: A. It defines the order in which test suites are to be run

Once test cases and procedures are assembled into test suites, the execution schedule sets the order in which those suites run.

Correct answer: C. Business facing versus technology facing, and supporting the team versus critiquing the product

The combination of these two viewpoints determines the four quadrants of the model.

Correct answer: C. Future challenges related to risks, schedules, people, tools, costs and effort

The syllabus describes planning as guiding testers' thinking and forcing them to confront these challenges in advance.

Correct answer: D. More objective assessment, such as measuring coverage

A tool measures the same way every time, removing the variability and subjectivity of a person assessing coverage by hand.