Testing Certification Questions

Testing Certification Questions and answers on Software Quality, Test Planning, Software Test Environment, Test Design, and Test execution.

Testing Certification Questions

I. Quality Assurance or Quality Control

1. A management activity, frequently performed by a staff function

a) Quality Assurance
b) Quality Control

2. Concerned with all of the products that will ever be produced by a process (not just one project)

a) Quality Assurance
b) Quality Control

3. The responsibility of the team/workers

a) Quality Control
b) Quality Assurance

4. Identifies defects for the primary purpose of correcting defects

a) Quality Control
b) Quality Assurance

5. Establishes (or helps to establish) processes

a) Quality Control
b) Quality Assurance

6. Concerned with a specific product or project

a) Quality Control
b) Quality Assurance

7. Sets up measurements programs to evaluate process effectiveness

a) Quality Control
b) Quality Assurance

8. Verifies whether specific attributes are in, or not in, a specific product or service.

a) Quality Assurance
b) Quality Control

9. Identifies weaknesses in processes and improves them.

a) Quality Assurance
b) Quality Control

10. Evaluates the life cycle itself

a) Quality Control
b) Quality Assurance

11. Makes sure bugs don’t happen again on other projects

a) Quality Assurance
b) Quality Control

12. Relates to a specific product or service

a) Quality Assurance
b) Quality Control

II. Test Principles and Concepts

1. Which of these is NOT part of the Cost of Quality?

a) Failure costs
b) Error Detection costs
c) RTF costs
d) Error prevention costs

2. The term “fit for use” refers to whose view of quality?

a) Supplier’s
b) Auditor’s
c) Producer’s
d) Customer’s

3. Which of these is a challenge/obstacle to implementing testing in an organization?

a) People think testing is not essential for delivery; testing is often unstructured and subjective
b) Testing is error prone; testing is too expensive
c) Testing is often not managed properly; the mindset that you can test quality into software
d) All of the above

4. “PDCA”, or “Plan, Do, Check, Act” is also known as

a) The Shewhart cycle
b) The Deming Wheel
c) both
d) neither

5. What are the three main categories defects can fall into?

a) Wrong, Missing, and Extra
b) Regression, Unit, and Integration
c) FUBAR, really FUBAR, and uber-FUBAR
d) display, processing, output

6. Which of these is NOT an important part of a Test Strategy?

a) The procedure for logging defects
b) how you will validate that the system meets user requirements
c) how you will validate the software at each stage of development
d) how you will use test data to examine the behavior of the system

7. Which of these are good ways to raise management’s awareness of the importance of testing?

a) Make sure management knows what they get for the money they spend on testing
b) relay other benefits of testing (shorter test times, higher quality software)
c) Collect and distribute articles about testing
d) all of the above

8. Continuous process improvement only works if you:

a) Monitor performance of prior improvement initiatives
b) base improvement efforts on the organization’s needs and business goals
c) enforce the newly developed processes
d) all are needed

9. Which is a more effective approach to risk mitigation?

a) Test based on user requirements
b) Test based on system specifications
c) Test more heavily in areas deemed higher risk
d) all of the above

10. Establishing a testing policy should include four main criteria. A definition of testing, the testing system, evaluation methods, and ________?

a) Standards against which testing will be measured
b) Data Requirements for a typical project
c) Templates for deliverables generated by the test group
d) All of the above

11. Which of these is the most effective method for establishing a testing policy?

a) Information Services Consensus Policy
b) Users Meeting
c) Industry Standard
d) Management Directive

12. During what phase of the project should you START thinking about Testing Scenarios?

a) Requirements
b) Maintenance
c) Coding
d) Design

13. What is the appropriate timing for Static, Structural tests?

a) Analysis and design only
b) testing phase
c) as early as possible and in every phase thereafter
d) not until the coding phase

14. Test coverage tools are useful starting in which phase?

a) Any phase
b) Analysis and Design
c) Testing (functional testing)
d) Coding (unit testing)

15. A Test Factor is:

a) The risk or issue that needs to be addressed during testing
b) a variable in a test script
c) an error inserted by programmers to measure the effectiveness of testing
d) part of the audit trail

16. ________ means that the data entered, processed, and output by the application is accurate and complete.

a) Completeness
b) File integrity
c) Correctness
d) Audit trail

17. Validating that the right file is used and the data on that file is correct and in the correct sequence is known as:

a) Structural analysis
b) Data dictionary validation
c) Black box testing
d) File integrity testing

18. _____________ can substantiate the processing that has occurred and allow analysts to reconstruct what happened at any point in a transaction.

a) Continuity of Processing
b) None of these
c) Data Dictionaries
d) Audit Trails

19. Failover testing at Chase is verification that ___________ is intact

a) Continuity of processing
b) audit trails
c) maintainability
d) both A and C

20. Processing time and “up time” goals are examples of

a) Statistical process control
b) metrics
c) service levels
d) workbenches

21. Access control testing is also known as

a) Error handling
b) Security testing
c) Static testing
d) Fault based testing

22. Audits to ensure that the system is designed in accordance with organization strategy, policies, procedures, and standards are designed to test which quality factor?

a) Best practices
b) correctness
c) maintainability
d) compliance

23. An application which performs its intended function with the required precision over an extended period of time has this quality factor:

a) Validity
b) ease of use
c) service level
d) reliability

24. If it is difficult to locate and fix errors in a program, that program is missing which quality factor?

a) Coupling
b) maintainability
c) portability
d) ease of operation

25. The quality factor “ease of use” is best measured by doing what type of testing?

a) Performance test
b) manual support test
c) white box test
d) acceptance test

26. Portability refers to

a) How easy it is to transfer a program to other hardware or OS
b) whether it’s possible to uninstall the program
c) both of these
d) neither of these

27. The effort required to interconnect components of an application to other applications for data transfer is:

a) Coupling
b) I/O
c) flowchart analysis
d) system testing

28. If defects are hard to find, that’s a sign that…

a) Test coverage is inadequate
b) there are errors in the test scripts
c) neither of these
d) either of these

29. Which way(s) can lower the cost of testing without reducing it’s effectiveness?

a) Phase containment
b) the V concept of testing
c) testing the artifacts of each development phase, not just the program itself
d) all of the above

30. ________ ensures that we designed and built the right system, while _________ ensures that the system works as designed.

a) Validation, verification
b) white box testing, black box testing
c) verification, validation
d) the project manager, the test team

31. Walkthroughs, peer reviews, and other structural tests tend to be __________ tasks

a) Verification
b) quality control
c) quality assurance
d) validation

32. Input, Procedures to DO, Procedures to CHECK, and Output are the four components of the:

a) Workbench concept
b) test phase
c) reporting cycle
d) Shewhart cycle

33. Which of these are considerations when developing testing methodologies?

a) The type of development project, the type of software system
b) tactical risks, project scope
c) both of these
d) neither of these

34. Deriving test cases based on known program structure and logic is…

a) Control testing
b) white box testing
c) black box testing
d) fault-driven testing

35. Functional testing that simulates the end user’s actions is known as…

a) Access control testing
b) performance testing
c) black box testing
d) structural testing

36. Breaking variables into chunks that should have the same expected results is:

a) Workbench
b) usability testing
c) equivalence partitioning
d) data mapping

37. Developing tests based on where you think the program’s weak points are is known as

a) Error-handling testing
b) risk based testing
c) error guessing
d) negative testing

38. Top-down and Bottom-up are two ways to approach

a) Incremental testing
b) thread testing
c) boundary analysis
d) none of these

39. An end-to-end, task based test that uses integrated components of a system is a…

a) Performance test
b) thread test
c) unit test
d) structural test

40. Which is a benefit of having a user committee develop the company’s test policy?

a) All involved parties participate and sign off
b) outside users learn the options and costs associated with testing
c) testing and quality are seen as organization-wide responsibilities, not just IT
d) all of these

41. Which of these types of reviews is NOT an effective phase containment mechanism?

a) Post implementation review
b) decision point review
c) phase end review
d) in process review

42. Which of these was not a Quality professional?

a) Deming
b) Townsend
c) Juran
d) Pareto

43. The successful implementation of a quality improvement program will have what long-term effect on productivity?

a) There is no relationship between quality and productivity
b) it will lower productivity
c) it will raise productivity
d) productivity will remain the same

44. Which of these are some of Deming’s 7 Deadly Management Diseases?

a) Lack of constancy of purpose and emphasis on short-term profits
b) evaluation of performance or annual review of performance
c) running an organization on visible figures alone and excessive costs of warranty
d) all of these

45. The scientific method is

a) Relevant to developers
b) a logical, systematic approach to processes
c) useful when developing test cases
d) all of these

46. Deming’s biggest contribution to the quality profession is:

a) Zero Defects Day
b) Using slogans and targets to motivate the work force
c) focusing on process improvement, not the product itself
d) all of these

47. Instituting pride in workmanship and eliminating numerical quotas were suggestions for management created by

a) Pareto
b) Shewhart
c) Deming
d) Juran

48. Which is an important source of data for Continuous Process Improvement?

a) Defect databases
b) Post-mortems
c) Neither of these
d) both of these

49. Who should NOT participate in testing?

a) End users
b) developers’
c) management
d) all should participate

50. According to Deming, 90% of defects are attributable to:

a) Vague user requirements
b) programmer error
c) process problems
d) communication errors

51. Which of these are NOT test factors

a) Error guessing, incremental testing, boundary analysis
b) compliance, reliability, access control
c) correctness, audit trail, continuity of processing
d) maintainability, portability, ease of operation

52. A test strategy matrix does not include:

a) Test phases
b) risks
c) test factors
d) script mapping

53. Of the four options listed below, which is able to detect an infeasible path?

a) Performance testing
b) black box testing
c) structural testing
d) manual support testing

54. Black box testing, thread testing, and incremental testing are all kinds of:

a) Dynamic testing
b) static analysis
c) both of these
d) neither of these

55. Which catches errors earlier, verification or validation?

a) Verification
b) Validation
c) Neither
d) Both

56. Mapping requirements to tests in order to prove that the system functions as designed is known as:

a) Data mapping
b) requirement validation
c) requirements tracing
d) metrics gathering

57. Who should not be allowed to participate in and contribute to the improvement of processes?

a) Line workers
b) nobody – all should be allowed
c) the author of the original process
d) management

58. Improving weaknesses in a process you just piloted is an example of which piece of the Shewhart cycle?

a) Do
b) Act
c) Plan
d) Check

III. Tester’s Role

1. Which document contains both technical and non-technical instructions to users during setup?
a) Operations manual
b) user’s manual
c) system specifications
d) installation and conversion plan

2. Which is true of Security and Internal Control-related specs?
a) They must be written in a testable manner
b) They should be part of a living document that is updated during each phase
c) they must have signoff from security experts and testers
d) all of the above

3. A short, preliminary document that states deficiencies in existing capabilities, new or changed requirements, or opportunities for increased economy or efficiency is known as a:

a) Statement of requirements
b) needs statement
c) change control
d) none of these

4. The test analysis and security evaluation report should include all of these EXCEPT:

a) Security evaluation sub-report
b) the capabilities and deficiencies
c) project signoff by all team members
d) Documents the test results and findings

5. The document that includes the physical characteristics for storage and design is…

a) System decision paper
b) specifications document
c) requirements document
d) data dictionary

6. A Feasibility Study should include:

a) Analysis of the objectives, requirements, and system concepts
b) evaluation of alternative approaches for achieving the objectives
c) identification of a proposed approach
d) all of the above

7. _________ Tests tend to uncover errors that occur during coding, while _______ tests tend to uncover errors that occur in implementing requirements or design specs.

a) Manual, automated
b) structural, functional
c) automated, manual
d) functional, structural

8. In the ___________, specific types of sensitive data are identiied, and the degree and nature of the sensitivity is outlined.

a) Data sensitivity/criticality description
b) data requirements document
c) functional specification
d) risk mitigation plan

9. The __________ identifies internal control and security vulnerabilities, the nature and magnitude of associated threats, potential forloss, and recommended safeguards. This should be a living document that is updated during each phase.

a) Statement of requirements
b) technical specification
c) needs statement
d) risk document

10. Which item(s) should be present in a VV&amp;T plan?

a) Detailed description of procedures
b) test data
c) evaluation criteria
d) All of the above

11. The functional/security specifications need to be approved…

a) During requirements
b) prior to the start of coding
c) only on high risk projects
d) none of these

12. Which is NOT true of the User Manual?

a) It should be written in non-technical terms
b) it contains a full description of how to use the application
c) it describes when to use the application
d) these are all true

13. Which of these are examples of structural system testing techniques?

a) Stress testing, execution testing, recovery testing, operations testing, compliance testing, security testing
b) Black box testing, requirements-based testing, usability testing
c) Compliance testing, requirements-based testing, black-box testing
d) coverage analysis, security testing, performance testing

14. The Cost Benefit Analysis…

a) Provides stakeholders with adequate cost and benefit information.
b) Might be a separate doc, or might be part of the feasibility study.
c) Neither of these
d) Both of these

15. The __________ is like a user manual but is more technical and geared toward Operations Personnel

a) Operations Manual
b) Technical Manual
c) Help System
d) none of these

16. The document that contains the definition of what is to be produced – including operating environment and development plan, proposed methods and procedures is…

a) Project plan
b) test plan
c) system specification
d) requirements document

17. Identifying important quality factors involves…

a) Considering the basic characteristics of hte application
b) considering the life cycle implications and performing trade-offs among the tentative list of quality factors
c) ranking all quality factors and noting the most important ones
d) all of the above

18. A System Decision Paper…

a) Records essential information such as mission need, milestones, threshholds, issues and risks, etc.
b) is the master document related tot he whole SDLC.
c) Will eventually include signoffs that the app is operating properly
d) all of the above

19. The ideal software testing process involves testing artifacts produced during development, such as requirements documents and design specifications.

a) True
b) False

20. Determining how the system functions when subjected to large volumes is known as:

a) Data-driven testing
b) Disaster testing
c) Performance testing
d) Stress testing

21. The document that includes all goals and activities for all phases, including resource estimates, methods for design, documentation, etc. through to installation and operation, is…

a) None of these
b) the system decision paper
c) the project plan
d) the risk analysis

IV. Test Management

1. Which is true of Suggestion Day?

a) It is a full staff offsite meeting to focus on quality improvement
b) all staff meets in one room to discuss all suggestions on the table
c) it uses the pare to principle to guide its agenda
d) It was proposed by Deming

2. Which of these is a “DON’T” when giving criticism?

a) Have the facts and be specific on expectations
b) be prepared to help them improve
c) do it in private
d) state the consequences if they do not improve

3. Which is not a good way to combat Groupthink?

a) Assign someone in the group to play Devil’s advocate
b) use outside experts as resources
c) inform the group that the meeting will last until a unanimous decision is reached
d) break the team up into subgroups

4. When delivering an Oral System Proposal, you should emphasize your enthusiasm to do the project, but not emphasize the expertise of yourself and your staff.

a) True
b) False

5. The formalized method of brainstorming, having a question and answer period, ranking solutions, and then thinking critically about them is known as:

a) Suggestion day
b) nominal group technique
c) continuous process improvement
d) affinity diagramming

6. Getting on the customer’s wavelength, getting the facts, taking notes, establishing an action program, and taking action are the recommended steps of…

a) Groupthink
b) requirements gathering
c) task force management
d) conflict resolution

7. The content of a System Proposal should include the people costs and the effects on other systems, as well as the standard cost benefit analysis.

a) True
b) False

8. It is acceptable to close the System Proposal without discussing everything on the agenda if the audience shows signs that they will approve the project.

a) False
b) True

9. Task forces should tackle more than one issue at a time.

a) False
b) True

10. The symptoms below refer to what phenomenon? – collective efforts to rationalize/discount negative info – tendency to ignore ethical or moral consequences to group decisions – stereotyped views of other groups – active pressure to change views

a) Loyalty
b) groupthink
c) an us vs them mentality
d) newspeak

11. Which one of these is NOT one of the three components of receiving information?

a) Responding to the speaker
b) attending to the speaker
c) hearing the speaker
d) understanding the speaker

12. The ideal size for a task force is:

a) 3-8 members
b) two people from each group that will be impacted by the decision
c) as many members as are interested in participating
d) 5 members

13. Therapeutic listening is:

a) Sympathetic, empathetic, and helps gain speaker’s confidence
b) useful in conflict resolution
c) helpful in understanding the reasons why events occurred
d) all of the above

14. If a person says “Sure, we will make the deadline” but has a smirk on their face, which two information channels are out of sync, and which should you pay more attention to?

a) Graphic channel and information channel – information channel
b) body channel and verbal channel – body channel
c) verbal channel and graphic channel – verbal channel
d) information channel and body channel – body channel

15. When trying to piece together facts from several different people, _________ listening is important.

a) Therapeutic
b) comprehensive
c) critical
d) appreciative

16. Which type of listening is typically not needed during a verbal walkthrough (Unless Phyllis is on the call)?

a) Critical listening
b) Comprehensive listening
c) Discriminative listening
d) Appreciative listening

17. Which of these is NOT a good way to portray a successful image?

a) Being purposeful in body language, making eye contact
b) being analytical and decisive
c) being brief, specific, and direct in conversation
d) not engaging in casual conversation with management

18. It is a good idea to give management regular updates on the current status of task force activities.

a) No, because the only output of the task force should be the final report, a unanimous decision
b) yes, because they need to approve further funding
c) no, because they will take credit for the task force’s work
d) yes, because they assigned you to the task force

19. ____________ is selective listening to determine what you are looking to hear, weeding out the rest

a) Critical listening
b) Comprehensive listening
c) Discriminative listening
d) Appreciative listening

20. Which of these is NOT an important part of initiating an action program for conflict resolution?

a) Admitting the error if you are responsible
b) taking action immediately
c) reporting the conflict to governance bodies
d) stating the solution and getting agreement on it

21. When group members experience strong feelings of solidarity and loyalty, the desire for unanimity may override the motivation to logically and realistically evaluate alternative courses of action…

a) it is usually BAD and leads to bad decisions.
b) it is called groupthink
c) both of these
d) neither of these

22. In order to get the “whole” message with minimal distortion, _______ listening is necessary.

a) Discriminative
b) Therapeutic
c) Comprehensive
d) Critical

V. Build the Test Environment

1. ________ and ________ are used within individual workbenches to produce the right output products.

a) Tools and techniques
b) procedures and standards
c) none of these
d) processes and walkthroughs

2. The Standards Manager’s role(s) include:

a) Training the standards committee
b) promoting the concept of standards
c) choosing members for ad hoc committees
d) a and b only

3. A Toolsmith is:

a) Always the head software engineer
b) the person with specialized knowledge of the tool being introduced
c) both of these
d) neither of these

4. Whose responsibility is it to set policies?

a) Testers
b) Senior management
c) Lead technical staff
d) Independent audit boards

5. Which of these is typically NOT the role of management during tool selection?

a) Identify tool objectives
b) define selection criteria
c) make the final selection of the tool or the source
d) prepare a ranked list of selection choices

6. If procedures and standards are working properly, they will:

a) Reduce the cost of doing work
b) increase quality
c) make budgets and schedules more predictable
d) all of the above

7. The standards program is driven by management policies, but workers should develop their own standards and procedures.

a) False
b) True

8. The software engineer’s role in tool selection is…

a) To identify, evaluate, and rank tools, and recommend tools to management
b) to determine what kind of tool is needed, then find it and buy it
c) to initiate the tool search and present a case to management
d) none of these

9. The highest level manager from each relevant group should be asked to join the standards committee

a) true
b) false

10. A standards program should:

a) Be able to enforce standards
b) roll out ad hoc committees to develop standards
c) both of these
d) neither of these

11. A valid risk to consider during tool selection is:

a) Difficult to use
b) requires excessive computer resources
c) lacks adequate documentation
d) all of the above

12. A _______ is the step-by-step method followed to ensure that standards are met

b) Project Plan
c) Policy
d) Procedure

13. It is advisable to follow the QAI- recommended set of steps during tool selection because…

a) A methodical process will help avoid the pitfalls of “just picking one”
b) it assigns a toolsmith who can troubleshoot or tune the tool to the organization’s needs
c) both of these
d) neither of these

14. A _______ is the emasure used to evaluate products and identify nonconformance.

a) Policy
b) standard
c) procedure
d) mission

15. The _______ should accept topics for standards, but the _________ should develop individual technical standards.

a) Standards committee, ad hoc committee
b) standards manager, ad hoc committee
c) standards committee, standards manager
d) standards manager, standards committee

16. The ________ defines quality as “meeting the requirements”

a) Producer
b) developer
c) consumer
d) tester

17. When developing ___________, it is important to ask these questions: – is every organizational function involved – are activities having a vested interest involved, such as authors

a) Developing standards
b) conducting walkthroughs
c) creating test cases
d) all of the above

18. A ________ is the managerial desires and intents concerning either process (intended objectives) or products (desired attributes)

a) Policy
b) procedure
c) standard
d) vision

19. When implementing a new tool, it is a good idea to assign one person full time to the tool’s deployment.

a) True
b) False

20. When doing an informal tool acquisition, it is still necessary to write an RFP.

a) True
b) False

VI. Test Design

1. A good test suite will include the following test(s)

a) Tests of normally occurring transactions
b) tests using invalid inputs
c) tests that violate established edit checks
d) A and B only
e) A, B, and C

2. Before performing volume testing, it is important to challenge each input and output data element, to determine potential limitations, and then document those limitations.

a) True
b) False

3. Before selecting which conditions you are going to include in your test suite, you should rank the test conditions according to risk.

a) Always true
b) True if there is a limited test budget
c) False

4. Analysis of test results should include…

a) System components affected
b) terminal and onscreen outputs
c) order of processing
d) compliance to specs
e) all of the above

5. Assuming you could reach 100% of any of the coverage types below, which one would leave the MOST potential for unexecuted code (and therefore, undiscovered errors)?

a) Modified decision coverage
b) global data coverage
c) statement coverage
d) branch coverage
e) decision/condition coverage

6. When evaluating whether a test suite is complete (eg, doing a peer review or inspection), Which of the following should NOT be considered?

a) Whether the scripts have appropriate sign on and setup procedures
b) Whether the scripts address all items on each (onscreen) menu
c) Whether the scripts include data setup and other prerequisites
d) Whether the scripts test single transactions, multiple transactions, or both
e) all should be considered

7. When performing volume testing, a small percentage of invalid data should be used.

a) True
b) False

8. A Pseudoconcurrency test is a test that validates…

a) Data security when two or more users access the same file at the same time
b) file integrity
c) volume testing
d) A and B only
e) A and C only

9. Which of these is not a good use of a code coverage analysis?

a) Simply to measure how well your test cases cover the code
b) analyze test coverage against system requirements
c) find “holes” in your testing and develop new test cases as supplements
d) start with black box testing, measure coverage, and use white box testing to test the remainder
e) All are good uses

10. Stop procedures are important in scripting because…

a) The person executing hte script needs to know what kinds of errors would invalidate hte rest of the script
b) the person running the script needs to know if they can pick up the script on a later step after logging a bug
c) both of these

11. Regardless of whether a script is manual or automated, it is important to consider:

a) Environmental constraints
b) think time
c) file states/contents
d) processing options
e) all of the above

12. When developing your test suite, you should NOT:

a) Use transactions with a wide range of valid and invalid input data
b) use all forms of documentation to guide test cases and the data associated with them
c) start by testing one data point at a time so you can isolate the cause of defects, then move on to combinatorial tests
d) attempt to test every possible combination of inputs
e) you should do all four of the above

VII. Performing Tests

1. Maintainability tests should be performed by…

a) The application developer
b) independent groups
c) QA
d) all of the above

2. Root cause of a defect should be recorded because…

a) It helps guide where more testing needs to be done
b) it helps QA analyze which processes need to be improved
c) it helps management know where bugs are coming from
d) all of the above


a) Ensure that testing complies with the organization’s policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines
b) ensure that all test cases have been executed
c) ensure that all defects have been fixed
d) b and c only

4. Integration testing should begin…

a) Once two or more components have been unit tested and critical defects fixed
b) once all components have been unit tested and critical defects fixed
c) once all components have been unit tested
d) once two or more components have been unit tested

5. Testing “handshakes” and other communication points from system to system is part of…

a) Coupling tests
b) system tests
c) user acceptance tests
d) all of the above

6. System testing should begin…

a) Once the minimal components have been integration tested
b) when the environment is ready
c) when test data is conditioned
d) all three of the above must be complete

7. When reporting a defect, which of these should be included?

a) Expected versus actual results
b) potential causes
c) which pass/fail criteria failed
d) all of the above

8. Negative tests to trigger data validation rules during file processing (to make sure they are kicked out) are an example of _______ testing

a) Error guessing
b) file integrity
c) authorization
d) equivalence partitioning

9. What is a good way to tell it’s time to stop system testing?

a) When the deadline is reached
b) when all testing hours are used up
c) when all scripts have been executed and all bugs have been fixed
d) when metrics such as MTTF, test coverage, and defect counts by severity reach acceptable levels

10. Which of these is not a typical way to test for the Reliability test factor?

a) Regression Testing
b) Compliance Testing
c) Functional Testing
d) Manual testing

11. When documenting the actual result of a test in a bug log, it is necessary to record the specific inputs and outputs used.

a) true
b) false

12. Which of these is NOT a significant concern surrounding the test phase?

a) Significant problems not uncovered during testing
b) too many meetings
c) inadequate time/resources – especially if project is late into testing
d) Software not ready for testing (too many showstopper bugs preventing test execution)

13. Trying to delete or overwrite controlled files, to make sure the files cannot be deleted or overwritten, are examples of what kind of test?

a) Functional tests
b) Error guessing
c) File integrity tests
d) Maintainability tests

14. When reporting a defect, it is especially important to document the effects of the bug, in terms of severity, because…

a) This will guide how much attention the defect gets, and when it will be fixed
b) only severe bugs will get fixed
c) it keeps the programmers in their place
d) none of the above

VIII. Defect Tracking and Correction

1. The main steps in defect resolution are Prioritization, Scheduling, Fixing, Reporting

a) True
b) False

2. The scheduling of fixes should be based primarily on…

a) Defect counts
b) the overall project schedule
c) defect priority

3. Fixing a defect involves

a) The developers making and unit testing the fix
b) QA retesting the fix and validating it
c) regression testing surrounding the fix
d) QA reviewing scripts, test data, etc to see if updates need to be made
e) all of the above

4. Which of the following are ways to use the defect log to drive process improvement?

a) Go back to the process which originated the defect and find out what caused it
go back to the validation steps in that phase and find out why it wasn’t caught earlier
b) think about what other kinds of things might have been missed, given that this bug “snuck through”
c) look at the fix history of the bug to find out if it could have been handled more
d) all of the above

5. The minimum requirements for a defect management process include all but which of these?

a) Defect to risk mapping
b) defect prevention measures
c) defect discovery, naming, and resolution
d) process improvement
e) deliverable baselining

6. Reducing the impact of a risk, should it occur, is an effective way to minimize risk.

a) True
b) False

7. Who should be involved in prioritizing fixes for valid defects found during system testing?

a) QA
b) the users
c) the project team
d) Developers

8. Which of the following techniques is not a common way to minimize expected risks?

a) Training and Education (both the workforce and the customers)
b) ranking risks using Pareto voting
c) Defensive Code
d) Defensive Design
e) Quality Assurance, Methodology and Standards

9. Which is cheaper, preventing defects or fixing them?

a) Preventing
b) fixing

10. Deliverable baselining is:

a) baselining at the end of each phase and keeping change control processes in place
b) not counting defects caught and fixed before your phase.
c) identifying key variables and defining standards for each
d) A and C only
e) A, B, and C

11. Which of these is not a “best practice” for defect managment?

a) Automate the capture and analysis of information wherever possible
b) strive to correct every reported defect before release
c) make defect management a risk-driven process
d) prevent defects or at least contain them within the phase they were discovered
e) use defect measurement to improve development

12. Which of these is not a valid purpose for reporting defects?

a) to correct the defect
b) to report the status of the application
c) to gather statistics to help develop expectations on future projects
d) to improve the development process
e) to show test coverage

13. A defect is “discovered” when

a) Development acknowledges a reported defect
b) none of the above
c) a tester observes a failure
d) development begins to work a reported defect
e) a tester reports a defect

14. ALE stands for

a) Annual Loss Expectation – a formula for judging risk
b) Acceptance Level Error – an error that was not caught until user acceptance testing
c) Audit Legal Effort – the amount of time billed to the project by the legal and audit staff
d) Assertion Loop Estimation – a measure of code complexity

15. Which of these refers to the “cost” of the risk?

a) Priority
b) severity

16. When reporting a defect it is important to…

a) Make sure it is reproducible, if possible
b) get it to the developer’s attention promptly
c) attempt to analyze the cause of hte defect
d) B and C only
e) A, B, and C

17. To estimate a risk’s expected impact, you should…

a) Estimate the expected frequency of the event and the amount of loss that would happen each time
b) try to put a dollar amount on it
c) confer with experts on the probability and severity of the risk
d) a and b only
e) all of the above

18. Along with a short title for the defect and what phase it was found in, what other data should be part of the defect’s “name”

a) Priority, like Urgent, High, Medium, Low
b) severity, like Critical, High, Medium, Low
c) steps to reproduce the error
d) data used to reproduce the error
e) categorization, like Missing, Inaccurate, Incomplete, Inconsistent

IX. Test Techniques

1. The testing method that uses statistical techniques to find out how faults in the program affect it’s failure rate is:

a) cyclomatic complexity
b) fault estimation
c) error guessing
d) statistical testing

2. Faults that cause input to be associated with the wrong path domain are called

a) Process flow inconsistencies
b) domain faults
c) computation faults
d) path errors

3. If you know that a developer tends to have extra errors in date-processing code, and decide to test dates harder than usual as a result, you are doing:

a) Risk based testing
b) static testing
c) error based testing
d) black box testing

4. Which of these is NOT an example of stress testing?

a) Entering transactions to determine that sufficient disk space has been allocated to the application
b) Ensuring that the communication capacity is sufficient to handle the volume of work by attempting to overload the network with transactions
c) Inducing a failure on one of the systems such that the program terminates.
d) Testing system overflow conditions by entering more transactions than can be accommodated by tables, queues, internal storage facilities, and so on

5. Fault seeding is instrumentation designed to

a) Populate an audit trail
b) estimate the number of bugs left in the code by measuring how many “bait” c) errors have not been found.
c) Measure how many branches have been tested
d) test error handling code

6. _______ attempts to decide what constitutes a sufficient set of paths to test.

a) boolean analysis
b) cyclomatic complexity
c) fault based testing
d) perturbation testing

7. Testing to determine whether the system can meet the specific performance criteria is referred to as:

a) Compliance testing
b) Stress testing
c) Execution testing
d) Criteria based testing

8. Which type of testing gives you the best coverage?

a) Expression testing
b) branch testing
c) statement testing
d) condition testing

9. Tests to determine the ability of the application to properly process incorrect transactions are:

a) Error handling testing
b) failure testing
c) compliance testing
d) security testing

10. Crashing a server to ensure that backup data and processes are adequate is an example of:

a) Operations testing
b) Intersystem testing
c) Error Handling testing
d) Recovery testing

11. Syntax testing evaluates the program’s ability to handle:

a) Data outside the normal range
b) process flows
c) incorrectly formatted data
d) report generation

12. Which of these is an objective of Operations testing?

a) Executing each function in the Requirements document
b) Making sure that the system can interact with other related systems
c) determining that user documentation has been prepared and documented
d) crashing a server to test recovery procedures

13. Cost benefits analysis is particularly important during _________ testing, otherwise, large amounts of effort can be expended with minimal payback.

a) Requirements
b) unit
c) regression
d) functional

14. Code reviews and inspections to make sure programming standards are followed is known as:

a) Unit Testing
b) Desk Check
c) Compliance testing
d) Walkthrough

15. Which of these are all types of structural testing?

a) Fault estimation, domain testing, regression testing, condition testing
b) regression testing, condition testing, manual support testing
c) statement testing, branch testing, conditional testing, expression testing, path testing
d) expression testing, path testing, control testing, security testing

16. Which of these is the main objective of Security Testing?

a) Determining that application processing complies with the organization’s policies and procedures
b) Determining that system test data and test conditions remain current.
c) Conducting redundant processing to ensure that the new version of the application performs correctly
d) determining that a realistic definition and enforcement of access to the system has been implemented


a) Equivalence partitioning
b) special value testing
c) axiomatic analysis
d) none of the above

18. Which of these are examples of Requirements testing?

a) Creating a test matrix to prove that the documented requirements match what the user asked for
b) using a checklist prepared specifically for the application to verify the app’s compliance to organizational policies and governmental regulations
c) Determining that the system meets the audit requirements
d) All of the above

19. A concise method of representing equivalence partitioning is:

a) a state machine
b) a complete data set
c) not possible
d) a decision table

20. Local extent, finite breadth and global extent, infinite breadth are two types of:

a) Static analysis
b) fault based testing
c) test results
d) statistical tests

21. Complexity measures, data flow analysis, and symbolic execution are all static testing methods known as:

a) Structural testing
b) structural analysis
c) branch testing
d) desk checks

22. Input Domain testing uses

a) Test data that covers the extremes of each input domain
b) test data that covers the midrange of each input domain
c) boundary analysis and equivalence partitioning
d) all of the above

23. A technique that produces a finite class of faults, but will crash the whole program, is known as:

a) local extent, finite breadth
b) global extent, infinite breadth
c) local extent, infinite breadth
d) Global extent, Finite breadth

24. Selecting test data on the basis of features of the function to be computed is called

a) Axiomatic analysis
b) error guessing
c) branch testing
d) special value testing

25. Coming up with tasks for the end-user to do, and then watching them do it for the purposes of making sure their procedures are correct is:

a) Regression testing
b) intersystem testing
c) functional testing
d) manual support testing

26. When is it appropriate to use intersystem testing?

a) Coding phase
b) testing phase
c) implementation phase
d) all of the above

27. Output domain coverage is

a) a type of equivalence partitioning that ensures that all possible classes of outputs have been generated by the tests
b) ensuring that the output is readable
c) ensuring that the output is stored in the appropriate domain
d) none of the above

28. Which of the following can be used as test oracles?

a) An executable spec
b) an older version of the program
c) independently generated spreadsheets and prediction models
d) all of the above

29. Control testing is a broader term that includes

a) Error handling
b) functional analysis
c) axiomatic testing
d) all of the above

30. Functional analysis is a ______ testing technique, whereas functional testing is a _________ testing technique.

a) Static, dynamic
b) unit, integration
c) dynamic, static
d) integration, unit

31. Test stubs and harnesses are most often used during:

a) Unit testing
b) integration testing
c) system testing
d) all of the above

32. Comparing the old version of a program against a new one under test, in order to determine that the new system produces the correct results, is:

a) Parallel testing
b) regression testing
c) intersystem testing
d) state machines technique

33. All of the following are specification techniques EXCEPT

a) Algebraic
b) tractability matrix
c) axiomatic
d) decision tables

34. All of the following might be done during unit testing EXCEPT:

a) Desk check
b) manual support testing
c) walkthrough
d) compiler based testing

Useful Links

Introduction to ISTQB Certification
Software Testing Interview Questions for Beginners
SQL Interview Questions and Answers for Beginners
SDLC Interview Questions and Answers
Interview Questions on Test Planning
Software Test Design Techniques
Software Test Case Writing
Software Defect Management
A Sample Test Summary Report
Software Test Metrics Report
Software Quality Standards
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