BCS-O cheat sheet

Software Testing Certification

• The seven ISTQB Foundation principles: testing shows presence of defects, exhaustive testing is impossible, early testing saves cost, defect clustering, pesticide paradox, testing is context dependent, absence-of-errors fallacy.

• Test process phases in order: planning, monitoring and control, analysis, design, implementation, execution, completion; evaluation exit criteria closes each phase.

• Verification asks whether the product was built right against specification; validation asks whether the right product was built to meet user needs.

• Static testing (reviews, static analysis) finds defects without executing code; dynamic testing executes the software and observes behavior.

• Test levels: component, integration, system, acceptance; each level has distinct objectives, test bases, and typical defect types.

• Test types are orthogonal to levels: functional, non-functional, white-box (structural), and change-related (confirmation and regression).

• The V-model pairs each development phase with a test level; earlier test design shortens later execution and lowers defect-removal cost.

• Error is a human action, defect is a flaw in a work product, failure is observable incorrect behavior; a defect may exist without producing a failure.

• Retrospective and root-cause analysis after completion feed process improvement; defect reports must be objective, reproducible, and traceable to requirements.