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ISTQB CTAL-TA practice questions

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Question 1The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which of the following is an example of a product risk rather than a project risk?

  1. The invoice module calculates discount totals incorrectly Correct answer.
  2. The test environment is delivered two weeks later than planned
  3. A senior developer leaves the team before the release date
  4. The project budget is reduced halfway through the test phase

Explanation

Product risks concern the quality and behaviour of the thing being delivered, so a wrong calculation in a delivered module is a product risk. Project risks concern the management of the project itself, such as resources, schedule, budget and environments.

Question 2The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A product risk has been rated with a likelihood of 4 and an impact of 3 on a five-point scale. Using the standard risk level calculation, what is the risk level?

  1. 12 Correct answer.
  2. 4
  3. 1.33
  4. 7

Explanation

In risk-based testing the risk level is obtained by multiplying the likelihood rating by the impact rating. With likelihood 4 and impact 3 the resulting level is 12, which can then be compared with other risks or plotted on a risk matrix.

Question 3The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which technique is used during risk identification to structure the contributing causes that could lead to a product risk?

  1. State transition testing
  2. Decision table testing
  3. Boundary value analysis
  4. Cause-effect (fishbone) diagram Correct answer.

Explanation

A cause-effect or fishbone diagram groups the factors that could contribute to a problem, which helps a team to identify risks systematically. The other three options are test design techniques used later to derive test cases rather than to identify risks.

Question 4The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which of the following is a typical test analyst task within risk-based testing?

  1. Deciding the organisation's overall risk appetite
  2. Identifying product risks and using them to guide test design Correct answer.
  3. Allocating the project's contingency budget
  4. Approving the project's risk management policy

Explanation

The test analyst contributes detailed product and domain knowledge to risk identification and assessment, and then applies the resulting risk levels when selecting test conditions and designing tests. Policy-level and budgetary decisions sit with management, not with the analyst.

Question 5The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

How does testing act as a risk mitigation measure in risk-based testing?

  1. By transferring the consequences of failure to a third party
  2. By guaranteeing that no defect remains in the product once all planned tests have passed
  3. By removing the need to monitor risks once tests have passed
  4. By detecting defects in high-risk areas, reducing the chance of failure Correct answer.

Explanation

Running tests that target the highest-risk areas finds defects early, which lowers the likelihood that a failure reaches operation. Testing reduces risk; it does not eliminate it or replace the need for continuing risk monitoring.

Question 6The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

When execution time is limited, which test cases should be run first under a risk-based approach?

  1. The test cases written most recently
  2. The test cases covering the highest-risk test conditions Correct answer.
  3. The test cases covering the simplest functionality
  4. The quickest test cases to execute

Explanation

Risk-based prioritisation orders test execution so that the greatest risk is addressed earliest, maximising the value obtained from the time available. Speed of execution, age of the test case and simplicity are not risk indicators and can leave the most dangerous areas untested.

Question 7The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

When does risk identification and assessment normally start in the test process?

  1. During test execution, once defects are found
  2. After the first regression cycle
  3. At the end of the project, during test closure
  4. During test planning, before detailed test design Correct answer.

Explanation

Risk levels are needed to decide what to test and how thoroughly, so identification and assessment are carried out during test planning and feed directly into test analysis and design. They are then revisited iteratively as new information appears.

Question 8The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which of the following is a non-functional product risk?

  1. An order total is calculated with the wrong tax rate
  2. A mandatory field accepts an empty value
  3. Response time under peak load exceeds the agreed service level Correct answer.
  4. A confirmation e-mail is sent to the wrong recipient

Explanation

Non-functional risks concern characteristics such as performance, usability, security and reliability rather than what the system does. Response time under peak load is a performance characteristic, whereas the other options describe incorrect functional behaviour.

Question 9The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A test analyst is helping to identify product risks for a new quotation system. Which source is most likely to surface risks that the current requirements have not yet captured?

  1. The project's resource allocation spreadsheet for the current year
  2. The licence terms of the test management tool used by the project
  3. Defect reports from an earlier similar system in the same business Correct answer.
  4. The requirements specification for the new system on its own

Explanation

Historical defect information from comparable systems reveals failure patterns and domain pitfalls that documented requirements usually omit. Requirements describe intended behaviour, so they cannot by themselves expose the areas where the organisation has repeatedly failed before.

Question 10The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Why should test analysts involve business stakeholders in risk identification and assessment?

  1. Stakeholders are responsible for executing all of the acceptance test cases
  2. Stakeholders must approve every individual test case
  3. They supply business impact knowledge and can validate risk levels Correct answer.
  4. Stakeholders own the detailed test design

Explanation

Business stakeholders understand the commercial and operational consequences of failure, which is essential for rating impact correctly. Their involvement also gives credibility to the agreed risk levels that will drive test prioritisation.

Question 11The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Two test conditions relate to the same feature; one has a high risk level and the other a medium risk level. What should the test analyst do?

  1. Apply identical coverage to both so that the results are comparable
  2. Test the medium-risk condition first because it requires less effort
  3. Apply more rigorous techniques and deeper coverage to the high-risk condition Correct answer.
  4. Omit the high-risk condition because thorough testing costs too much effort overall

Explanation

Risk level drives test intensity: higher-risk conditions justify more thorough test design techniques, more coverage and earlier execution. Treating unequal risks identically dilutes effort, and dropping the highest risk is precisely the wrong response.

Question 12The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

What does residual risk mean in risk-based testing?

  1. Risk that is removed once all planned tests have passed
  2. Risk caused by automating test execution
  3. The risk that the project will exceed its schedule
  4. The risk remaining after planned mitigation and testing are complete Correct answer.

Explanation

Residual risk is what is left over once the planned mitigation activities, including testing, have been carried out. It is reported to stakeholders because it represents the exposure the organisation accepts by releasing the product.

Question 13The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

During test execution a test analyst uncovers a product risk that was not identified earlier. What is the most appropriate action?

  1. Record and assess it with stakeholders and report it for handling Correct answer.
  2. Ignore it, because the risk identification phase is finished
  3. Lower its impact rating until it falls below the reporting threshold
  4. Log it as a defect and take no further action

Explanation

Risk identification is iterative, so newly discovered risks must be captured, assessed with the people who understand their consequences, and fed back into the test approach and reporting. Suppressing or ignoring the information leaves the exposure unmanaged.

Question 14The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A project cannot achieve full requirement coverage before the release date. How does risk-based testing help in this situation?

  1. It focuses coverage on the highest-risk requirements, keeping risk acceptable Correct answer.
  2. It removes the need to report to stakeholders which requirements were left untested
  3. It allows testing to stop once the number of planned test cases is reached
  4. It guarantees full coverage by shortening each individual test case

Explanation

When coverage must be traded against time, risk-based testing directs the available effort to the requirements where failure would hurt most. The untested remainder is then known to carry lower risk, and that residual risk must still be reported.

Question 15The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which risk response involves arranging for another party, such as a supplier or an insurer, to bear the consequences of a risk?

  1. Risk transfer Correct answer.
  2. Risk mitigation
  3. Risk acceptance
  4. Risk avoidance

Explanation

Risk transfer shifts the financial or contractual consequences of a risk to a third party. Avoidance removes the activity that creates the risk, acceptance simply tolerates it, and mitigation reduces its likelihood or impact.

Question 16The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which risk identification approach relies on a predefined list of typical risk items that is tailored to the domain and reused across projects?

  1. Cost-benefit analysis
  2. Checklist-based risk identification Correct answer.
  3. Random sampling
  4. Exploratory testing charters

Explanation

Checklists capture knowledge of typical risks drawn from the domain and from past projects, giving a repeatable way to prompt identification. They must still be reviewed and updated, since a stale checklist will miss new risks.

Question 17The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Why do organisations categorise product risks, for example into functional, non-functional and technical risks, before assessing them?

  1. So that the total number of test cases can be fixed in advance of the assessment
  2. So that suitable expertise and criteria can be applied per category Correct answer.
  3. So that every risk receives the same rating
  4. So that project risks can be excluded from the assessment

Explanation

Different risk categories require different knowledge, so categorising first lets the appropriate specialists assess each group against relevant criteria. It also helps ensure that categories such as performance or security are not overlooked while functional risks dominate the discussion.

Question 18The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

How does risk-based testing influence the selection of regression tests after a change?

  1. Regression tests are prioritised by the risk of the affected areas Correct answer.
  2. Regression tests are chosen only from the changed code's unit tests
  3. Regression tests are chosen alphabetically by test case name
  4. Regression tests are chosen at random to save selection effort

Explanation

The risk associated with the areas touched by a change determines which regression tests are selected and in what order they run. This keeps the regression suite proportional to the actual exposure introduced by the change.

Question 19The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which risk information is most useful to stakeholders when deciding whether a release is acceptable?

  1. The level of each significant risk and the residual risk after tests so far Correct answer.
  2. The number of testers assigned to each test level and their experience
  3. The total number of test cases designed by the team
  4. The percentage of test cases that have been automated

Explanation

Release decisions rest on how much exposure remains, so stakeholders need the current risk levels and the residual risk after executed mitigation. Volume metrics such as test case counts or automation percentages describe activity, not exposure.

Question 20The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

In a risk-based approach, how should test effort be distributed across a system's components?

  1. According to the chronological order in which the components were built by the team
  2. According to the number of lines of code in each component
  3. Equally across all components so that no single component is treated as favoured
  4. In proportion to each component's risk level, highest risk getting most effort Correct answer.

Explanation

Risk level is the allocation driver, so components carrying the greatest combined likelihood and impact receive the largest share of effort. Even distribution or allocation by code size or build order ignores where failures would actually hurt most.

Question 21The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which of the following would most directly increase the assessed likelihood of a product risk?

  1. The consequences of failure include financial loss
  2. The failure would affect the safety of end users
  3. The logic is complex and newly developed Correct answer.
  4. Only a small number of users would be affected

Explanation

Likelihood reflects how probable a failure is, and complexity combined with inexperience with new code raises the chance of defects. Financial loss, safety consequences and the number of affected users are impact considerations instead.

Question 22The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A risk workshop rates almost every product risk as high, because participants are unwilling to downgrade any concern. What is the most significant consequence for the test effort?

  1. Test coverage automatically increases across the whole product and its interfaces
  2. The risk assessment becomes easier to review
  3. Stakeholders receive more accurate information about residual risk
  4. Prioritisation loses its discriminating power and effort is misdirected Correct answer.

Explanation

Risk-based testing depends on differences between risk levels to guide sequencing and depth of testing. If everything is rated high, nothing can be prioritised, and the available effort is spread thinly instead of being concentrated on the genuine exposures.

Question 23The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Why is risk-based testing treated as an iterative activity rather than a one-off planning step?

  1. Because stakeholders take turns to own the risk register
  2. Because risk levels change as the project gains information Correct answer.
  3. Because the risk matrix must be re-drawn for every test case
  4. Because testing must restart whenever a defect is raised

Explanation

As design decisions are made, defects are found and mitigation is applied, the likelihood and impact of each risk shift, so identification, assessment and mitigation are repeated. This keeps the test approach aligned with the current exposure rather than the assumptions made at the start.

Question 24The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Why can risk-based testing never guarantee the absence of critical failures in production?

  1. Because high-risk areas are tested last
  2. Because risk assessment uses subjective judgements that are rarely reviewed by anyone
  3. Because regression testing is always incomplete
  4. Because testing reduces but cannot eliminate risk, leaving residual risk Correct answer.

Explanation

Testing lowers the likelihood and impact of failure but cannot prove that no defect exists, so an irreducible residual risk always remains. Testers report that residual risk so that informed release decisions can be made.

Question 25The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A product risk has a very high impact but a very low likelihood. What is the most appropriate risk-based testing response?

  1. Include proportionate tests of the controls guarding against it and keep it reported Correct answer.
  2. Dismiss the risk because its likelihood is negligible
  3. Treat it exactly like every other risk to keep the approach unbiased
  4. Assign levels of coverage identical to those given to the highest-likelihood risks

Explanation

The overall risk level is moderate because the two factors offset each other, so a proportionate but not exhaustive set of tests is justified. Because the consequence would be severe, the risk stays visible in reporting so that stakeholders can decide on any further mitigation.

Question 26The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

In risk-based testing, how is the level of risk exposure for a product risk normally determined?

  1. By multiplying the assessed likelihood by the assessed impact Correct answer.
  2. By dividing the assessed impact by the assessed likelihood
  3. By adding the assessed likelihood to the assessed impact
  4. By taking the higher of the assessed likelihood and the assessed impact

Explanation

Risk exposure combines both dimensions of a risk, so the usual convention is to multiply likelihood by impact. A risk that is both probable and damaging therefore scores highest, which is what makes the rating useful for prioritising test effort.

Question 27The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which of the following is a project risk rather than a product risk?

  1. The screen text may be misunderstood by non-native speakers
  2. The development team has no prior experience with the selected technology stack Correct answer.
  3. The system may respond too slowly during peak transaction volumes
  4. The calculation of monthly interest may produce incorrect values

Explanation

Project risks affect the ability of the project to deliver its objectives, such as skills, staffing, schedule and tooling. Product risks concern quality characteristics of the system being built, such as functional correctness, performance and usability.

Question 28The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

What does a high risk level typically justify during test design?

  1. Reducing the number of test cases to save time
  2. Deferring all testing of the component to the next test level
  3. Replacing dynamic testing with a single requirements review
  4. Applying more thorough test design techniques and achieving broader coverage Correct answer.

Explanation

Risk level drives test intensity: high-risk items warrant more exhaustive techniques, more test data and broader coverage, while low-risk items can be tested more lightly. This proportional allocation is the central mechanism of risk-based testing.

Question 29The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Where are identified product risks, together with their likelihood, impact and current status, typically recorded and tracked?

  1. The incident management log
  2. The risk register Correct answer.
  3. The test summary report
  4. The requirements traceability matrix

Explanation

The risk register is the repository in which risks are recorded, assessed, assigned owners and tracked through their responses and status changes. It provides the shared view of risk that test planning and test control rely on.

Question 30The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which activity is typically a test analyst's contribution to risk-based testing?

  1. Signing off business risks on behalf of the business stakeholders
  2. Approving the project budget and the overall release schedule
  3. Providing input on product risks using test experience and technical knowledge Correct answer.
  4. Setting the organisation's risk appetite on behalf of senior management

Explanation

Test analysts contribute detailed product and technical risk insight drawn from test experience, domain knowledge and analysis of the system under test. Business risk ownership stays with business stakeholders, and risk appetite is set at management level.

Question 31The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A feature has been rated as high risk. What is the most appropriate effect on the test design for that feature?

  1. Test only the single most common business transaction
  2. Select more thorough techniques, such as boundary value analysis and decision tables, with wider coverage Correct answer.
  3. Use only positive test cases to confirm the feature works as described
  4. Restrict test data to one representative value per input field

Explanation

High risk justifies the more rigorous test design techniques and greater coverage needed to expose subtle defects. Low-risk features can be covered with lighter, less exhaustive test designs.

Question 32The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Which situation best describes the risk response known as risk acceptance?

  1. The organisation decides to live with the risk because the cost of mitigation exceeds the potential loss Correct answer.
  2. A second server is added so that a failure of one does not stop the service
  3. The risky feature is removed from the release scope entirely
  4. The project takes out an insurance policy against financial loss from the feature

Explanation

Acceptance means acknowledging a risk and tolerating it without further action, typically because mitigation would cost more than the potential loss or because exposure is within tolerance. The decision should be recorded and revisited as the risk picture changes.

Question 33The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

When product risks are allocated to test levels, what is the guiding principle?

  1. Risk allocation is arbitrary and can be decided by the test analyst alone
  2. The highest risks should always be assigned to acceptance testing
  3. Each risk should be addressed at the test level where it can be detected most effectively and economically Correct answer.
  4. Every product risk should be tested at the unit test level before any other level

Explanation

Risk-based testing assigns each risk to the level at which it is most likely to be detected early and at reasonable cost. Some risks are best caught in unit or integration testing, while others only become visible in system or acceptance testing.

Question 34The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

What does an organisation's risk appetite describe?

  1. The amount of risk it is willing to tolerate in pursuit of its objectives Correct answer.
  2. The maximum number of test cases that may be executed before a release
  3. The maximum number of product risks that may be entered in the risk register
  4. The speed at which test execution must proceed to meet the schedule

Explanation

Risk appetite, sometimes called risk tolerance, expresses how much exposure the organisation is prepared to carry. It frames decisions such as whether the residual risk at release is acceptable.

Question 35The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A test analyst has a limited exploratory testing session in an area known to be high risk. What is the best use of the session time?

  1. Focus the session charters on the highest-risk conditions and likely failure modes Correct answer.
  2. Spend the session updating the test plan and test strategy documents
  3. Sample screens at random to maximise the number of screens visited
  4. Re-execute the previously passed test cases in the same area

Explanation

Exploratory testing sessions are chartered, and in a risk-based approach those charters should target the areas, conditions and failure modes that carry the greatest risk. Random or repetitive activity dilutes the time available for risk-driven investigation.

Question 36The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

How can product risk levels be used to define exit criteria?

  1. Exit when all identified product risks have been eliminated from the risk register
  2. Exit when every planned test case has been executed at least once, regardless of the results obtained
  3. Exit when the test log and incident reports have been completed and circulated to the project team
  4. Exit when agreed risk coverage is reached and no high-severity defects remain open in high-risk areas Correct answer.

Explanation

Risk-based exit criteria express the level of risk coverage and defect status the organisation is prepared to accept. They link the decision to stop testing to the residual risk in the highest-risk areas rather than to activity counts alone.

Question 37The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

A risk matrix plots likelihood against impact, and two product risks fall in the same cell. What can reasonably be concluded?

  1. The two risks have the same assessed exposure and may need further discrimination using other factors Correct answer.
  2. The risk with the larger impact value is always the more important one
  3. Both risks must be tested with exactly the same techniques and effort
  4. The impact axis can be ignored once the cell has been identified

Explanation

Falling in the same cell means the combined likelihood and impact rating is equivalent, so the matrix alone cannot separate them. Further factors such as detectability, exposure duration or business criticality may be used to break the tie.

Question 38The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

Testing time allows only a limited sequence of tests. Test A covers a high-risk area but needs data produced by Test B, which covers a low-risk area. Which sequence is most appropriate?

  1. Run neither test and escalate the dependency to the project manager as a project risk
  2. Run Test B first, because its output is needed for Test A to deliver its high-risk coverage Correct answer.
  3. Run Test A first because it addresses the higher risk, and create the missing data manually if necessary
  4. Run Test B only, because low-risk tests are quicker to execute and free up time

Explanation

Risk-based ordering must respect dependencies: a low-risk prerequisite can be the enabler for high-risk coverage, so it is executed first. Prioritising purely by risk rating without considering dependencies can leave the highest-risk test blocked.

Question 39The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

In a risk workshop, participants rate risks highest when they recall a recent, vivid defect. Which bias is this, and what is an appropriate remedy?

  1. Anchoring bias; the remedy is to discard the highest estimate before averaging
  2. Groupthink; the remedy is to let the most senior participant decide the ratings alone
  3. Availability bias; the remedy is to use structured checklists, historical defect data and independent review Correct answer.
  4. Optimism bias; the remedy is to double every impact rating

Explanation

Availability bias occurs when recent or memorable events are overweighted in judgement. Structured identification, historical data and independent review provide a more balanced evidence base for assessment.

Question 40The Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing

During execution, several defects are found in a component whose risk was rated medium, and the team revises it to high. What is the most appropriate action?

  1. Lower the rating back to medium so that the overall risk profile stays within tolerance
  2. Re-prioritise the remaining tests, add or deepen tests for the component, and update the risk register Correct answer.
  3. Suspend all testing of the component until a full re-planning workshop can be arranged
  4. Continue with the original plan, because the risk register was approved at the start of the project

Explanation

Risk-based testing is iterative: new evidence from execution should feed back into the assessment and into test prioritisation. Raising the rating should increase the depth and priority of testing in that component and be reflected in the register.

Question 41Test Analysis and Design

Equivalence partitioning divides the input domain into:

  1. randomly selected test data sets
  2. boundary values together with their immediate neighbours
  3. paths through the control flow graph
  4. classes treated identically by the software Correct answer.

Explanation

Equivalence partitioning groups values into classes that the software is expected to process in the same way, so a single representative value per class is sufficient. Boundary values are the concern of boundary value analysis, and control-flow paths belong to white-box techniques.

Question 42Test Analysis and Design

A numeric input accepts values from 1 to 100 inclusive. Which set of values is produced by two-value boundary value analysis for this range?

  1. 0, 1, 2 and 99, 100, 101
  2. 0, 1, 100, 101 Correct answer.
  3. 1, 50, 100
  4. 1, 100

Explanation

Two-value boundary value analysis tests each boundary together with the closest value in the adjacent partition, giving 0 and 1 for the lower boundary and 100 and 101 for the upper boundary.

Question 43Test Analysis and Design

A function has two independent integer inputs, A with valid range 1 to 50 and B with valid range 1 to 10. Using three-value boundary value analysis, testing one variable at a time while the other is held at a nominal value, how many test cases are needed?

  1. 24
  2. 8
  3. 6
  4. 12 Correct answer.

Explanation

Three-value BVA uses three values per boundary (the boundary and one value on each side), so six values per variable. With the variables tested independently this gives 6 + 6 = 12 test cases.

Question 44Test Analysis and Design

A decision table has conditions C1 and C2 and action A. Action A is taken whenever C2 is true, or when C2 is false and C1 is true; otherwise no action is taken. After applying don't-care entries and merging, how many rules remain?

  1. 5
  2. 3 Correct answer.
  3. 2
  4. 4

Explanation

The two rules with C2 true have identical actions and differ only in C1, so they merge into one rule with a don't-care entry in C1. The remaining two rules (C1 true with C2 false, and C1 false with C2 false) have different actions and stay separate, giving three rules.

Question 45Test Analysis and Design

Which coverage criterion requires every valid transition in a state transition diagram to be exercised at least once?

  1. decision coverage
  2. all states coverage
  3. all transitions coverage Correct answer.
  4. use case coverage

Explanation

All transitions coverage (also called 0-switch coverage) requires each valid transition between two states to be traversed at least once. All states coverage only requires that each state is entered, which can leave transitions untested.

Question 46Test Analysis and Design

A state machine has the valid transitions S1 to S2, S2 to S3, S3 to S1 and S2 to S1, with S1 as the initial state. What is the minimum number of test cases needed to achieve all transitions coverage?

  1. 4
  2. 2 Correct answer.
  3. 3
  4. 1

Explanation

A single test case can traverse several transitions, so the minimum is the smallest number of paths that together cover every transition. The path S1-S2-S3-S1 covers three transitions and the path S1-S2-S1 covers the remaining one, so two test cases suffice.

Question 47Test Analysis and Design

In use case testing, which test set provides the strongest coverage of a single use case?

  1. one test for each precondition of the use case
  2. one test for the basic flow only
  3. tests for the basic flow and each alternative flow Correct answer.
  4. one test per actor involved in the use case

Explanation

Use case testing derives tests from the basic flow and from each alternative and exception flow, because each flow represents distinct behaviour to be verified. Actors and preconditions are inputs to the design, not coverage items themselves.

Question 48Test Analysis and Design

Why is pairwise (all-pairs) testing used?

  1. it removes the need for boundary value analysis
  2. it covers every full combination of all parameter values exactly once
  3. it proves that no interaction defects remain in the product
  4. it covers every pair of values between two parameters Correct answer.

Explanation

All-pairs testing requires every combination of values of any two parameters to appear in at least one test case, which greatly reduces the number of tests compared with full combinatorial coverage while still finding most interaction defects.

Question 49Test Analysis and Design

A classification tree is used to:

  1. show the states and transitions of the test object
  2. rank requirements by their business risk
  3. structure test data by splitting aspects into classes Correct answer.
  4. record the hierarchical structure of the program's modules

Explanation

A classification tree models the input domain hierarchically: each classification (an aspect of the test object) is split into disjoint classes of values, and combinations of classes are selected to form test cases.

Question 50Test Analysis and Design

A test set achieves 100% decision coverage on a module. Which statement is true?

  1. no statement coverage can be measured
  2. 100% statement coverage is also achieved Correct answer.
  3. 100% condition coverage is also achieved
  4. only loop bodies remain uncovered

Explanation

Every decision outcome determines which statements are executed, so exercising all decision outcomes necessarily executes every statement at least once in structured code. The reverse does not hold, and atomic condition coverage is not implied.