ISTQB-BCS Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst(CTAL-TA) Quiz Questions and Answers

Consider the following specification for a train ticket application: • If you want to take a train after 9AM you get the ticket at the “Super-Saver“ price. • If you want to take a train before 6AM you get the ticket at a “Saver“ price. • At other times of the day you pay the standard price. • If you have a Railcard you get a 25% rebate for all tickets except “Super Saver” Using decision table testing, how many test cases are required to cover all non-redundant and feasible decision rules?

Answer :
  • 5 test cases

Explanation :

There are three conditions: before 6AM after 9AM Railcard This results in a non-collapsed decision table with 8 decision rules (columns). Two of the decision rules are infeasible because the conditions after 9AM and before 6AM cannot both be true. This reduces the number of decision rules to 6. There are 4 actions: Super-Saver price Saver price Standard Price 25% discount given. The following two decision rules result in identical (redundant) actions where the only action which is true is “Super-Saver price”: 1. before 6AM = false, after 9AM = true, Railcard = true, Action = Super-Saver price, other actions = false 2. before 6AM = false, after 9AM = true, Railcard = false, Action = Super-Saver price, other actions = false One of these decision rules can be eliminated. The result is 5 non-redundant and feasible decion rules (i.e. 5 test cases).

The insurance company GoodHealth has launched a new health insurance product - for all customers both new and existing - with the following specification: Standard premium fee is 500€. A bonus program offers customers buying the health insurance product with a 25€ discount to the standard premium fee to accept participating in the medical tests even if they are not participating. The customers get a 25€ discount to the standard premium for each one of four medical tests (BMI, blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol) that they take as part of the yearly medical test plus an extra 75€ if they take all the tests. How many test cases are needed when using a collapsed decision table? How many test cases are needed when using a non-collapsed decision table but with the limitation to test customers who do not accept to participate in any medical tests, only with one test case? a) 4 tests are needed for a collapsed decision table. b) 5 tests are needed for a collapsed decision table. c) 6 tests are needed for a collapsed decision table. d) 16 are needed for the not-collapsed decision table. e) 17 are needed for the not-collapsed decision table.

Answer :
  • C AND E

Explanation :

C: not accepting to participate = 500 in premium, accepting to participate but failing to show up for some reason = (500 – 25) = 475. Participating with any combination of 1, 2, 3, or 4 tests will add 4 more test cases with different outcomes. See attached decision table. E: 1 test case for not accepting to participate at all + 2*2*2*2 to cover the possibilities of yes and no in participating in the 4 tests, see decision table also in spreadsheet. (It makes no sense to do 15 more tests for people not accepting to participate since they will all result in the same negative result of not participating in any test, so they are not done due to the restriction. If this restriction had not been introduced, then the result would be 32 test cases).

The marketing department of insurance company, SecureLife, has started a project called HIPPOS (Health Insurance Product Public Order Sales). The purpose of the project is to create a new Internet application where potential customers can calculate insurance premiums and bonuses based on age and different health factors. The new application will also make it possible for individual customers to order health insurance products online. The tool and web page created by project HIPPOS will be developed and tested by SecureLife’s Agile development team. The Agile development team has worked together for the last three years with the marketing department, developing web applications. The Agile team consists of well-trained testers and developers. They have implemented test automation for configuration and regression testing and they have built taxonomies of common defects and common security problems. In Project HIPPOS the Product Owner from Marketing has presented the following requirements to the Agile team before the first release planning meeting The Web health insurance calculator shall calculate according to the rules of calculation described by the actuary and insurance calculation business section The user interface of the Web Health Insurance Order application shall follow the same standards as the other marketing web applications and use a predefined setup of page frames and dialogs having been used during the last two years. The Web applications shall support the latest 3 versions of each of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Security must be at the same level as for other marketing web applications. The Agile team has been asked to prepare a testing strategy. The Product Owner asks the team to present their proposal for the use of testing techniques at the release planning meeting. Which of the following proposals best supports the given scenario?

Answer :
  • The Agile team will use Exploratory testing and defect-based testing as the primary testing techniques for stories 1-4. For story 1 decision table testing will also be used, automated configuration testing for story 3 and attack-based testing using a chec

Explanation :

this is the most likely proposal blending a number of techniques: It mentions both exploratory and defect-based testing, the latter of which is directly supported by the scenario, that states “the team …has as part of their retrospectives built check lists of common defects…” and because the organization should have experience with the types of defects this type of application will exhibit. Further decision table testing is proposed which matches what is written in the scenario for no 1. Automated configuration testing is supported by the scenario for no 3 and so is checklist-based attacks for security testing in no 4.

A new mobile app is to be developed for managing the membership of a soccer club which runs several teams. One of the key objectives of the club owners is to replace the outdated manual method required for registration of new members. The functionality of the app is to remain relatively simple because not all users will be familiar with modern user interfaces. The club owners have therefore placed particular emphasis on the ease with which users can navigate between the various screens and the usability of the application. An objective is also to manage the numbers of players who can register for a particular team. Limits are therefore to be enforced which may result in applicants being placed on a waiting list. Which of the following test case design techniques would together give the best chance of achieving acceptable test coverage in the available time frame? a) State transition testing b) Decision table testing c) Boundary value analysis d) Use case testing e) Pairwise testing

Answer :
  • A AND C

Explanation :

A : State transition testing is appropriate because it will test for the correct navigation between the various screens. It will also enable management of the waiting list to be evaluated (e.g. transitions between application approved and waiting list) C : The specification mentions that an objective is to manage the numbers of players who can register for a particular team. Limits (i.e. numbers of registered players which a team can have) are to be enforced which may result in applicants being placed on a waiting list. The use of boundary value analysis is relevant for testing these limits.

An e-commerce company has started a project to implement an electronic trading platform that allows traders a direct access to Fixed Income OTC (over-the-counter) markets, called B-OTC. Using B-OTC, traders will be able to submit orders online to these markets to get a faster order execution. B-OTC will process an order through different phases: - a validation phase of the order - a price determination phase where several markets are examined looking for the best price - an execution phase where the order is completed The requirements specification for B-OTC is very clear, detailed and exhaustive. B-OTC must be compliant to several regulations and an audit of the tests is mandatory. The testers are domain experts without specific knowledge of formal testing. Based only on the given information, which of the following statements best describes the level of detail and documentation required for the test cases in this scenario?

Answer :
  • Low-level test cases should be written with detailed test procedures and documentation. Traceability from the low-level test cases to the requirements should be also assured

Explanation :

The syllabus says: “Concrete test cases are useful when the requirements are well-defined, when the testing staff is less experienced and when external verification of the tests, such as audits, is required. Concrete test cases provide excellent reproducibility (i.e., another tester will get the same results), but may also require a significant amount of maintenance effort and tend to limit tester ingenuity during execution”.

The HeatWell mobile application shall enable home owners to control and monitor the heating of their home. The following requirements have been identified as the most important for the HeatWell app: Requirement 1: The user must be provided with an interface with which they can easily set required heating times and temperatures, and monitor the temperature in different parts of the house. Requirement 2: An efficiency function shall calculate the energy consumed and help the user to optimize their needs. You are the Test Analyst on the HeatWell team. Which of the following test conditions would you consider to be the most appropriate for verifying the functional and/or non-functional quality characteristics of the HeatWell app? a) The user can install the app on an Android device b) The user can effectively set target temperatures with a minimum number of steps c) The efficiency function accurately calculates heat consumption d) Energy consumption data can be saved on the HeatWell database server for iOS and Android devices e) Monitoring data can be displayed for the previous 30 days

Answer :
  • B AND C

Explanation :

B : This test condition relates to usability aspects of requirement 1. “The user must be provided with an interface with which they can easily (do things) with the minimum number of steps” – this targets in particular the efficiency aspects of usability. C: This test condition addresses the functional accuracy of the app’s efficiency function, as stated in requirement

Scenario: Health Insurance The IT department of insurance company SecureLife has started a project IQ (Improved Quality) to implement a new health insurance application to make it possible to create online transactions for health insurance claims raised by employees and members of companies or associations having health insurance agreements. In the new application, it will be possible to make registration of all the information about the employees, their age, health conditions, etc. The project also has to fulfill the demands of the people doing insurance calculation, actuaries and the demands from public legislation. The project team for IQ have testers who are business users with lots of domain knowledge but without much formal test training. At the same time another project, HIPPOS (Health Insurance Product Public Order Sales), has been started by the marketing department of SecureLife with the purpose of launching a new Internet application that will allow potential buyers of health insurance to use a small calculator to calculate insurance premiums and possible bonus deductions based on age and different health parameters. This application will also allow individual customers to order Health Insurance Products online. The marketing tool and web pages of project HIPPO will be developed and tested by SecureLife’s Agile development team, which have worked together for the last three years with the marketing department, developing marketing web applications. The Agile team consists of well-trained testers and developers. They have implemented test automation for regression testing and they have check lists of common defects and common security problems which they use in their retrospectives. As senior Test Analyst in SecureLife you have been asked to suggest options to the two projects, IQ and HIPPOS, regarding the level of detail and documentation required for test cases in the two projects. Which of the following are the BEST options? a) In project HIPPOS the test cases should be written at a high level allowing the testers flexibility in varying the details to achieve higher coverage. b) In project IQ the test cases should be written at a high level. The testers are business users and they know their business rules and calculations so no need for detailed documentation. c) In both project IQ and HIPPOS the test cases must be written as low-level test cases, with thorough documentation and detailed procedures. d) In project IQ the test cases should be written at a low level with documented procedures and traceability to requirements. e) In project HIPPOS the test cases should be written at a low level with documented procedures and audit trails.

Answer :
  • A AND D

Explanation :

A: This is the best recommendation for project HIPPOS, the team has experience in testing and in Agile development and the application is an online marketing application where experience-based testing at a high level makes a lot of sense. D: This is a good recommendation because there are demands for traceability, and the testers do not have much test experience.

You work as a Test Analyst in the team developing a system for managing rented electric scooters. The system consists of the following three parts: 1) A client application for mobile phones working in both Android and iOS systems with the following basic functionalities: a) The ability to register in the system b) For registered users i) information about the nearest free charged scooter - using the GPS system, ii) the possibility of reserving a scooter for 15 minutes iii) information about the account balance iv) possibility of paying the fee by card payment (Visa, Mastercard, ...) c) The target group of users of this application are people aged 18 -35. 2) Scooter control application: a) Information about the batteries charge b) current location of the scooter using the GPS system c) assigning state: free / reserved / in use 3) A server application that supervises the work of the whole: a) customer data and the status of their accounts b) location of all scooters c) scooters charging priority Which quality characteristic represents the highest risk, and should be tested first?

Answer :
  • interoperability

Explanation :

clearly, the system must work in different environments: Each part must cooperate with the other one, client applications must work under Android and iOS, client and scooter applications must cooperate with GPS, and the server application must serve different type of payments. Therefore interoperability is very important for this system.

Which of the following statements BEST explains experience-based testing?

Answer :
  • If the testers are experienced and have good knowledge of the system under test, experience-based techniques are a viable alternative to more formal techniques if there are problems with the quality of the documentation or if the project is under a tight

Explanation :

Experience-based techniques can be used as an option of more formal techniques, if the testers have enough experience and information about the system under test. Typically, this can happen in situations when there is time pressure, or the quality of documentation is poor or there is no documentation available.

You are working on a customer loyalty application for a restaurant. Customers earn points by spending money on food. There are four categories for awards that are based on the number of points earned. • Casual: 1 - 40 points • Regular: 41 - 150 points • Frequent: 151 - 300 points • Elite: more than 300 points Existing tests cases have already covered the point values 12, 150, 151, 152 and 301. Using two-value boundary analysis, you need to achieve 100 per cent coverage for the Regular and Frequent partitions. What is the percentage of coverage you have already achieved with existing test cases?

Answer :
  • 0.5

Explanation :

The six values to test are 40 and 41 for the lower boundary of the Regular partition, 150 and 151 which cover both the upper boundary for Regular and the lower boundary for Frequent, and 300 and 301 for the upper boundary of Frequent. Existing test cases have already covered 3 from the 6 values (i.e., 50%)