Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst (CTAL-TA) v4.0 - ISTQB Advanced Level Test Analyst Sample Quiz 1

Questions
Q1: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
Why does a test analyst carry out the same activities in every increment of an incremental development model?
A Because development is also done in cycles consisting of the same activities in every increment
B Because in each increment, the test analyst is involved as soon as the development begins
C Because the activities of the test analyst in each increment are limited to test analysis and test design
D Because each increment develops a new part of the software, which needs to be tested
Correct Answer:
D : Because each increment develops a new part of the software, which needs to be tested

Q2: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
During test analysis, the test analyst decides to use the 2-value boundary value analysis technique for a domain “age” representing a client’s age, which is used to determine the client’s discount.

Which of the following tasks should the test analyst perform during test design?
A Store the identified boundary values for clients’ ages in a test data repository to support automated test execution
B Write an automated test script using keyword-driven testing: “SetAge(18); VerifyDiscountIsNotAssigned().”
C Determine whether or not the test cases should document the specific amount of the expected discounts
D Define the test condition: “The system assigns a discount for a child less than 18 and a senior older than 64.”
Correct Answer:
C : Determine whether or not the test cases should document the specific amount of the expected discounts

Q3: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
Based on the following (simplified) test case:
Input: age below 18
Expected output: The system assigns a children’s discount
A test analyst creates the following (simplified) test script using keyword-driven testing:
EnterAge(17)
VerifyChildrenDiscountApplied(yes)
EnterAge(18)
VerifyChildrenDiscountApplied(no)

In which test activity does this action take place?
A Test implementation
B Test execution
C Test design
D Test analysis
Correct Answer:
A : Test implementation

Q4: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
A medical application has an interface for a health card reader. As a test analyst, you require a simulator for the health card reader to replace the hardware devices in the system test environment. You state the following requirements for the simulator:

• The simulator shall implement the exact interface specification to the medical information system as the real devices.
• Testers with access to the system test environment shall be able to edit and manage the virtual health cards.
• The simulator shall be available during system test implementation and execution of all increments.

Which of the following information is missing and should be added?
A The specific period of time during which the simulator is needed
B The organizational unit which shall provide and maintain the simulator
C A copy of the health card reader interface specification
D A specific backup and restore procedure for the virtual health cards
Correct Answer:
B : The organizational unit which shall provide and maintain the simulator

Q5: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
A mobile network operator’s existing rating and billing system will be replaced by new software.
As rating and billing rules are very complex, the project test strategy plans to test the functional correctness with several days of live network traffic.

As a test analyst, you want to solve the test oracle problem of generating the details of expected bills for a large amount of traffic with a pseudo-oracle. Which of the following solutions can serve as a pseudooracle?
A Run the existing in-house rating and billing system in the test environment to generate the expected results
B Selectively change the call durations in the live network traffic and verify that the bills change accordingly
C Use test scripts to generate expected results in simple test cases and accept all other actual results
D Run automated scripts to verify the phone call counts, durations, and types on the bills based on the traffic data
Correct Answer:
A : Run the existing in-house rating and billing system in the test environment to generate the expected results

Q6: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
Which of the following statements about anonymized test data is MOST likely to be true?
A Test data may lack the variability required for thorough testing
B Test data will primarily serve as keywords for keyword-driven testing
C Test data will be outdated as it is time-sensitive
D Test data will be restricted to input data only
Correct Answer:
A : Test data may lack the variability required for thorough testing

Q7: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
You are testing a queueing system using keyword-driven testing. The following keywords are available:
• Start() – creates an empty queue
• Enqueue(e) - inserts element e at the end of the queue
• Dequeue() - removes an element from the beginning of the queue
• CreateQueue(e1, e2, . . . , en) – a composite keyword equivalent to the sequence of keywords: Enqueue(e1), Enqueue(e2), . . . , Enqueue(en) AssertFirstElement(e) - checks if there is an element e at the beginning of the queue; if not, the system returns an error message
• AssertEmpty() - checks if the queue is empty; if not, the system returns an error message

You have designed the following test scripts:

i) Start(); Enqueue(A); Enqueue(B); Dequeue();AssertFirstElement(A)
ii) Start(); Enqueue(A); Enqueue(B); Dequeue(); AssertNonempty()
iii) Start(); Enqueue(A); Dequeue(); Enqueue(B); AssertFirstElement(B)
iv) Start(); CreateQueue(A, B); Dequeue(); Dequeue(); AssertEmpty()
v) Start(); CreateQueue(A, B); Dequeue(); AssertFirstElement(B)

Which of these test scripts verify the following acceptance criterion using the available keywords: "If more elements were added to the queue than removed, the queue is not empty"?
A ii), iv), and v)
B iii) and v)
C i), ii) and iii)
D ii) and iv)
Correct Answer:
B : iii) and v)

Q8: Chapter: 1 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in the Test Process
As a test analyst in an incremental-iterative development process, how can you BEST support the management of testware in the test management tool?
A Specifying the pseudonymization procedure for test data extracted from the live system
B Managing the configuration of the test environments
C Defining a standard severity classification for failures in test execution
D Selecting the most suitable set of test cases for regression testing
Correct Answer:
D : Selecting the most suitable set of test cases for regression testing

Q9: Chapter: 2 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in Risk-Based Testing
Which of the following are examples of how a test analyst can contribute to product risk analysis?
A Interviewing business analysts about what can go wrong with the application
B Identifying and assessing new product risks that occur during test execution
C Applying the most suitable test techniques for each product risk
D Determining the scope of regression testing by performing an impact analysis
Correct Answer:
A : Interviewing business analysts about what can go wrong with the application

Q10: Chapter: 2 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in Risk-Based Testing
You are given traceability information about the implemented functions (F1-F5), identified risks (R1-R5), and regression test cases (TC1-TC6) in the form of the following traceability matrices (see table)

You also have the following information about the risk levels for all of the identified risks (see risks table)

All six test cases were executed in the last test cycle. Then, you are informed that the implementation of F3 has changed.

You follow risk-based testing and apply an impact analysis, which allows executing only the test cases affected by code changes since the last test execution.

During the next regression test suite execution, which test case should be executed LAST?
Question Attachment
A TC3
B TC1
C TC4
D TC5
Correct Answer:
D : TC5

First, an impact analysis is performed to determine which test cases are affected by the change in F3:
F3 is traced back to R2, R4, and R5. These risks are traced to the following test cases:
• R2 to TC1 and TC3
• R4 to TC3 and TC5
• R5 to TC1 and TC6
Therefore, the next regression test execution should involve only TC1, TC3, TC5 and TC6.

Next, risk-based testing is applied to prioritize these test cases.
From the risk level information, the order of risk mitigation should be R5, R2, and then R4. Hence, the priority is:
• First, execute TC1 and TC6 to cover R5.
• Next, execute TC3 to cover R2 (TC1 has already been executed).
• At last, execute TC5 to cover R4 (TC3 has already been executed).
So, the test case to be executed last is TC5

Q11: Chapter: 2 - The Tasks of the Test Analyst in Risk-Based Testing
You are system-testing a mobile banking application.
The development is divided between a backend team that designs the business logic on the servers and a frontend team that designs the graphical user interface (GUI) and the application on the mobile devices.

The backend team is experienced and can debug and resolve defects quickly and reliably. The frontend team has undergone a lot of staff turnover.

Recently, critical failures occurred in production and were resolved in the previous release:

• Payments rejected by the destination banks due to invalid bank account numbers. The root cause was insufficient validation of bank accounts in the mobile devices.

• Incorrectly displayed GUI elements on some screen sizes and resolutions that obstructed users when entering payments.

The next release will contain the following changes:
• A new feature was added that allows users to make payments by taking a photo of an invoice with their mobile device.
• A major defect in the calculation of the account balance was fixed.
• The navigation bar in the GUI was redesigned to comply with accessibility standards.

You have a comprehensive regression test suite with tests categorized by the impact of potential failures.

Due to limited testing resources, you cannot execute them all, so you chose the history-based regression

testing strategy. Which of the following test objectives suits this scenario THE BEST?
A Execute all regression tests for the bank account validation using both photo-based and manually entered invoice payments
B Execute all regression tests for the settlement of payments and other features related to balance calculations
C Execute at least one regression test for each requirement, prioritizing the most frequently used scenarios
D Execute all regression tests with a critical or major risk impact of potential failures
Correct Answer:
A : Execute all regression tests for the bank account validation using both photo-based and manually entered invoice payments

Q12: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
A code complexity evaluation system takes two integers as input, representing the cyclomatic complexity
(CC) and the number of variables in the code (VAR). The system checks whether the code is complex based on the following model:

IF (CC ≥ 10) AND (VAR ≥ 8) THEN RETURN “the code is complex”

The domain determined by the intersection of the above two borders is a set of points in two-dimensional space with integer coordinates (CC, VAR).

You want to test the functional correctness of the implementation of this domain using domain testing.

Which set of test points could result from using the SIMPLIFIED domain coverage to test the correctness of this domain implementation?
A (12, 7), (12, 8), (9, 10), (10, 10)
B (6, 5), (10, 8), (13, 10)
C (10, 10), (12, 8), (15, 11)
D (11, 8), (11, 9), (9, 11), (10, 11)
Correct Answer:
A : (12, 7), (12, 8), (9, 10), (10, 10)

Q13: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
The requirements for brewing espresso are:
• The pressure shall be at least 9 bars for ideal extraction.
• The temperature shall be at least 90°C and at most 96°C to prevent under-extracting or burning
coffee.
You test the software controller that opens the hot water valve when pressure (P) and temperature (T) are in the right range (i.e., P≥9 AND T≥90 AND T≤96) and shuts it otherwise (i.e., P<9 OR T<90 OR T>96).

The barometer measures the pressure with a precision of 0.1 bar; the thermometer works with a precision of 0.5°C. Your test suite executes the controller with the following inputs (P, T) of pressure in bar and temperature in degrees Celsius:

A = (9, 90)
B = (9, 96)
C = (8.9, 93)
D = (10, 96.5)
E = (10, 93)
F = (8, 89)
G = (10, 98)

Which of the following inputs is missing for 100% reliable domain coverage?
A (8, 93)
B (10.9, 89.5)
C (9.7, 90.5)
D (10, 90)
Correct Answer:
B : (10.9, 89.5)

Q14: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
You are testing the functional correctness of a particular application on various environments, described by the following parameters and their possible values:

• operating system (possible values: Windows, Linux, iOS)
• RAM (possible values: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB)
• whether there is a USB-C port (possible values: yes, no)

Based on market research, the most common configuration is Windows OS with 16GB of memory and a USB-C port. You have already prepared the tests for the following configurations:

• Windows, 16GB, USB-C
• iOS, 16GB, USB-C
• Windows, 32GB, USB-C
• Windows, 64GB, USB-C
• Linux, 16GB, no USB-C

Consider the following new configurations that can be tested:

i) Windows, 16GB, no USB-C
ii) Linux, 16GB, USB-C
iii) Linux, 64GB, no USB-C
iv) iOS, 32GB, no USB-C
v) iOS, 64GB, USB-C

Which of them should be added to the existing set to fully achieve the BASE CHOICE coverage criterion?
A i), iii), and v)
B ii), iv), and v)
C iii) and iv)
D i) and ii)
Correct Answer:
B : ii), iv), and v)

Justification. Base Choice requires to test the base configuration and all configurations where only one element is replaced with all possible
values. Therefore, we need six following test cases to achieve Base Choice coverage:
1. Win, 16, USB-C (base configuration)
2. Linux, 16, USB-C (OS replaced with Linux)
3. iOS, 16, USB-C (OS replaced with iOS)
4. Win, 32, USB-C (memory replaced with 32GB)
5. Win, 64, USB-C (memory replaced with 64GB)
6. Win, 16, no USB-C (USB-C port replaced with no USB-C port)

Confirurations 1, 3, 4, and 5 are already in the existing set of configurations. Hence, we need to add 2 (Linux, 16, USB-C) and 6 (Windows, 16GB, no USB-C),

Q15: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
A company offering house insurance policies has several policy options. They depend on the following factors:

• Building type: house, semi-detached, apartment building, cottage
• Material: wood, concrete, brick, mixed
• Location: city, suburb, countryside

Using pairwise testing, how many test cases are required to achieve 100% pairwise coverage?
A 12
B 16
C 4
D 64
Correct Answer:
B : 16

You need 4x4 for the combination of all pairs for building type and material.

Q16: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
Which difficulty of random testing can be addressed by using GUIDED random testing?
A Neglecting data semantics
B Dependence on an automated test oracle
C Lack of well-defined coverage criteria
D Redundancy of selected test data
Correct Answer:
D : Redundancy of selected test data

Q17: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
Which of the following is an example of CRUD testing?
A Checking whether a new user can use a password that another user has already used
B Verifying that the time from requesting a password change to verifying that change is less than 10 milliseconds
C Verifying that a system accepts, as a password, any of 1,000 randomly generated strings of various lengths
D Verifying that a user, after creating an account and defining a password, can modify the account password
Correct Answer:
D : Verifying that a user, after creating an account and defining a password, can modify the account password

Q18: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
You are testing a system that implements a circuit breaker pattern. The system is modeled with the state transition diagram shown below.

All potential round trips are feasible. You have already designed the test case exercising the following
sequence of states:
Closed, Open, HalfOpen, Closed, Open, HalfOpen, Open, End

What is the round trip coverage achieved by this test case?
Question Attachment
A 80%
B 100%
C 50%
D 60%
Correct Answer:
A : 80%

There are 5 round trips:
• RT1: Closed, Open, HalfOpen, Closed
• RT2: Open, HalfOpen, Closed, Open
• RT3: HalfOpen, Closed, Open, HalfOpen
• RT4: Open, HalfOpen, Open
• RT5: HalfOpen, Open, HalfOpen

The test case exercising the sequence of states ’Closed, Open, HalfOpen, Closed, Open, HalfOpen, Open, End’ covers RT1, RT2, RT3, and RT4. Therefore, it achieves 4/5 = 80% round trip coverage.

Q19: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
You are responsible for designing state-based tests for a system component that manages the lifecycle of claims for an insurance company. You have the following specification.

The variable x contains the claim resolution type with values ’acc’ for accepted and ’act’ for active.

How many different 1-switches must be exercised by the resulting test suite in order to achieve 100% 1-switch coverage?
Question Attachment
A 8
B 15
C 16
D 14
Correct Answer:
D : 14

There are 16 1-switches in general:
• Applied > Accepted > Closed
• Applied > Accepted > Activated
• Accepted > Activated > Closed
• Accepted > Activated > Accepted
• Accepted > Closed > Activated
• Accepted > Closed > Archived
• Accepted > Closed > Accepted
• Activated > Accepted > Closed
• Activated > Accepted > Activated
• Activated > Closed > Activated
• Activated > Closed > Archived
• Activated > Closed > Accepted
• Closed > Activated > Accepted
• Closed > Activated > Closed
• Closed > Accepted > Closed
• Closed > Accepted > Activated
However, taking the guard conditions into account, two of them are infeasible:
Accepted > Closed > Activated and Activated > Closed > Accepted.

Q20: Chapter: 3 - Test Analysis and Test Design
You test a food ordering scenario based on the following use case:

1. The customer opens the application and logs in.
2. The customer browses the menu and selects items to order.
3. The customer adds selected items to the cart.
4. The customer proceeds to the checkout.
5. The application displays the order summary, including items, quantities, and total price.
6. The customer confirms the order.
7. The application asks if the saved payment method should be used.
8. The customer confirms the saved payment method.
9. The application processes the payment.
10. The application sends a confirmation notification to the customer.
11. The application forwards the order to the restaurant.
12. The application updates the order status to "Confirmed".

Alternative scenarios:

4A. The customer goes back to browsing the menu. The scenario goes back to step 2.
6A. The customer goes back to browsing the menu. The scenario goes back to step 2.
7A. No payment method is saved. The system asks for the credit card details. The customer fills in the data. The scenario goes to step 9.
7B. More than one payment method is saved. The system asks the customer to select one of the payment methods. The scenario goes to step 9.

Exceptions:
9A. The payment process fails. The system informs the customer about the error. The use case ends.
The adopted test strategy requires testing the main scenario and all of the alternatives and exceptions.
The test strategy allows more than one alternative to be tested within a single test case. However, it
is forbidden to create test cases in which both an alternative and an exception would occur (i.e., if an exception occurs in a test case, no alternative can occur in it).

What is the MINIMUM number of test cases that will cover all the scenarios for this use case?
A 3
B 5
C 2
D 4
Correct Answer:
D : 4